Dougherty  Creek   Class V   Water Quality (1 bad 3 good) Scenery (1 bad 3 good)            Maps:   Watershed Map (to find location and size of creek) Click Here Special thanks to Steve Zerfos for making the map.   Topo Map: Click Here A special thanks to Randy Hale of NorthRiverGeographic for the map         Overall Description: Dougherty Creek looks good on paper, real good when you look at the Gazetteer ,then you reality sets in ....after reading this you will write off like we did, it just can't happen, not enough water, AND the creek just isn't that good. The Put-in   River Right: We went and checked it out, the put-in is land locked in my property owners, river left has a hunting preserve and is fenced in ,to enclosed it for trophy hunting, signage abounds everywhere , and they carry guns...so it's a no go. River Left: Is land locked in by the Valley View Ranch. Valley View is a private equestrian camp for girls. We talked to the owners there, and it was a no-go. A nice lady there was very kind to us. But there are endangered plants in there. The same plants we are trying to protect here on W.R.W.W. The Large-Flowered Skullcap resides on her land and she is afraid of them being trampled. WE AGREE it's not worth taking the chance.   The head waters:   Are damned up...no I didn't misspell that one...a lake has been built on the direct headwaters, just like Dunlap Creek on Walden's Ridge UGH! . Here is one of the many gates around the hunting preserve..............................................................................................                                           Lot's of signs abound...........................................................................................................................................................................                                                Here is the headwaters lake................................................................................................................................................................                                                Take-out: Is the same as Allen Creek Remember to stay in the Road Right of Way and don't trespass while at the takeout. Here is a picture of the takeout...it has old abandoned gage on it...too bad it's off-line :(                                         Here is where you need to park and be discreet. Please contact the Schmitt family , before parking. They are the first family on the left driveway, after you cross the bridge, if the downstream side was on your left. They are a very nice family.                                                Dougherty Creek Trip Report First paddled on Sat 28 March 2009 Adam Goshorn K-1 Ben Karp K-1 Phil Foti OC-1 Leigh Knudsen K-1 Mark Cumnock K-1 I’m not much on trip reports in guide books, but I felt this needed to be a supplement For this creek, it added more of the flavor to this creek write-up for some reason. Dougherty Creek a.k.a Sucky Creek First Descent 28 February 2009 First D…remember a.k.a. Sucky Creek Well...we had the intentions of running Johnnies Creek sat or something close, so we went  to the Canyon Mouth Park to meet up, with Adam Goshorn. Well leaving Birmingham the road was crowded with kayakers, (it finally rained again) and the take-out confirmed it : ) We weren’t too fired up about paddling with a zoo. 15 years ago I looked at Dougherty Creek just over the border in Georgia, when I paddled Allen Creek off Pigeon Mountain back in the Steep Creekin’ video days. Fast forward to modern times, in January 09; Phil Foti and I checked it out again, and spent about a day trying to figure how to make it work. This time a lake had been built on the headwaters, and it looked like a write-off. Even on the WaldensRidgeWhiteWater.com guide section I had written it off. But the rain finally hit, and the daffodils were blooming, meaning the creeking season was coming to an end. And worse; Greed. Greed kicked in, and I wanted another first descent. This would make the 23rd documented first descent for me…Greed is a terrible thing. We knew it would be low, but it should be good because it fell off the mountain like Allen Creek. Also we knew some of the Chatty boys were looking at, so it was now or never. So Phil, Adam, myself and Adam’s friends Ben Karp and Leigh Knudsen snuck off from the Johnnie’s crowd and headed to the Allen Creek take-out. The Put-in Is a total bootleg, we performed a hot put-in, quick stepped it to the lake and seal launched into the private lake. We were lucky we had a heavy fog to conceal our poaching. The lake was long, but from previous scouting we knew where the spillway SHOULD be. So we sprinted across the lake being very quite. So we paddled up to a culvert, the lake was surrounded by a electric fence from h_ll, (think Concentration Camp) it was sketchy to climb over it…after paddling thru the culvert, we thought the lake was over and we would hit the creek Here is the culvert …notice the kayaker in the pipe….                                        Well behold , another freaking lake ugh!...so we kept paddling ….the 2 combined lake paddles felt like paddling Lake Tugaloo at Section IV…IT SUCKED! So finally we come to a spill way….and it sounded steep…steep is good! … wrong it was full of trees…a total omen of the day to come. It was also way low…but it was a first d, and low water could save your neck on a first run. But it was looooooooooooow. Here is a shot of the beginning of the run                                         So we paddled, more like knuckle boofed our way down, but we should be hitting the gorge and it should pick up and constrict. Here is some of the knuckle boofing                                      Man there were trees everywhere, it reminded of a Ozark stream, it had trees for sure…but the gorge should help us out. Positive thinking should help too. Here is a shot where Phil got out, where he helped pull the butt boaters over another tree…the walking was already getting old                                    Later it picks up but it is nothing to write home about .Paddler Phil Foti                                    The creek quality never picked up…and there were f-nk up rocks in the minor rapids that shouldn’t have been there, you would hit them and they would move, maybe it was debris from the lake building who knows. But worse was the trees…any good rapid had a tree in it Here is a typical shot of the trees                                   Well in the beginning Phil and I were swapping the lead and thank God Phil was in a canoe he could see and get out before another tree got him or us. Well I took over, it was my turn, fair is fair, and I got a little to ahead of the group. Which was easy because of the low water and f-nk up rocks. I went around a blind corner/slide , and OH SHITE…this is it I thought. I went into sieved out strainer and no where to go. At the last moment, I bow stalled and carved the Karnali as best as I could and planted it. My split second decision might have saved my life. I got my head above water…it seemed like forever and finally Ben came through, and I pushed/deflected him outta the way while pinned, and he got to the bank. I sank further, from his Hit…then came Adam blasting through blind thinking I cleared it, I pushed him enough towardsthe bank with one hand. Adam immediately got out of his boat, and grabbed my boat and pulled me out like superman. On the bank I asked Adam ” How bad did it look?” IT LOOKED BAD!...I took a big hit to the ribs in the strainer, and knocked a lot of wind out of me…but we laughed and got going again . Here is a shot of the strainer…I used Paint to help show the pin …yeah I know Paint sucks…not a good picture, with the Paint . My ribs were pinned against the submerged log….with my back against the exposed log and breathing air…life is good :)                                            So we paddle some more with Adam, Phil and I swapping the lead. Phil sees a bad one and gets out to point us the right direction…the water is too low, down into a sieve /drop and the undercut has a over hang. Most of us clean it; my run was ugly, very ugly with another shot to the same ribs. The low water forces you were you don’t want to go. Adam’s friend, took a bigger hit in the ribs, it flipped her, Leigh hitso hard and took her paddle and she still rolled, a swim there would have sucked We take a pause to let her regain her composure and to get some air from the hit in the ribs. She took a very hard hit, her eyes are watering and she is tough as nails! So now we have two paddling hurt….we trudge on. It starts to pick up, but it’s nothing to write home about Here is a shot of Adam Goshorn in the better quality rapids                                           Here is shot Ben in one of the better rapids                                           So the creek still sucks…trees with more trees with a side order of trees enough to wear you down. FINALLY after a long day we hit Allen Creek, I’m now having a hell’uv time breathing, I think the adrenaline has finally worn off from the hits, and that sucks. Because Allen stays tough in it’s runout. And by tough I mean Jones Creek tough. Adam and Phil are still in the groove and nailing their lines. Phil made a crux move, flying into an eddy and then he cracked his hull. He hit so hard, he broke his saddle loose, and also put a small crack in the bow of the Spanish Fly. Here is a atypical Allen Creek run out rapid …with blind approaches                                            On the Allen run, I took another hit, trying to run a sneak due to not getting enough air. Beside the run out on river left ,up a ways, is a jeep trail…I can’t take it anymore, and start walking the dog…my ribs are holding me back…and breathing is getting harder when I bend forward to dig, right behind me unknown to me, Adam’s friend, Leigh is following my tracks…she is hiking out due to her ribs….and is having trouble breathing too. We get back in out boats for the run out… digging with paddle sucks….Phil and Adam are still in groove and continue on leading . Adam, Ben and Phil paddle a little later downstream, with a near miss, and with daylight running out…pick up the pace and walk the last major one to speed it up, the take-out is now the goal of the day. Here is another atypical run out rapid