Fowler Creek is usually first seen from Hwy 64 as you drive across the lip of Toxaway Falls. There are spots to pull over, park, and take a look. The bridge isn't considered as access point to the river or Gorges State park- the Park boundary is down river and way out of site. There are no official trails anywhere along the river, but it can be accessed by parking at the lot on Frozen cr. rd. and either walking down Auger rd. or Cane Brake rd. The Cane Brake rd. leads to the point where the river dumps into Lake Jocassee.
Think back to the last time you stood at the put in of a new run and the view downstream was enough to make you think twice about the long descent ahead. Toxaway Falls spills over some very colorful bedrock in a 240ft. elevation change before the river disappears into the forest. Fowler Creek has it all. East coast sunshine, Huge flume rapids and slides pouring off the Blue Ridge Mountains, and a four-mile hike out.
Billy Jones and I were in the middle of a month long paddling trip when we made it to North Carolina. After five days running the Green River Narrows @ a summer time 100 percent, Transylvania Co. received 2" of rain over night. The next morning we had options. The Culasaja River at a high flow or take a chance on Fowler creek being in.
On September 03, 2003 Billy Jones and I hooked up with Ashville paddlers Daniel DeLavergne, Nate Elliot, and Al Gregory. Daniel was cool enough to let us crash on his couch, watch new LVM footage, and show us the lines through Fowler cr. Big thanks to these guys.
The run: 3.5 miles Gradient: 1,600ft. (top of first gorge to botom of second) Steepest mile: 640ft. Portages: ? (Depends how you feel that day) Hike out: 4 miles (3 up hill)
The best thing about slides is that the ride lasts a lot longer than a vertical drop. The same nervousness still comes with every scout, but the time between point A (above the horizon line) and point B (end of the rapid) and the number of braces you have to make multiply. We’re not as fortunate to have that many slides here in the northwest. We still have the goods; it’s just a different style of goods.
We took a few minutes to look back upstream then made our way down into the first gorge. The creek drained out of the left side of the pool, then turns into the best read and run whitewater for a little over a mile. A narrow slide that twists, turns, gets steeper, then drop you off a fifteen foot dome type falls.
At the first rapid we got out to scout, it had a shallow entrance with a tree across the top. At first glance this on had portage written all over it. The slide gets narrow at the top and drops toward the right wall creating a huge rooster tail that kicks back left and on down the slide. I grabbed the camera and headed halfway down the slide to video while Nate gets in his boat, slides into the current, flies out the other side of the rooster tail and down the slide. Daniel went next and had a similar line. Al slide in, disappears and the bottom of a yellow Huck comes flying out of the other side, skidding and bouncing down the rest of the slide. After a quick beating in the hole below he rolls up and paddles into the pool. Billy went next and had a similar line. O.K. 50/50 chance??? I went with my first impression of this one and walked it.
Many long slides follow. A couple with down trees, one portage was required for wood. After a couple more read and run rapids we came around the corner to a river wide tree down stream of a horizon line and upstream of the mist. The rapid itself was another long slide that sloped left then back right, the tree was just above head level. No problem, duck the tree, eddy out on river right at the bottom to start the next portage. Below this rapid the rapid the creek immediately dropped into a huge narrow slide. It starts with a twenty-five foot slide that drops right and into a couple ugly sieves. This section had to be portaged. After the sieves the rapid funnels into a narrow shoot then drops out of sight??? Daniel had informed us before we put on that we would have one unportagable / unscoutable rapid. Well, here we are, Energizer Rapid!!!
Nate and Al had already run the rapid by the time I finished the top portage and made it to the seal launch. Daniel puts on his skirt, looks back and says, “Keep a little left angle and be aware of a rock halfway down on the right wall. It’s not really an issue, but keep your elbows in.” He shoves off, drops over the horizon line. One Mississippi, two Mississippi… eleven Mississippi, twelve Mississippi, he’s in the pool. I give the thumbs up to Billy. Holly shit that was a long time. Billy drops in??? Same thing. I push off the seal launch. Get to the horizon line with a little left angle, look over. Wow, this will be over quick, but that’s a long way. I stay on a low left brace most of the way down; take a right stroke to pull me back lift then through the hole at the bottom. I sub out, fall right against the wall. Then roll up with the best feeling in the world. You know what that feels like. It’s the same feeling you get every time you step it up, the stick you line, but at the top of this one, I had no idea this was my next step up rapid. On Billy’s way down he curled up the stern on his H3, which popped out his drain plug. So after a quick safety meeting and a new drain plug carded out of foot foam, we were back in the water.
We had just finished the top gorge on Fowler creek. We came through a short class three section. Close to the end of this there was a log across the creek about six feet overhead. Billy tossed his paddle up and almost over it. It stalls on the top of the log for a second then drops behind him. He turns to look downstream where the current picks up and rolls over what looks like a five to six foot horizon line. Nate, who was just ahead of me floats by the paddle, grabs it and as Billy turns back upstream, Nate launches a perfect football throw twenty feet into Billy’s hands. We paddled through a few more ledges then arrived at the top of Double Forty.. A pair of big slides with thin lines down the right side. We had to run a short ledge at the top and eddy out on river left. Billy runs the ledge and it shoots him to river right. After a brief scare of almost giving it up to Double Forty he pulled himself into a one boat eddy at the top of the first falls and mad his way back to river left. We walked around, got back in and soon we were at a land bridge. Here the creek drops thirty-five feet into a river wide crack. The river pours into this crack and about five feet down from the crack is an eight foot wide land bridge that crosses the whole creek. Below the crack the creek flows straight out and down a sixty plus foot slide. Nate, Daniel, and Al ran this one by seal launching off the land bridge and straight into the main current, moving lift as it fanned out at the bottom. After another minute of looking at this slide Billy and I made the steep walk around.
After getting back in, straight ahead the creek tightened up on the left side and dropped over a horizon line with no visible mist behind it. Wintergreen Falls? Yeah, at the top of Wintergreen drop a near vertical thirty-five feet before launching you through the next forty feet of slide. Wintergreen was in the seventy plus range. Fowler Creek had just dropped us out of the final gorge with the last mile dropping well over four hundred feet. From here it was a mile and a half of log chocked class three ledges to the take out. At the take out we had a quick lunch and stuffed our gear in our boats for the long hike out. The first three miles were uphill, long and painful. The last mile was flat so we drug our boats out to the truck.
This is definitely a creek boaters Disneyland! The next time you find yourself sitting in the Northwest with no water, while the east coast is getting pounced on by thunderstorms every night go to Asheville, NC and get the goods.
After the take out of Fowler the creek drops over several unrunnable falls (Chub Falls and Step around Falls) as it makes it’s way down into South Carolina.
By: Ryan Scott