Shut-in Gap Road Bowater Parking Lot
Gauge Level Needed 4.5 ft
Rock House Branch:
“Side creek of the Piney”
Class: 4.4 its rating is due to the steepness and mank
Level Needed: 4.5 ft on the Piney Take-out Bridge Gauge
Put-in:
From the Piney River takeout drive up Shut-in-Gap road, (and over the Piney) , once on top of the mountain, after the Stinging Fork hiking trail head (it has a big brown sign to tell you its Stinging Fork) you will see a yellow gate, on the left side of the road from leaving the Piney Take-Out. Don’t park your car here, and don’t block the gate, and it would be wise and better to leave your car at the Stinging Fork Trail Head instead. Once at the gate start hiking, a GPS works well here, and set your waypoint to the small branch; by using your Tennessee Gazetteer map beforehand. The walk for the most part is down the road, take your hiking boots and swap them out, once you reach the branch.
Hopefully when the new Linear State Park comes, for the Cumberland Trail system, it will use this area to connect with the Stinging Fork hiking trail and the gate will be gone.
Here is a picture of the gate that is off Shut-in-Gap Road:
Alternative Put-in:
Another put-in is to be on the Piney, and right after Duskin, look for a rock pile on river left where the branch has dumped out rock and made a micro-delta, it is the first creek after Duskin. Once you find Rock House Branch, you start walking up the branch, immediately start heading to the right, (River Left on Rock House) there you will find the Duskin Creek hiking trail…from there head upstream young man…follow the trail, then you will come to a metal bridge, head further upstream…until it hurts…take a break …and walk some more…you can scout as you walk, try to use the streambed to leave no trace and impact the environment as lightly as possible, please don’t give paddlers a bad name.
Photo of Chad Lewis on RockHouse Branch Photo By Tom Bowen
Take Out:
This is the same take-out for the Piney River, and you will have about 3 miles of paddling on the Piney once you are done with Rock House Branch. The branch is less than a mile and a half +/- of paddling length. It has an upper confluence similar to Deep Creek, that lets the water gather up to make up enough water to start getting down the mountain in your boat.
Photo By Tom Bowen
Description:
Let’s start off right off the bat, it’s named Rock House Branch, not creek…but branch…and the easy fruit has been picked on new runs. Anything named branch, well you know it’s got to be small. Well this thing is tiny by anyone’s standards. Most moves are direct head-on slots, physical and most of the run has boat length wide rapids, but they constrict to less than that. If landing on rock and dodging trees aren’t your friend then head over to Duskin for a higher quality run that’s close by. You should have a cushioned bulkhead, a cheap paddle and already welded boat.
Photo of Chad Lewis on RockHouse Branch Photo By Tom Bowen
History and: Summary
Discovered (thru a paddlers eye but seen by many a hiker) on a hike on the Duskin Creek/Newby Hiking Trail during a drought, it could only be seen on a topo map or during the Duskin hike. From the Piney River it looks like a pile of rocks, due to its delta run out and is hard to see unless you are looking. If you are paddling the Piney it is the first creek coming in on river left after Duskin Creek, when it empties into the Piney.
It was first paddled by (C-1) Chad Lewis, (OC-1) Mike “Louie” Lewis, and (K-1) Mark Cumnock, with photographer Tom Bowen in April 2008, and with any small drainage, it could always use more water. The pictures listed below are from the first exploratory run.
E.L.F. Run on Rock Branch
Photo By Tom Bowen
None of the rapids have been named and with a chain saw party, short boats and an open gate this run could be a quick late spring afternoon run. Most of the moves are reminisce of GoForth Creek the same creek that runs into the Ocoee, except on a smaller micro-scale.
Photo of Mike "Louie" Lewis on RockHouse Branch Photo By Tom Bowen
Please note: For 99% of the paddling community this will not be a fun run or their cup of tea at all, did I mention its small and manky?
Photo of Mike "Louie" Lewis on RockHouse Branch Photo By Tom Bowen
So with that enjoy the pictures, and a special thanks to Tom Bowen for taking the pictures.
Just another one of the slides... Photo By Tom Bowen
