Amicalola River in Georgia

Trip Overview

We started our trip at the Hwy 53 Bridge in Dawsonville and floated south to Kelly Bridge. Put in around 2:00 pm with my wife, son, and friend.

Just below the bridge were some class three rapids, so we decide to walk around those and put in below them. That took about 30 min. to carry all the kayaks past them. Them we encountered many more smaller class 2 and 3 rapids that were a lot of fun, but you will get stuck a lot on the rocks. We all flipped over many times.

I would not recommend this trip for children under 12 unless there very experienced with a kayak. After about 2 hours of rapids and getting stuck on rocks we finally hit a little calmer water. There's a lot of beautiful scenery including some huge rock walls.

All in all the trip was good, but make sure to put in early. We did not make it to Kelly Bridge until 8:30 pm. It was almost dark and my son did not like that. Total trip time is 6 1/2 to 7 hrs.

Fees:

3$ parking at Kelly Bridge Rd.

Directions:

From Dawsonville take 53 west toward Tate, GA. The bridge is about 8 miles from Dawsonville. There's a great place to put in at the bridge with parking for free.

The get to point is located off of Kelly Bridge Rd. Just follow 53 further west to Handy Corners gas station turn left at the station follow that road to the stop sign that will be Kelly Bridge Rd. Turn left; the bridge is about 4 miles. There's a great place to park there for just 3$ parking.