Trip Report: Lower Ocoee River: Dam #1 to Dentville Rd Ramp on the Hiwassee
13 July 2024
Trip Lead: BG Smith
On an extremely hot afternoon, literally 96 degrees in the shade, as the song goes, 18 paddlers met up at the Ocoee Dam #1 ramp for the 12.25 mile trip down to the mouth of the Ocoee at the Hiwassee River, where we then paddled up stream for a quarter mile before taking out at the Dentville Rd ramp near 2 Rivers Campground. After the trip about a dozen of us headed over to Los Poblanos for for tacos and tequila!
The Dam #1 ramp area was crazy busy with all sorts of kayakers, rafters, and tubers all with the same idea ... cool off on a hot Summer day! TVA supported us by operating 2 generators. As a result, we made the 12 plus mile trip in 3 hours and 15 mins total which included a 20 minute rest stop near Nancy Ward Park. That is moving right along and almost 4 miles an hour. The Ocoee never fails to impress with outstanding scenery and shady passages.
The most excitement we had was a couple errant wrong turns by a couple drivers during the shuttle! With 15 vehicles making the trip on a busy day, the last 3 sort of got lost! It was a "Where's Waldo" moment. Two managed to save the day, but the third got further confused then ended up snarled in a traffic accident and missed the trip. Importantly though, he did manage to recover in time to meet us at Los Poblanos! I call that a win!