Nantahala Spills & the Best Whitewater Week All Year

It's no secret that the Southeast has been getting dumped on by heavy rains throughout fall. For paddlers, it's been a stellar season to get out and paddle big water on warm fall days. In addition to all the water in natural-flow rivers, Duke Energy announced last week that it will be spilling water into the Upper Nantahala channel in November.


From Duke Energy's Press Release:
With a prolonged outage at Nantahala Hydro Station and higher than expected rainfall, Duke Energy is expecting to begin releasing water through a gate at the Nantahala Lake Dam on Monday, November 2. On a weekly basis Duke Energy will post an update to our operating plan on the Nantahala Lake and Rivers website. Please note that the website will be updated by noon on Monday projecting operations for the week looking forward.

Thanks to Duke Energy for managing and communicating these spills on the Upper Nanty. If you plan to paddle this section of the Nantahala, be sure to use caution when parking along Wayah Road. A little extra care in these instances can help safeguard future recreational releases and keep everyone safe.

In addition to the Upper Nantahala, the Cheoah River in far western NC is scheduled to release at 1,000 cfs from 9am-5pm Saturday, November 7, and Georgia's Tallulah River is releasing Saturday and Sunday from 9:30am-4pm. The Chattooga River has been running above 2 feet and the Nolichucky River is currently running well above 1,000cfs. For the latest information about river flows, check out AW's River Info Page.


Don't forget "the single most famous, most respected, and most competitive creek race on the planet," the Green River Race is this Saturday, November 7 beginning at noon. NOC instructor Andrew Holcombe still holds the open division record in the Green Race, and instructor Laura Farrell won the women's division in a tie last year. For more information about the Green River Race, visit this page on American Whitewater.

Anyway you slice it, this weekend's paddling prospects are looking awesome. Visit noc.com and vote for which river you'll be paddling in this week's poll!