15 paddlers from TVCC met up with 26 from NERA at 9 am at the put-in ramp on the first section of the Oostanaula river near Resaca, GA on 7/23/16.
We ran shuttle and put on for the 11 mile paddle.
There are several old Indian fish weirs and dams on this section as the nearby New Echota was the center of the Cherokee nation. For the fish weirs they hand built a dam at an angle across the river with rocks to channel the fish into a narrow channel so that they could catch them. They are still in amazingly good condition.
We paddled for about 2 hours and then stopped on a great little beach for a break. It was pretty hot so it felt really good to take a dip.
When the main group set off again about a dozen paddlers wanted to swim a bit more, so by the time they got back on there was quite a gap between them and the rest of the group.
At the take out we loaded up, and just as the main group was leaving a thunderstorm rolled in. We thought it would pass over in about 15 minutes, but then another storm approached from the other direction and collided with the first storm. It then stalled out over us and we had a 1.5 hour thunderstorm with a driving rain which forced the back group off the water for the 1.5 hour wait in the rain.
The main group took off at 2 pm with the others not getting off till 4 pm. Several of us waited to make sure they were ok and helped them load up.
Another great day on the river and one that the soaked ones will not soon forget I’m sure!
We got about 2 inches of rain and yet by the time I’d driven 10 miles the ground was bone dry.