Toccoa River in Georgia

Trip Overview

We stayed near Mineral Bluff, GA near Blue Ridge. We had a great time canoeing, hiking and hanging out. We saw Falls Branch Falls, Sea Creek Falls and Amicalola Falls.

On Tuesday, my mom and I paddled to the cabin from Tammen Park (south of the river on the east side of GA 515 just north of Blue Ridge). I figure it was about 4 miles and took about 2 hours. It's mostly flat with many little class I ledges. We scraped the canoe on many rocks and had to get out and walk once.

On Wednesday, we paddled from the cabin to a nice take-out on the north side of the river past Curtis Switch Road bridge. To get to the access, turn on Curtis Switch Road from Hwy 60, turn right before the Curtis Switch Road bridge and follow the gravel road to the public access. It was probably 2 miles from the cabin and took 45 minutes. We repeated this trip on Thursday afternoon with the Blue

Ridge Dam running 1 generator (~1700 cfs) and the trip only took 25 minutes.

On Friday, my brother's kids took turns riding while we paddled up from the cabin about 1/4 mile and back. In the afternoon, he and his wife paddled (floated) down to Curtis. On Saturday, my brother and I repeated to Tammen Park to cabin run. I wanted to paddle to McCaysville, but didn't get a chance.

We scouted the Toccoa above the lake at Deep Hole Campground, Dial Bridge, Shallowford Bridge and Aska Road, but decided that we needed more information and more experience to negotiate the larger class II-III rapids there. I hope to go back and raft it sometime.

Make sure you check the Blue Ridge Dam release schedule (800-238-2264 then 4 then 23) before you paddle the Toccoa between Blue Ridge and McCaysville. Take-out (and put-in) can be very difficult at high flows, and logs in the middle of the river and trees sticking out into the river can cause hazardous conditions. Although at 1700 cfs at the Dam, you can just about paddle right onto the grass at Curtis.

Directions:

Put-in: Go North on GA 515/US 76 from Blue Ridge, GA. Turn right into Tammen Park before crossing the river. Put in at wooden stairs in Tammen Park.

Take-out: Go North on GA 515/US 76 from Blue Ridge, GA. Turn left at stoplight onto GA 60. Go about 4.5 miles and turn left onto Curtis Switch Rd. Go about 1.5 miles and turn right on N Toccoa River Rd. Follow dirt road to the public access. Turn left into the public access.

Resources:

Topographical maps from NASA's World Wind 1.3.