River Description

To get to the put-in, you take Retro-Hughes Road up Bakewell ,Mountain (Some old maps show it as Petro-Hughes) off of Hwy27 There is red light here for your landmark. About 7 or just a little more up on the mountain, you will notice a gated road on the left. This is Possum Creek road. It is the first major logging road. Sometimes the gate is open. Sometimes its closed. Plan your day on it being closed. That way if you have to hike in you will have plenty of time.

From Kirk Eddlemon's post from Boatertalk: 27 Nov 2008

I drove up to the gate today and it was locked again, with no trespassing/hunting posted.  There were also lot signs with acreage and realty info.  Found another way in, drove to put in, well almost.  T.D.E.C. owns the last 1/4 mile of the road down to the creek, and no driving on their tract.  

 

THE PUT-IN:

We need to remind everyone, that one rotten apple and ruin for the others. The official rule is that YOU CANNOT drive past the state gate the goes to the Little Possum put-in.

 

 

How to get there and find the put-in

Randy Hale of North River Geographic has been kind enough to donate a map showing the creek, put-in and take-out , please click on the logo to see his map he was nice enough to donate.

It's a JPeg file and huge and it's cool!   Once you open it if you want it bigger click on it.

                                                             

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RIVER LEVEL:

The insult to injury here is that to really know if it running you need to look at the put-in bridge, and check the tubes, if it flowing over...: High water in here can put a hurting on you.

Also you look here for an internet reading : CLICK HERE

Also if the North Chick is rising and so is Soddy, and you get there after  recent rain, you might have a safe bet. Possum use to be the ole standby, but global warming and a drought have screwed it all up

                                      Here is picture of the put-in showing a perfect first time level:

               

        Now about one of the best runs of the ridge, with some the biggest cleanest drops!

        For the first 1/2 mile it's easy then you will come upon a slide that looks like this   

                                                                                    First Slide

                             

 

So then you will come upon "Elvis's Truckstop" this one has the potential of messing someone up, because of the room it has in it. One story told to me is of 2 kayakers in it, and in their boats  and talking to each other at the same time during a high water event.

 

Here is a shot of Elvis's Truckstop. This picture does it no justice due to the approach of the rapid.

 

 

                                         

                                                                                   Elvis's Truckstop

  Okay now you think "man is what I came for"...well when you get to a horizon line from h*ll you will be arriving at Imodium Falls. The lines are obvious :)  Enjoy your flight on Air Possum

Here is a shot of the falls being run by Jim Little.

            

                                                                           Imodium Falls

 

Here is a shot of Imodium at no water

              

From the Cumberlandtrail.org site

Until recently, only a handful of expert kayakers knew of this spectacular C-shaped waterfall. They named it "Imodium" because--upon approaching this potentially deadly Class V drop in a small boat--they wished they had taken some of this popular anti-diarrhea drug

Well actually we bout shite our pants knowing what a great drop we found...but back at the ranch

 

So after the falls it gets a little bit easier , then another Class IV shows up the best way to run it, is to keep your speed up and keep it straight.

                 

                                                                        Rapid: Beat-n-Bang

 

                       

                        Ryan Eichhorn  paddling Beat-n-Bang with more water Picture by Brent Meadows

Double Drop:

Okay time to get your game face and not to crack under peer pressure, cause at this rapid it can be intimidating , Double Drop is coming up, and it many local area boaters opinions this might be the hardest drop on the ridge. It's got the perfect name . It's two back to back drops the first one is a 20footer , with a couple of boat lengths to another 20 footer. Except these aren't suck it up and run it drops, these require Class V skill and the nerve to go with it.

My line and my groups lines have been the following , first of all set up ropes top to bottom, if not WALK. The undercut on the bottom drop is really a cave. Yeah if were easy...

First Drop:

Okay so line up with the curler on the top drop, your game plan here is too keep your shite straight and power forward and be upright no matter what . You want speed ,to be upright and heading with  a river left angle once you land .

Second Drop:

This line reminds me on the focus potential of Gorilla , in that you are focused on a object in your line, and that focus is the lip of the bank on river left. Hit the bank driving , then drop into the abyss on river left at the bottom. This keeps you clean of the cave in case the shite hits the fan. Once airborne , focus on getting strokes in to power out of the foamy water. This water is very difficult to brace in so stay upright.

 

Okay so on to the next...

Next is Holy Cross which is now gone due to floods... kind of...(but here is a picture of it from back in the day ) The two trees made the cross are gone, but the rapid is still there, get ready for a slam dance it's a rocky rapid still in flux.

                                

                                                                 Holy Cross  from back in the day

   

                                                                     Holy Cross  in present form

                                   

                                                                          Picture by Brent Meadows

                                                

                                                 Photo of Bryce Evans   Picture by Brent Meadows

Okay now onto a cool rapid , if you like not seeing where your are going.

It's WhiteOut...and its a cool rapid unless its thumping with water...then get ready for some quality time with river

                                         

                                               Here is Jim Little above the water in an Open Boat...

                             

                                               

                                               Here is Mark Cumnock paddling on faith in a kayak

 

 

After White-Out you have your typical paddle -out , of Walden's Ridge whitewater, but do not relax this lower section has killed .It took Todd Smith away from us in 1995. Be aware of slots in this section. Sometimes the river has them full of brush, sometimes they are waiting on us. Please be aware of the river conditions.