Rock Creek, TN                                  Watershed Danger Coal Exploration Drilling-Rock Creek Waldens Ridge...               Hendon Road to Leggett Rd bridge Water Quality (1 bad 3 good) Scenery (1 bad 3 good)              Class III.8 9 Miles Avg Gradient 110 fpm Max Gradient 150 fpm                                                                      Welcome to Rock Creek                                                                    Photo by Kemper Begley of paddler Craig Rollins     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       Directions: On your Gazetteer look on page 24, the take out is near HWY 27 , BUT it is on Leggitt Road, from there you drive up the mountain, once on top you will come to a tri-angle intersection, take a left onto Hendon Road, from there you will cross a branch, this is Hall Branch, your put-in.   This is the Hall Branch Put-in....                                         A Special thanks to Randy Hale of North River Geographic for donating his resources, effort and time to make this map. To blow it up and for finer detail please click on the picture. You will need a PDF reader to enlarge the map. The Map shows the upper headwaters put-in, use this and the directions listed above.   *big file warning :)                                                Gauge Information   Painted gage: We painted it in the 90's on a busted trip. A  spray paint gauge  exists at the take-out. 2.5 feet is a perfect level.                                                                                                                Photo by Kemper Begley   Estimated correlation paddlers gage ft to North Chick Creek CFS       1.5 ft 625 cfs elf 2 ft 700 cfs low 2.5 ft 800 cfs med 3 ft 875 cfs med-high 4 ft 950 cfs high 4.5 ft 1250 cfs very high 5 ft 2250 cfs expert     New School:  please click here for the new flowpage   River Description Your best bet and to keep it simple is to use Hall Creek for your access point. This makes your paddle a little bit longer , and Class II for several miles. But it's still your better option to keep your car and your valuables safe and parking is easy at Hall Creek. Once on the river you will come where Hall and Rock Creek meet. This part of the river is fine for boogie boating as now the flow picks up. You want to pickup your speed because once near the valley the river changes it's mood and the river narrows. Once here you will be on some of the most under rated whitewater on the ridge . No one speaks of it much, but the water thru here is on par with the North Chick, and in some ways more powerful . It's somewhat short in the this section. But paddler beware this is a good place to scout and take a lunch break. Once thru this section it turns back into Rock Creek. The sad part back in the 80's and early 90's Rock Creek was the ole standby and ran just as much as the Tellico. Things have changed , it's still on of the prettiest places to paddle, but it's a rare treat to catch it at a good water level now.                                                It's bigger than it looks     Paddler Craig Rollins                                                                                             Photo by Kemper Begley      The Gorge section................................................................................................................................................                                                                Photo by Jeff Moore of Alex Zendel and Randy Bigbee                                                                             Photo by Jeff Moore of Alex Zendel