Walnut Creek and its short drainage area begins on the upland hills just west of Clanton, AL. It flows under I-65 as a sluggish, pastoral stream. Just east of the interstate, Walnut takes on a significant change of character. Other small tributaries add to the flow. Below CR 32, gradient increases and you will find almost continuous action in the 3.5 mile section above Lake Mitchell. Three rapids are particularly challenging and reach class III. This is a tight, technical creek that has surprising drops compared to most streams in central Alabama. This run is for experienced paddlers. It is lot of fun at decent levels. The only real issue with this run is finding a place to take out. There is no public access point at the end of the creek on Walnut Creek cove on Lake Mitchell. If you do try to adlib your way into using someone’s lake house as a take out, please be very polite and courteous. The local people along the lake are generally very friendly and helpful.
Trip Report
Level: Medium/Good
Flow: 2000, falling to 1500
Gauge: Hatchet Creek
Clarity: Stained/Muddy
Weather: Near 40 - Cloudy skies
Section: CR 32 to Lake Mitchell
After a drought year in 2007, February of 2008 is turning out to be a nice return to more normal spring paddling conditions in Alabama. A very nice 3.25” rain fell Thursday night (2/21) and early Friday morning (2/22) in Central Alabama. Calera reported over 3 inches in the rain gauge. Alex City also showed 3+ inches. Radar estimate precipitation verified that the Walnut drainage saw similar amounts. Hatchet Creek peaked at an impressive 7,000cfs on Friday around noon. We talked to a local paddler who checked out Walnut on Friday. It was blown out on Friday – too high.
Two gum trees at the put in, upstream of the bridge/north side (upstream river right)
When we arrived Saturday morning, the level was just about perfect. It was exactly 24 hours since the last rain. Normally you might miss the water at this point, but it was a big rain. We could see the water line was a good three feet higher the day before. For reference, the Hatchet Creek gauge was at 2000cfs when we launched and continued to fall to around 1500cfs by Saturday evening. Alabama whitewater lists 700 cfs on Hatchet as the minimum for Walnut. This level would work if Hatchet is rising or, in the process of peaking. The Hatchet Creek watershed is very large, and the gauge should only be used as a general reference for the small watershed of Walnut.
David having fun in a nice class II drop
We met a couple of kayakers from the Tuscaloosa area at the middle Clanton exit (208). From there, it was only a short drive to the put in. The river level looked good at the bridge. The forecast called for 62 degrees and sunny on Saturday. Wouldn’t you know it was 38 degrees and cloudy. The high on Saturday was only 40 degrees and we never saw the sun… Good thing I had a wetsuit, a layer of capilene, and a nice MTI jacket and pants. This outfit (along with wool socks doubled with neoprene socks and paddling shoes) proved to be adequate, on what turned out to be a wet day near the end. Curtis and I have paddled several creeks in the Coosa/Chilton county area, and this one is by far the best.
Curtis landing into a sticky hole, straight on dropWe found that Walnut starts off quick and is pretty much non-stop until the lake. The class III rating is very accurate. Three of the rapids are genuine III’s. The first drop reminds me of a miniature version of Dick’s Creek Ledge. The second good rapid is more “straight on”, but has a sticky hole at the base. The final rapid before the lake is a classic III. There are also only small eddies and very short pools to recover in, along this creek. Running this thing tandem without flipping would be a significant accomplishment.
Stickier hole for some of the kayaks...I will protect the identity of the guilty in this report, but one our kayaking friends who paddled with us was really caught by surprise Saturday. Lack of sleep, no breakfast, a thin wetsuit, a trip or two on the lower mulberry, a recreational kayak with a lake paddler’s spray skirt, no roll, temperatures in the 30’s at launch, swimming very early in the run, almost non-existent recovery pools… You get the idea. I think we lost count around swim number six or seven. Once you start to get as cold as that, it’s hard to get you confidence up and paddle effectively. After multiple rescues and recoveries, we tried a different approach. Towards the end of the run we had to load the kayak up on top of Curtis’ 15’ Explorer. I paddled him out tandem in my 16’ for the last two miles. The other kayaker that was with us had a clean run and really liked the creek. Curtis had a clean run and even survived the III at the end with the kayak fastened to his canoe. My tandem attempt on the last rapid was not so pretty. For the first time since owning the 16’ Explorer, I swam. To be honest, it was probably the most fun I have had paddling in along time.
Swifty extraction :)
The lake paddle at the end was about a mile more or less. We lucked into a fantastic take out spot on river left. This was on the north side of the lake, off CR 264. The shuttle is painless, the lake paddle is not too bad. The run is definitely on the do again list. I honestly would have liked a little more water for the big long canoes that we are currently paddling. I want to try Walnut again a little sooner after a rain. 3 miles of II-III water 3 hours from Mobile. It’s the closest good water to my casa. BTW, the El Torito in Prattville is pretty good. Try the “M.”
