Canoeing the Etowah

I am planning a canoe trip for the fall somewhere on the Etowah River. I am looking to cover enough distance to make it a Friday afternoon- SUnday morning/afternoon trip.
I have not found anything every helpful as far as camp spots, speed of the water, water level, rapids, ect. If anyone can help it would be much appreciated.

I enjoy a canoe on the Etowah. Except for the Lockheed property (and I am not sure about the rules there), however, camping is problematical. Over the last 30 years the farmers have given way to horse folks who prefer you not trespass.

I have never gotten on before Auraria (Castleberry Rd). One good day is to Hwy 9, where there is a new landing park on the right after the bridge. (Lot to see on this stretch - the tunnel, the remains of the old dredge, the Old Fields, etc.

After that, it is a three to four hour float through the Lockheed property to the $3pay Kelly Bridge Rd. private takeout. This is the most pristine section remaining, as Atlanta owns the south side, and a good bit of the north is part of the Amicalola management area. My favorite stretch to fish, as well.

Then about five to the Old Federal Rd takeout, and three to Yellow Creek Rd, at least four to Ball Ground Rd (a good section) - then a long three past a Cherokee fish weir to the processing plant @ Gober. On this stretch is a possible camp on the left in the WMA - again, I am unfamiliar w/possible rules.

After that, you are getting close to Canton, with the next easy takeout being at Canton's ball fields. Finally, six more hours (mostly paddling- the current dies) will take you to Knox Bridge takeout at Hwy twenty and lake Allatoona.

wa

I forgot your other questions:

Water speed in the fall will be less than three mph. (unless it has recently rained) If you could simply float w/o paddling, maybe a mile an hour for a loaded canoe. (But there is too much to see to just float through)

The only "rapid" is the waterfall just upstream of Castleberry Road. Surely someone has tried it, but I always entered at Castleberry. The water above the falls is skinny.

You must exercise caution at the tunnel. I am scared of snakes and thus have never run it. The story is that if you can see light at the end, it is ok. You probably already know this, but it was cut in the 1870's (?) to expose the streambed for gold dredging.

There is a hundred yard "slide" over solid rock on the run west of Ball Ground road, but that doesn't qualify as a rapid.

There are other places you //might// have trouble, but in most spots, if you see a worrisome area, you can step out and look. Think of the Etowah as a "neighborhood" river.

Levels are usually good in the spring and thinnest in the fall. (This is universal in Georgia rivers in normal weather.)

The Cherokee/Creek battle for supremacy in the area north of Standing Peachtree (about 1740) was approximately where Long Swamp Creek enters the river.
The Etowah old fields (Cherokee) are at the crossings of the Dahlonega Rd and the river and at Yellow Creek Rd.
The entire river just west of Auraria was dug and redug in the early 19th century in the gold search.
There are books and books of this stuff, so I will stop.


wa

WOW, thanks for the info. Good stuff. Is it do-able in the fall or is the water too low?
The section I have been looking at is between Cartersville and Rome... any experiance with that section? (Below lake Altoona)

Catersville>Rome on the Etowah

Still pretty, and absolutely worth doing.

From the Allatoona dam down half a mile, it is a lot of work for little gain, because of a small impoundment.

The next couple of miles include the mounds (on your right). Everyone should see the mounds from the river - it's what they call an Aaha! moment.

How the Indians envisioned it when all the trees and other growth was there beats me, but to look at it now it seems to be a most obvious place on the river for a town - (remember - the Cherokee "took the waters" every morning). A stop here is well worth your time.

After that, I would refer you to the DNR Etowah River map, in three sections, on their website. With enough
time, you can get to the Gulf, but the first 60 miles is the prettiest to me.

I do not recall anything after the mounds that cannot be gotten over or around, but in any case the map has been updated since I was there. I did use a battery motor on my square stern because, except in spring, the current is slow because of the dams, and the distances are longer.

Between the last backup in Cartersville and maybe five miles east of Rome there are some truly beautiful (flatwater) floats. Except for the power plant, the banks obscure the 21st century.

Were I you I would get to know the upper sections first - if you are young, they will be rich folks' backyards by the time you retire.

An easy four hours is the Lockheed tract, or for an overnight (if someone will spot you) try Yellow Creek to
the processing plant with a stop at the WMA, if it is legal.

wa

Allenww, where would be the best place to put in and take out with some deep holes to turn a 3-4 hr float into a days catfishing trip. I want to fish the upper river.

Etowah catfish

I have never caught a catfish in the Etowah, so I have no experience to offer.

But if you need deep holes, the downstream sides of many bridges have the deeper pools. Trees and limbs and trash collect on the piers during low water in summer and fall, forcing the water into a relatively narrow flow. If we get our normal spring rains, that flow becomes a scouring jet
until the pressure clears the jam.

Other than that, the lazy S of the Dawson Forest/Lockheed
section has the slowest flow (it is fritter flat) and hence the deepest water on the upper section.

You used to get on at the bridge at the north end of Dawson Forest. You can take out at the new park provided by Dawson County at Hwy 9 or go on down to the $3 takeout at Kelley Bridge. If you just floated it, the whole run would be 6-7 hours.

Hwy 9 to Kelley Bridge takes a long 4 to float; I have easily spent an entire day on that section alone, fishing and poking around.

In the last mile, the Amicalola enters from the north. Be sure to allow enough time to fish all the down tree parts in
the still water of the first hundred yards up the Amicalola.

wa

Great info. Thanks so much.
Any idea of the water speed in spring?

Etowah current speed

Been working on this one for a week.

I thought surely some of my old riverbum friends would have a "velocity meter" I could borrow.
But no, they are as clueless as me.

So I return to my old refrain - "really, really fast" when the river is high, and about three miles per hour the rest of the time.

wa

WA provided some great info on the upper Etowah. Dawson county has a brochure on the section from their canoe park to Kelley Bridge.

http://www.dawsonville.com/new/documents/2008-2009/Canoe Put-in Brochure.pdf

On a "Flat water" section of the Etowah just above Canton, I was floating along and my GPS said I was moving 5MPH. That is slow for rush hour, but I promise you it is screaming fast in a canoe. Paddle a little and you are up to 7MPH. This would not be a good place for an out of boat experience! A rock or stick would make a mark if you hit it.

On my last tunnel section trip on the Etowah, we couldn't even find a place to stop for lunch. If you want to camp, you will almost certainly have to make arrangements with a private land owner first. Anytime would could stop and get out of the boat, the land was posted no trespassing.

Come paddle with us and see some new rivers.
www.gapaddle.com

If you camp on the Etowah below Allatoona, beware of the power generation schedule. Hydroelectric Generation from Allatoona can drastically affect river levels and water speed. We camped it once in high school before I knew to look for the generation schedule. We camped on a Cobble Beach that had a very steep incline further from the river. After an upstream generation, we started having problems about 10 PM. Problem 1 - all of the snakes and other critters that were getting flooded out also wanted to be on our beach too, so we literally had to keep watch for them all night until our flashlight batteries died. Problem 2 - the spot where we originally had our fire and tents was in knee deep swift moving water. Problem 3 - there were only a few feet of "beach" left before the very steep bank and we had no where to go with all of our boats and gear. We ended up staying up all night and leaving with the first sign of light. It made for a memorable story and learning experience.

cheeber said:

If you camp on the Etowah below Allatoona, beware of the power generation schedule. Hydroelectric Generation from Allatoona can drastically affect river levels and water speed. We camped it once in high school before I knew to look for the generation schedule.

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I hear ya there. When I was younger and had less sense I camped on a sandbar about 5 miles downstream from a dam (different dam, different river). That was a much smaller dam but even so when I woke up at 4AM my tent was not by the river but in the river. Luckily it was only a few inches of water. Just enough for my and my friend (we were 15 I think) to learn a lesson we wouldn't forget.

You might see if your local library has "Canoing and Kayaking Georgia" by Suzanne Welander, Bob Sehlinger, and Don Otey. It looks good to me but I've also not paddled anywhere in GA yet so I haven't had the chance to compare what I observe with what the book tells me.

-Dan

I know this is an old post -- but a question for any one who has experience paddling on the Etowah.

Is it possible to put in at the park on GA 9 -- and float downstream -- and then paddle back to my car?

I am pretty strong paddler and paddle against the current a lot on other streams and rivers -- but there are obviously limits on what is possible.

Thanks for your help. I was driving around that area yesterday and would love to paddle it.

Depends on how far downstream, how wet you want to get, and canoe versus kayak.

Between hwy 9 and Kelly Bridge, there are 2 sets of rapids (fairly far downstream) that you won't be paddling upstream through but I've pulled out down stream of them in both a canoe and kayak and portaged back around the rapids followed by a bit of wading to be able to go through the rapids again.

I've paddled upstream in some of the other sections in a kayak which is easier than in a canoe and also have paddled upstream some in a tandem canoe (with another paddler) when we were looking for some stragglers in our group (found them with about 300lbs of water in their canoe).

It is probably mostly doable but I haven't really had that in mind the whole way down that section. You might want to just do the Hwy 9 to Kelly Bridge section downstream once and judge for yourself. Appalachian Outfitters will shuttle you plus your canoe or kayak from the take out back to hwy 9. We tend to use them instead of bringing two cars just for the convenience and so the whole family can ride up together. The usual deal is park at the take out and they shuttle you and your stuff up to hwy 9 so when you are done, you are at your car.

-Dan

Thank you very much Dan.