Georgia Natural Wonder #78 – Mossy Creek. 565

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #78 – Mossy Creek

Oh man this looks wicked. You can probably tell from my wonders so far, that I take great stock in the water wonders. We have already covered beaches, swamps, waterfalls, and now rapids on the last few, Cartecay River and Upper Chattahoochee River. Well let’s get serious about whitewater with Mossy Creek. These photo’s really show that Georgia has some world class kayak runs. I am moving this to the top of my list for the rest.



To get to Mossy Creek, take I-85 north to I-985. Continue on I-985 through Gainesville where it becomes Hwy 23/441 to Tallulah and Clayton. Engage cruise control and talk to your friends until you reach the first stoplight. Then, stop talking, start concentrating,and continue on. Pass a hill covered with old school buses on road left, and pass the Habersham Winery tasting room. At the next light, turn left onto Hwy 384 (AKA Duncan Bridge Road) and continue through two intersections. After crossing the Chattahoochee (Wildwood Outpost, on the right), take the second left onto New Bridge Rd. Continue 3.7 miles to the bridge over Mossy Creek (it is the SECOND bridge).



Gauge Description: Look for the ledges on the upstream side of the put-in to be well covered. If its looks like your boat would drag at all on the rocks at the put in, then there is not enough water. If you see standing waves at the put-in, then Mossy is too high. Mossy is generally run when everything else is at flood. Look for the Chattooga to be 3 feet and rising, or the Upper Hooch to be 5 feet and going up.



At low flows Mossy is a relatively forgiving run. Class 3/4 until the holes start to get big. The biggest danger would be running a slide inverted (Ouch!!!).Mossy at high flows is no place for novices. The holes get big, the rapids are long and the pools get short. World class boaters have had bruising swims and have lost boats here.

Put-in: The put-in for Mossy is the bridge at New Bridge Road.

Take-out: The take-out is at Mossy Creek State Park, where Mossy Creek confluences with the Chattahoochee.



There is a parking area at the confluence, but 4 wheel drive may be required.

Confluence Take-out:

Take Newbridge Road from the put-in to Skitts mtn road. Take a left. Take a left on Skitts mtn drive. From intersection of Skitts Mountail Road and Skitts Mountain Drive (.2 miles south of hall/White County line), Homeplace Road is .6 miles east on Skitts Mountain Drive (past the intersection where Callus Mill Road goes left and Morrison Road goes right). Follow the dirt road down about a mile or two. It will sorta end in a cul-de-sac, but the road will continue on into an area Marked off by the Georgia DNR. At this point DNR has mostly blocked off the road on down to the mossy/hooch confluence. We left the truck here. From the confluence up to the truck was about a 10 or 15 minute carry.


Good floating on Chattahoochee at Mossy Creek State Park.

Now I have never been here and I saw several sites some old and some new that describe directions and floats. It sounds like you go past Wildwood Outfitters on Duncan Bridge Road check in with them for all information whitewater rafting in this area of state.

RIVER DESCRIPTION

Mossy starts with about a mile of flatwater. The first rapid you come to is a small 4 foot tall riverwide ledge. Shortly after this is a small S-turn rapid with a variety of routes. This is followed by more flatwater.

Listing of Rapids

The first half-mile or so did little to focus us on the lessons, because there’s minimal gradient. But, soon enough we came upon What Rapids?

What rapids? (Class II, Mile 0.7)



The first slide on mossy. Its about 4 feet tall, and can be run anywhere. Its named after some skeptical comments a famous video boater made before he came around the corner and portaged the big slides. Neither of us actually came out of the boat and we readily negotiated Infinity, the next little S-turn rapid.

Infinity (Class II, Mile 0.9)



The river takes a hard left turn and makes a small drop. There are two midstream rocks you can weave around, and do some warm up eddy catching.

Then you come around a bend and see the mother of all horizon lines. Something not unlike being at the top of Oceana at Tallulah Gorge. This is the start of the slides. At low flows the first group features about 4 slides. At high flows those first four turn into one real big Class 5 slide/rapid thing. There will be a pretty grist mill off to the right below the first group of slides. At normal flows run the first one on the right. There is a decent sized pool between the first and second slide. The second and third slides are bisected by an island. After the first slide, the cleaner lines are on the left, so, run the next three slides on the left. After that there’s a good sized pool beside the old mill.

Infinity is followed by more flat water. Presumably, everyone learns in White Water 101 that flat water on steep creeks presages a big drop. But no one on our trip seemed to recall their beginner course and there was universal amazement when the group rounded a corner and the river was gone. Mossy completely disappeared from sight and all that was visible way way way below was a picturesque meadow and water wheel. I shouted, “Don’t scout, real men just gofer it.” Our first surprise for the newbies, this horizon line is an illusion. The first rapid (Waterwheel) is class IV+, drops 40′ or so, and includes four slides, each ending in a small recovery eddy and each bigger and tougher than the previous.

First Slide (Class IV+, Mile 1.1)



A large slide. Most of the water goes down the right side. Usually scouted (by the faint of heart) on the left. Easiest portage is on the right and requires paddling back upstream a bit. The next three ledges are best run on the left, primarily because there’s a mess of rebar on the right from the sluice that feeds the mill.

Second Slide (Class IV, Mile 1.2)



Second Slide. At higher flows the first three slides turn into one very large long slide. At those levels you are likely to run down the right side the whole way.

Third Slide (Class III+, Mile 1.2)



The third slide is marked my a midstream island. The left side is steeper than the right.

Fourth Slide (Class III+, Mile 1.2)



There's an eddy between the third and fourth slide, but they are pretty much on top of each other. At higher flows this drops makes a huge hole. At high levels, Waterwheel becomes one massive slide feeding a light-sucking, river-wide hole. If you un-ass here at flood, your boat will be gone for good. But if you get out of the hole, it’s an easy walk out up the driveway. There is a nice pool next to the mill.

Then there is the ledge slide. This one has about a 9 foot vertical drop into another big slide. This one forms a strong hole on the top right at high flows. After that there are still 4 more big slides before you get to the really big one, "Over the Bars". Water levels will dictate the lines on all of these. Scout what you can't see. After the big one, there are two more smaller slides and two class 3/4 boulder drops before you hit the confluence with the Chattahoochee. There are two undercuts on the left in the last series of drops.

Apparently, adrenalin had erased the preceding White Water 101 refresher lesson from our newbies minds because they seemed surprised by an even more awesome horizon line marking class IV+ Ratchet Rapid. The AWA web page has named this The Ledge (in disregard for us first-descender and first-published elder boaters). AWA also renamed other rapids, but I’m a traditionalist and will stick to our original names.

The Ledge (Class IV+, Mile 1.4)



At high flows this one is tricky. The hole on the right is really sticky, and below that is another 25 feet of sliding drop. At really high flows this drop can be snuck on the left - but that involves boating more on rock than water, then banging down the rest of the slide in the middle.

It wouldn’t hurt to scout Ratchet because it isn’t a simple slide, but rather begins with a 7 or 8′ vertical, which is followed by a 25′ or so drop over a series of ledges, each with its own hydraulic. It would not be amusing to do Ratchet inverted and would be even less fun to swim it. We usually run far right, boof into the eddy, traverse river left across the face, and drop into the remaining ledges where ever.If you’re going to boof, keep in mind that if you miss the eddy and plant into the hole you may have an unscheduled and prolonged visit with the resident river god. Alternatively, paddle like mad to get up enough speed to avoid pitoning, run just to the left of the hole, and continue straight on down. Ratchet can also be run down a staircase starting far left at the top and repositioning in the first ledge.Ratchet ends in a large pool.The next half-mile or so following Ratchet includes smaller falls and shoals. Then comes the BIG DROP……. Broken Butt Falls. It is now called Over The Bars. It will be obvious and you should seriously consider scouting. Screw it. This advice is superfluous. The horizon line is truly monstrous and scouting comes naturally.

Over the bars aka The big slide (Class IV+, Mile 1.8)



The biggest and steepest individual slide. Be careful at this one, there is a nasty piton rock at the bottom that wants to send short creek boats into the "over the bars" mode. In other words, you piton, then face plant.


Why we call it Over The Bars

Scout from behind the large boulder, river right. There is a hidden 6 boat eddy behind the rock. You'll know this is the big one when you come around the corner and see tree tops way on past the horizon line. Easiest portage is on the right. Broken Butt Falls drops at least 50′, at slightly less of an angle than Oceana. There is a multi-boat hidden eddy behind the big rock on the river right bank. First-timers should catch this eddy, do a nearly vertical drop into a small but not terribly technical eddy, then traverse left in the sluice, and complete the run down the middle. This is of course not mandatory, and two launching ramps make the far left line through Broken Butt Falls even more interesting. A half mile of so after Broken Butt Falls you’ll come around a tight bend and encounter Big Snake and Confederate Flag two class III+ twisting slides, each with multiple routes.

Big Snake (Class III+, Mile 2.4)



You'll come around a tight bend a see a rapid that is NOT a slide!?!?! This one features some twisting sliding turning routes. Start top right and work the multiple routes to the bottom. Last seen, the bottom right slot had a hidden death strainer that could not be seen from above. It was a log about 9 inchs thick that a boat would fit under, but not with a boater in the boat. Scary. Look before you leap.

Confederate Flag (Class III+, Mile 2.4)



Named after the Rebel Flag Painted on the rock on the bottom left. Ride the ramp down to the strong wave/hole the top left. Either eddy beside it, or make the quick move back to the right.

It appears as if all the action is over; you’re almost at the Chattahoochee and the interminable paddle to the take-out. However, Boulder Garden, Mossy’s most dangerous rapid (in terms of dying rather than a simple orthopedic injury), lurks just around the next bend. The entire river narrows considerably, snakes through a maze of boulders, and funnels by an undercut rock in which the river gods have chosen to store a strainer log. There are a bunch of must-hit eddies and it is imperative to make your lines, because if you mess up you have a better than even probability of drowning.

The S-Turn Undercut (Class III+, Mile 2.5)


There is a really bad tree in this one.

The last rapid before the confluence with the Hooch. A tricky little rapid with some nastily placed rocks, and an undercut on river left. The move is to stay away from and out of the undercut. This one gets easier as the water gets higher. One of our best boaters missed the line, broached on the log, and rolled under it. He was gone! By gone,I mean both he and his boat were invisible for at least 20 seconds before he flushed out (sans boat). For those of us who have done it,20 seconds defines the social limits of conversation with the river gods. Anyways, if you make it past this without practicing rescue and resuscitation, you have made it to Mossy Creek State Park.

UPDATE RE. CONFLUENCE TAKE-OUT

The concrete pillar at the turn onto the dirt road has been updated with a new (and much more readable) name: Homeplace Road. Due to new construction in the area, it looks more than ever like a driveway but goes just about exactly one mile to the DNR cul-de-sac/parking area. Good news is that the road has been recently maintained: bad news is that appears to be due to anticipated new construction along the road. No Trespassing signs abound along the road.


From the Mossy Creek State Park Facebook Page.

From intersection of Skitts Mountain Road and Skitts Mountain Drive (.2 miles south of hall/White County line), Homeplace Road is .6 miles east on Skitts Mountain Drive (past the intersection where Callus Mill Road goes left and Morrison Road goes right).



If you want to walk down to Mossy Creek at the confluence, follow the road/path that is at about 11:00 o'clock when you enter the gravel cul-de-sac/parking area. The path up the hill that passes the DNR sign (which says permits are required)pretty much disappears over the top of the hill, well short of the creek.



Well if we are going to do whitewater, we may as well do the best, and that is what it looks like on Mossy Creek.



Today’s GNW Gals Are Kayaking trio.



Another surprise, for me anyway, tomorrow.