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Bald River
Tellico Area
Photo by Adam Trunnel
6+ Miles
Avg. Gradient 110 fpm
Max Gradient 350 fpm
Water Quality
(1 bad 3 good)
Scenery
(1 bad 3 good)
Map: Watershed Map (to find location and size of creek)
Click Here Special thanks to Steve
Zerefos for making the map.
River Description
Overview:
Bald River were do you start , without using the
words beautiful. You paddle in a wilderness area, which
in the day and age, and paddling in the east is a very
rare treat. The shuttle is long compared to other creeks
in the area. It's worth it. Bald River can be run very
low, its a run to where it channels up good. It
can also be run very high. For a creek , and its a
creek, not a river, its relatively free of strainers. In
the meat of the action it has a hiking trail on the
river right if the going gets too tough for you, there
is always the trail.
Bald has some big clean drops, that should make some
wall hanger photos. But once the picture is taken they
don't look that big, and it should video well. Being in
a Wilderness Area, and having big drops. But it doesn't.
I think Bald River is shy and doesn't like its picture
taken. Once you paddle and take the camera you will see
what I'm talking about : )
Put-in:
Find Holly Flats campground on the map. Past the
normal Upper Tellico put-in, go back Green Cove
Campground, and look for the Forest Service sign on the
left stating the direction of Holly Flats Campground. Once you drive past the
campground you will parallel the creek and come to a
bridge, this is your put-in. Use your map to get there ,
it can get confusing and but the shuttle is mainly just
taking straights when you come to forks in the road.
Take-Out:
Bald River Falls or Below Jerold's Knee on the
Tellico.
The Run:
You will paddle just for a little bit after the
bridge, and come to the first major rapid.
Rapid: Fluke a.k.a. Gran Torino
Another website calls this one Gran Torino, long
before others were paddling this , it was called Fluke,
for the very reason, the rapid is a fluke, its out of
place. Its a solid Class III, in the middle of nowhere,
it doesn't belong there, it belongs downstream with the
others. Its a fault line that you paddle over, you can
even see on a topo map.
You run Fluke, by knuckle-boofing on the river left
and then you run the slot, it opens up then its on to
the drop that helps make up Fluke. The bottom portion of
Fluke is a slide-drop that can be boated scouted from a
eddy on river left.
From here ...relax its smooth Class II for
awhile...time to enjoy the Wilderness Area.
Rapid Fluke............
Paddler "The Real" Jeff Richards running
Fluke.....
Typical Class II in the beginning......
Paddler Dan Wiles.......
Rapid: Shallow Falls
Well I think the name gives this one away. It's right
above the big one, and can be scouted on river right,
and it has a tree blocking its approach so it will be
your benchmark to where you are at on the river. Best
way to run is right down the gut of the main waterline.
Photo by Adam Trunnel
Shallow Falls
Photo by Adam Trunnel
Rapid: Buying the Farm aka Suislide Falls
Once again , in a time long long ago the rapid was
named Buying the Farm, it was first run by Mark Cumnock
and Brian Collins when the Tellico was at 4 ft.
This is the cool one, no doubt about it. First lets
get the safety part over with, you can ferry to the
island in the middle of the run and start your portage
down the streambed, or run Shallow Falls to get to the
little island in the middle of the stream. Its MUCH
easier to do this than to use the hiking trail.
UGH...the trail is a lot of work. Another site tells you
to portage on river right. Trust us the island is much
much easier.
Buying the Farm is a true Class V. First see if it
has any brush in it, its bad to collect the little stuff
that can kill you. The line is to run the top lip,
keeping your nose high. Then lean back and take the
licks. It's a 20 ft cascade
Buying the Farm...............
Rapid: Doe Rapid
Is the next major one, it looks bad on the top, but
once in the middle and committed you will realize its a
fun one...enjoy it. It has a cool driving boof to
an eddy going from river left to river right, after this
it opens up
Photo by Renee Clark
Rapid: Squeeze
Squeeze is just that, the river squeezes up and when
the Tellico is around 4ft , this can be a big water
hammer. At lower water, there is nothing to worry about.
You will see some cliff rocks on the right, with
sweeping rapid going from river left to river right.
Rapid: Jumble
Jumble is just that...its a pile ...that can be run
on river left and its straight forward.
Rapid Jumble......
Photo by Renee Clark...paddler Mark Cumnock
Rapid :The Big One aka Kahuna
The Big One is just that. Its the nice drop right
above Bald River Falls. Its easy unless you screw it up.
It was first run by Mark Cumnock with the Tellico at
3ft.
The Big One.....
Bald River Falls.
Corran says he ran it...good luck with that.
Here is the easy way to run Bald River Falls....
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