Fontana Hat Trick
| River: | Tuckaseegee |
| Skill: | Intermediate |
| Trip Date: | 03/08/2025 |
Date: March 8, 2025: Start time: Met, 9:00 am, Paddling 9:30 am. Finished the Hat Trick at 4:30 pm.
Paddlers: Tom Womble, Bruce Heater, Michael Moen, Scott Schilling
River Sections: Tuckasegee (Lower Town Tuck), Little Tennessee (Narrows), Nantahala (Below Wesser Falls)
Gauges: Fontana Lake – 1655 Ft, Tuckasegee River at Bryson City – 1640 CFS, Little Tennessee River at Rattlesnake/Panther Branch – 980 CFS, Nantahala River at Hewitt – 715 CFS
Weather: Mid to upper 50s all day, mostly sunny, mild breeze in the flat water sections.
One of my favorite sayings is: “Some of the best stories begin as a bad idea.” Fortunately lumping three short river trips into one day was not a completely bad idea, but definitely on the high side for exertion, especially early in the paddle season. I have done each section on individual days at different water levels. For some reason I thought it would be fun to try to knock out all three in one day.
Fontana Lake was created in the 1940s during World War 2 with the completion of Fontana Dam. Without going into a full history lesson, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), electricity demand, war effort, flood control, imminent domain, displaced communities. Result; 238 miles of shoreline impounding 10230 acres of lake surface area, bordered on the north by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the south by Swain and Graham counties. Three large western North Carolina Rivers terminate in Fontana Lake. More information is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontana_Dam.
Key Fact: TVA lowers the lake around 55 or so feet during the winter every year to accommodate winter and spring rains. The lowest point is typically in January. From Memorial Day to Labor Day the lake is at “full pool” for summer recreation. During CCC’s Week of Rivers, you are seeing full pool. The rest of the time it is either rising or falling. Visit: https://www.tva.com/environment/lake-levels/fontana/operating-guide to see the predicted and observed lake levels for the past few years. You can see the spike last fall from Hurricane Helene and the recent spike from winter rains and how the level is managed. If, by viewing the graph, you’re thinking we got as much rain recently as we did in the hurricane last fall, the shape of the lake bottom is basically a cone. The lower the lake is, the faster it rises. I’m sure there is a math person who can do the integral on that and figure out the gallons of water, math, math, math.
Leg 1: Everyone met on time at the Tuckasegee access in Bryson City, commonly known as the Ingles takeout. This is where most Town Tuck trips end in the summer time. We quickly set shuttle to the Old 288 Boat Ramp in Monteith Park. (20 minutes round trip). The river starts off flat, but steadily moving and gradually picks up velocity as the gradient increases. Our water level was good (1640 CFS). I would not want to go much below that. In the final half mile there are many ledges to negotiate and a fair number of nice surf spots to play around in, but we kept moving. Being early in the day, we saw several Great Blue Heron on the rocks and flying. The takeout was easy at the Old 288 Boat Ramp and we were able to get all four boats on one vehicle for the second put-in. Of the three runs, this one has the most potential for more exploration and playing, since the takeout is so easy and the river is mostly roadside.
Leg 2: We passed by the first put-in for the second run, picked up the vehicles and convoyed 7 miles to Hipsher Cove on the Little Tennessee. It is the pull off just before you cross the Little Tennessee on US 19/74. I scouted the takeout several days earlier and of the three, this is definitely the most challenging. We piled back in Michaels “extended” cab truck and headed to the Sawmill Creek access, which is off of NC Highway 28S. Another decent water level (980 CFS) awaited us. In hindsight, more would have been nicer, but you take what you’re given. I ran this section last year at 2500 CFS and it was a hoot. The Little Tennessee has ledges very similar to the Town Tuck and the Panther Branch Section is commonly run during Week of Rivers. Warmed up from the first run, we immediately started negotiating the ledges here. It was a great read/run exercise with only a couple of hangups. Ten minutes into the run, the river rounds a bend and gets noticeably narrower and steeper. Hence the name “The Narrows” section. The “Brain Rock” high on the river right is the landmark. Common Beta is to just stay to the right to avoid the potentially massive holes on the left. I would modify that now to right of center, but not too close the river right bank, as there are some munchy little diagonals along the right bank. At today’s level, the boulders that form the potentially massive holes on the left were clearly visible and well out of the water. (Note: Scouting from the right is not really possible as the bank is steep sediment. Scouting from river left is possible if you get over soon enough. The ferry to get back to the other side and the desired line is then potentially very challenging for an inexperienced paddler. They could end up in position above the drop without good downstream momentum. I think it’s better just to run it straight.) We had one spill at the narrows and quickly recovered due to great self rescue skills. “Be a part of your own rescue.” We say that at Week of Rivers. After the Narrows there was another 200 yards of fun ledges and then some moving flat water before the takeout. I chose to use the creek cascade on the upstream side the highway bridge as our takeout. We then roped the boats up the muddy bank and did the hundred yards of fun steady climb and a little mud up to Hipsher Cove Road, quickly loading in the tiny pulloff at the trailhead. We then retrieved Michael’s truck from the put-in and had a quick lunch back at the Hipsher Cove Parking area.
Leg 3: From Hipsher Cove we convoyed US 19/74 to the Fontana Lake access just past Finger Lake on NC highway 28N and dropped three vehicles. We then headed to the Nantahala Outdoor Center, turned right after going over the train tracks and parked down past the lower bath house. We quickly unloaded and got the boats across the tracks before the train arrived, which would have added a couple hundred yards to the carry. We looked at Wesser Falls and said a collective “Nope” and put in downstream across from where Wesser Creek spills into the Nantahala River. The train arrived as we were launching and we were certainly the subject of a few stares and photos. Heading down from Wesser, Scott commented, “Yep, this is the Nantahala,” but without the road alongside. It was typical “fun between the named Nantahala rapids” type paddling. Our flow was good (715 CFS + some from Wesser Creek) After reaching Bird Falls on river right, the current died down and we were faced with a 1.6 mile lake paddle to get to the takeout. Had the lake been 10 feet lower, we would have had maybe a 1.3 mile lake paddle. Of course, with fatigue setting in, a steady breeze faced us the entire way to the takeout. My wife photographed us from the train as it passed by on river left as we reached the takeout. The walk up the clay ramp was about 150 yards of 10 percent grade, so enough to finish the day out of breath and ready for refreshments.
A great day on the waters of Swain County. Not something to do all the time, but certainly worth revisiting.
