Little River Canyon 5/6/2005

Little River Above HW 35
River Forks to Just Above Little River Falls















Starts as easy Class I, then rapids have one class II drop and numerous shoals from Hartline Ford to HW 35. Total run is 6.0 miles. Access along FS road 5 and FS road 3 is fine in 2wd if you have good clearance. Numerous hard bottom stream crossings, but gravel improvements have made the roads much better. The roads can get a little tough on 2wd rear wheel drive pickups after a hard rain. 500 cfs is the minimum for this section, and 750 or above is a much cleaner run. Can be run at lower level than the East Fork, which needs at least 1000 cfs... This is a nice lower water alternative for the intermediate boater.

Trip Report

Tim Cook from Jackson met me in Birmingham on Friday and we drove up in two vehicles to Valley Head, Alabama. We set up shuttle and squeezed in a trip from Hartline Ford to HW 35 Friday afternoon. Putting in at Hartline Ford has more action and is a shorter - about 4 miles. This great short run that can be done in 2-3 hours.

We ran it at the absolute minimum 450 cfs. I had to get out and portage the class 2 drop in this section because it was too low. Minimal whitewater levels translate into great fishing levels though. The bass bite best when the water is clear and falling. We catch and release all fish in this river.


We had no trouble picking up nice Redeyes and some decent sized bream. I picked up an impressive 14" Redeye on my flyrod. I had to jump out of the canoe and wade in the current to keep this fish off the rocks. Wade fishing is ceretainly a lot more effective than canoe float fishing if you are going to pull out the flyrod. What a fight!














Tim caught a nice redeye wading up the East Fork. The black 1/8 oz roostertail was magical. We returned to this section of the river after a canyon run for a more scenic evening float on Saturday.















We paddled and pulled upstream to the river forks. You could wade up the West Fork too. The rocks are slick and the pools are deep. Tennis shoes and shorts are the best option. Even in May, the water is warm enough to enter without waders.


Tim also caught several nice fish as we floated back to Hartline Ford. I focused on the bream with a 1/16 hellgramite jig and had consistent action. We caught redbreast, warmouth, and green sunfish. This is a quiet and scenic stretch of river that makes for a good canoe float trip..















Little River Canyon
Powell Trail to the Mouth Park

















My friend Tim Cook and I paddled this section in an old tandem Blue Hole with questionable floatation, so we didn't want to deal with the Bottleneck section of the river, thus putting in at Powell Trail. We were in my great old friend Larry Longshore's boat, if anyone remembers Larry - a die hard paddler from the Tennessee Valley Canoe Club who was from the Valley Head area. Larry passed away a little over five years ago unexpectedly. He was one of the first to canoe the Nantahala in the 70's, as well as the Little River sections. In an open canoe, even the 350 cfs run we made was the extreme minimum.
















A few clean rapids, most were bumpy at this level, and there is one solid class III about two miles down from the Powell trail - better to run it solo. To be honest we flipped it running it tandem. I ran it successfully solo, and then we survived a second tandem attempt, only to T-bone a rock at the lower end of the rapid. I wouldn't make this run it again unless I had 500 cfs or better. Absolutely outstanding scenery and water quality. We did not fish. I saw plenty of very large gar in the rapids above the mouth park. This is a good set of rapids and we figured it was best to leave the rods in the truck instead of watching them sink in the canyon. One day at low water, I want to go back and wade this beautiful spot.