Description:
Duskin Creek is a very pretty run in the heart of the Piney Creek Pocket Wilderness Area, that not many get to see.
Another cool thing about Duskin is the hiking trail system that follows the creek almost the entire trip down the mountain. It is a great place to take a Ocoee boater who is wanting to start to get vertical. Most of the drops are cascades and slides. The trail system is a built in safety net, for if you chew off too much. You can pull the pin and walk.
More good stuff on Duskin!
Photo courtesy of Paul Butler
Things to know on the run:
It has been awhile since a flood hit the Piney watershed , and with the Southern Pine Beetle killing trees, you need to be aware of deadfalls. Once you put on Duskin, you will cross your first hiking bridge, this is your sign post , that things will be picking up. Once you come to your second? Hiking trail bridge on river left, and you are at a horizon line this will be your biggest rapid, and is the cover shot for this webpage. It is straight forward and a great place for a picture on the wall
The Put-in:
The put-in can be found off Shut-in gap road, once on the mountain, you will see Stinging Fork's trail head sign on the right, continue on and look for a small white sign on the left, that has been shot to hell by rednecks, make a left at this sign and follow it all the way to you come to a creek with a lot of culvert tubes for a bridge. This is Duskin.It will save you a lot of paddling and get you straight to the whitewater section.
Hemlock Falls
History:
The run was first paddled by Tom Tohill and Dan Grey from Chattanooga .
Camping:
Camping can be had the Bowater Newby Branch primitive campground on top of the mountain. The campground is the same location for the Duskin Creek put-in area, and is close to the Stinging Fork hiking trail. It's easy to find, instead of going straight heading to the Duskin Creek put-in. When you turned left off of Shut-in gap road, about a 1/4 mile you will come to a "Y" in the road, take a right and it will take you to the campground.
The campground has some concrete picnic tables, and a porta-potty that is cleaned on a regular basis. Between the months of Mar-Nov.which is same window of paddling for the Piney. I have witnessed no red necks at the campground. The campground is also the headtrail for the Newby/Duskin hiking trail. The campsite would make an excellent base camp for paddling the surrounding area which is loaded with creeks. If the creeks are too low, go hiking the area trails are superb.
The Slide Duskin Creek Photo by Kemper Begley
Paddler Paul Butler
River Level Beta:
An old school way to know if it is a min. check all of the following gauges.
Piney 4.0 Boney Piney 4.5 Gooooood!
Tellico: 4.2
Emory: 8500'+
Town ,yes Town :425
This one takes a soaking rain.
For accumulative rain; graphed readings click here:
Check for Watts Bar to have 1.75 inches of rain. Also look for the Pikeville rain gauge to have 1.6" of rain.
The New Way to know:
CLICK HERE for an internet reading
