OLD School Gauge Description :
| Here is an old school way of telling if Little Piney was running between Nov-March I would check the following gauges to see if they were running, the following is for a 4.5 ft min. on the bridge gauge at the takeout on the Piney River. It also helps to first have a big rain to prime the creek first for the first fall run.
Here are the readings you will need.
Tellico 4.5
Town Creek 495
Emory 9000
A good example for this is, happened in December this past year. The Watts Bar gauge got 1.85" of rain, and Pikeville 1.75 that night. That morning at 9:00 am the Piney was running 3.9". I hope this paints a picture.
Here is a shot of above the Upper Falls...btw it lands on rock
photo by Brook Cumnock
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Shuttle Directions:
Look for page 41 on the Tennessee Atlas & Gazetteer,while traveling up state Hwy. 68, leaving Spring City, Tennessee, as soon you top the mountain a road be on the left , named Hillary Road, this road will take you to a Fire Tower, before the fire tower there will be a parking area on your right. You have two options you can park here, and experience a 3/4 mile hike in, or drive if your car is willing, keep driving or walking straight, past the power lines. Once you come to a open parking area in the woods, you will be there. Once at the area, now you have two more options. Walk to the right, it is a short walk, this will put you above Little Piney Falls, or walk left , and you will walk another 1/2-3/4 mile and this will out you at the bottom of Little Piney Falls. The takeout is the same for the Piney River
This is a nice shot but it is right above the Lower falls
Here is a shot of the Lower Falls...that also land on rock
River Description:
I'm not going to sugar coat it, this is a portage fest , but it is a good place to practice repelling skills for more epic runs. You first have Little Piney Falls to deal with on the top, an easier, but a more life threating route , is to paddle above and across Little Piney Falls, the hiking trail on the other side is a shorter route to the bottom, then there is plan b , walking to the bottom on the left trail head, but it is a walk with your boat.
After making it to the bottom, you have some generic Class III water, be very paranoid here. Big Piney Falls is coming up, and it is Big! Mike Cawood and I set ropes up the previous night and portaged on river left. I cannot stress , you must know when the falls are coming , we marked a tree with engineering tape so we would know. Big Piney Falls might go with a couple of LVM camera set ups, and a back brace ready.
After the Big Falls, you have more generic Class III-(IV) rapids, the rapids are cool, but many other runs in the area are going when this one is too. Most of the gradient is chewed up with the two falls. The new State park with the trails makes scouting a portaging easier, but not that much.
You have a paddle out similar to Soak Creek when paddling out Stinging Fork which is the next creek over.
Want to know more
about the Pocket
Wilderness areas of
Walden's Ridge?
click here.
To know more about the new state park area CLICK HERE |
septic tank run-off in upper headwaters