WaldensRidgeWhiteWater.com  

The Home for

East Tennessee

Whitewater

         

 

Post Gage Readings Here

 

Main Menu

Local Weather

 

 

Guidebook

 

 

The Creeks

( Guide Section)

 

Paddling Gear Store

 

 

 

Free Android App

 

 

Flowpage

 

Precipitation and Forecast

 

East Tenn. Regional Maps

(Topographical

and Watershed Maps)

 

National Watershed Maps

 

 

Camping

 

Classification

 

Forum

 

Video

 

Blkberry Page

 

Outfitting

 

News

 

First Descents

 

Photo

Gallery

 

Google

Earth Mashup

 

Contact Us

 

 

 

 

 

We need your pictures, and articles, you don't need to know HTML or other computer skills, submit your articles via email and we will post it here! As long as you know how to e-mail we can handle the rest..

Our goal is to get information out as easily as possible

 

Also you will get full credit with your name on the article just like you would in a magazine.

 

Please submit your pictures for picture of the month.

 

We are needing a team of gauge checkers to help give us accurate readings for the flowpage. It's close but we want perfect. Please check the Forum Section

 

 

 

 

 

 

only search W.R.W.W.

Dunlap Creek

Walden's Ridge Tennessee

 

 

 

 

 

 Sabo Road to Shut-in-Gap Road ( Piney Take-out)

Water Quality (1 bad 3 good)

Scenery (1 bad 3 good)         

 

 

Class IV 

5.5 Miles3 ½” more miles to go once you hit Soak Creek

Max Gradient 400 fpm, with an avg of 130

Overview:

 Dunlap is a bittersweet experience, it drops straight off the ridge, unlike any of the other steep creeks in the Piney Watersheds it doesn't chew up all it's gradient at once, it waits until the very end then kicks it in to gear and drops 400 +/-feet per mile in one section, it has a fairly sizeable watershed,  and fairly easy shuttle. On paper, it looks great...keep reading...

Now the catch. First is the put-in, it has unfriendly neighbors, their house is right at the put-in, and you will be trespassing if you don't watch your step. The best way to paddle here is to have a shuttle bunny...and paddle here only during the middle of the week while Dunlap's neighbors are at work...oh if it were only that easy...keep scrolling down and I'll give you the rest of the scoop on this Walden's Ridge run.

The Shuttle:

Leave the Piney take-out from Shut-in-Gap road and head back up the mountain on Hwy 68. Once on the mountain look for road  named Jewitt Road , the map shows Reed Town road, well the map can lie and look for the old white sign named Jewitt Road on the left. The Gazetteer on page 41 , shows your left turn to be Reed Town Road  (Jewitt Road) Then you will drive a little , then go by a nice pond on the right and then look for Sabo Road, then turn left.

Shuttle Service:

For Shuttles contact the following # 423.365. six nine zero zero.

For # 5 dollars a head or $25 a car load. You can get a shuttle. Your car will be driven to the take-out.

NOTE: If you call shuttle drivers and change your mind or go to another creek, please make another phone and CANCEL YOUR SHUTTLE. Don't be that guy.

 

 

History:

It was first run by Phil Foti (OC-1) Eric Baker (K-1) and Mark Cumnock (K-1) Nov 11,2009 after Hurricane Ida.

 

The Run:


Scenery wise it is greatly disappointing.... mankind has done a lot of damage to Dunlap, bulldozed roads...rock harvesting...evidence of old logging...4-wheeler trails and then there is even evidence of dividers where someone is going to sub-divide the old BoWater lands

And in some parts Dunlap could be a handful with more water, but to be honest, even though , down a notch in difficulty , Duskin Creek the next ridge over , is just a nicer paddle...and much prettier. No big  rapids really show up that you would expect.
 

 

Maps:

 

Watershed Map (to find location and size of creek) Click Here

Special thanks to Steve Zerefos for making the map.

 

Topo Map: Click Here

A special thanks to Randy Hale of NorthRiverGeographic for the map

 

 

   The Piney Watershed

    The Piney Watershed Map was donated by Randy Hale of North River Geographic

 

 

 

 

                                    

               

  You will drive across two culverts, the 2nd one is the put-in, here is a picture showing the put-in and 2nd Creek

 

                            

 

 

    The below picture... if you look to the river left side downstream it is the house/yard, and  it is right around the corner.

 

                            

 

 

                Here is one of many signs at the put-in...you are on your own <insert banjo music>

 

 

                     

 

 

                                Here is a typical shot of Dunlap Creek...before it drops off

                       

Okay here is the final nail in the coffin, and the insult to injury. At the put-in has two culverts one culvert is actually a Jewitt Creek and the other culvert  is  Dunlap Creek they come  together at this very spot. The problem is that Jewitt Creek is damned up, and the lake doesn't act like a battery like the Lower Cullasaja  or Johnnies do. Both have a dam in their headwaters and once filled they help stabilize the flows. But this lake hogs the water. This one having such a small watershed doesn't let go of it's water due to the impoundment. It is only really one creek at the confluence, and it needs the two small creeks to make it runnable, it would have to really rain biblical proportions to get  Dunlap going.

 

                                                            Jewitt Creek dammed up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this what it is like in the beginning of the run.......................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then you have the top section of rapids.....................

 

 

 

 

There are strainers in but nothing epic.................................

 

 

 

 

Here it is around the 400 fpm section .....................................

 

 

 

 

Then it calms down back down to the 60 fpm stuff...here is paddler Phil Foti

 

 

 

 

Here is the bottom section:..................................

 

 

 

 

 

then you hit beautiful Soak Creek which is drop pool...here is the confluence

 

 

 

 

Soak Creek......................................................................................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 

***Warning label***

Whitewater paddling is VERY Dangerous, and you should get instruction before ever attempting even to paddle flatwater. One of contributors to this web site has personally helped bury 3 kayaking friends, this isn't a joke. Whitewater paddling can ruin your life through accidents and can effect your family and friends throughout a lifetime.

The information on this page is incomplete, inaccurate, and very unreliable.   Use with caution.  Whitewater paddling is a dangerous sport and the information here is not a substitute for actual knowledge and skill.  The authors are not liable for your actions. Go ahead and kill yourself if you want to, but don't blame others for you actions and decisions that you will make on and off the river.

***Warning label***

 

 

Our hemlocks are dying on the ridge due to the woolly adelgid infestation. You can find out more at the Save Our Hemlocks website: http://www.saveourhemlocks.org/

 

To learn even more click here

 

The Picture below is depressing to say the least...

 

 

 

dead5910o.jpg

 

Picture courtesy of KnoxNews.com

 

 

                      Copyright 2008-Present  WaldensRidgeWhiteWater.com. All Rights Reserved.