Nantahala or Ocoee

[gfitzge7]

I am headed out east with my brother and sister. We are looking at rafting on the Ocoee or the Nantahala. We have never been whitewater rafting. Plenty of time spent on the Mulberry, Boxley, and some on Lee Creek. Which will be more fun and provide the best experience. We want tome excitement.

[Eric Esche]

I'm a tad biased having been a raft guide and safety boat there for 14 years, but I would rate them:

1. Chattooga
2. Ocoee
3. Nantahala

I know that was one more selection than you added, but if you are going to pay for a raft trip, it is not that much farther over to Clayton. Even at bump and grind low water levels, the scenery and experience on the Chattooga section IV is still better. IF you can't get on IV, I'd pass on the Thrift's Ferry to Woodall Shoals run the outfitters try to sell you as a raft trip and go to the Ocoee or the Nantahala instead. If the water level ever jumps while you are there (water level usually has to be over 2.5 to do this), and they offer an Earl's ford to Bull Sluice run of 13.7 miles, THAT is the real section III and worth doing. It's a long day, but very pretty.

Now if you want the coldest water, go with the Nantahala. Ocoee is a great place to play boat, but it has always been a gutter on the side of a mountain road to me, and more of a carnival ride in raft, sometimes bordering on being a zoo due to over crowding. Nantahala similar, but less so and a little more scenic. Chattooga is a wild and scenic river, the others are not. I've run the Ocoee and Nantahala 60 times or so each for variety, with friends, at HIGH water, and when starting out, but I ran the Chattooga over 2000 times and never tired of it.

Got guide books if you want to read any of them and several hundred slides.

Also - the trips on Section IV are guided trips - one guide per raft plus a safety boat. Trips on the Nantahala and the Ocoee CAN be "unguided missles" with only one or two guides in one or two of the rafts and a safety boat to work as sheep dog.

Prices are usually cheaper during the week than on the weekends or on holidays and easier to book.

Hope you have a good time where ever you go. Be aware that while the raft companies will try to accomodate you by trying to keep your group together in a raft, they may have to split you up to "balance" the raft crews, even with reservations, and that booking agents can make promises like military recruiting personel.

Eric Esche

[super ez]

One question I have: guided or unguided?

If guide and if running Chattooga is a beautiful. and exciting... Ocoee in a raft may be exciting also

If unguided.. the Nanty to start with

[pnut]

by the way there is NO SUCH THING as a commercially unguided trip on the Ocoee in fact it is ILLEGAL to rent a raft to someone without a guide so be rest assured that your Ocoee trip if you chose one will be guided, depending on water levels I think the best trip NOC offers would be a combo on the Ocoee (unless the water is 1.2 to 1.6 on chattooga) on the combo trip you get the upper ocoee including olympic course as well as the middle, a trip snack and a safety boater and plenty of excitement, now if you go to the nanty you would get a chance to guide the boat yourself but I don't think it would offer the excitement you are looking for so I would advise not going to the nanty and going to either the chattooga (if there is enough water) or do the combo on the Ocoee.

pnut

[gfitzge7]

Thanks everyone, prob doing the Ocoee or Chattooga we will decide tonight. We were planning on doing a gueided trip. Thanks for the info. I can not wait to get to Tennesee.

[Fish]

If Upper Ocoee is running, then the full Ocoee trip (Upper and Middle) is definitely the way to go. Chattooga IV is an unforgettable trip, but you can't plan on good water levels in the summer. I agree that I'd much rather run the Chattooga for the scenery, but, if it's really low (below 1.4 or so), I'd opt for the Ocoee as a better overall rafting experience. Ocoee scenery is not nearly as good, but the whitewater on Ocoee is always great!

As has been said, get a guide on everything except the Nanty. There you can rent "duckies" - inflatable kayaks - and paddle solo as well.

- Fish

[Eric Esche]

Thanks for updating me on the Ocoee. There used to be a lot of unguided commercial rafts on it. Glad to see they have stopped that. I was afraid they were going to get a lot of folks hurt that way who didn't have any respect for the water or the rocks. I remember trips where you would have 6 rafts from 2 companies piled up on the same rock and folks scattered all over the river wanting to be rescued. I came down as point for a group from Georgia Tech on one trip and we wound up rescueing 30 folks with ropes and boats before we moved on.