Canoeing Capsey Creek

[Uncle Wayne]

Hello, my first post.  I'm interested in canoeing the almost 8 mile stretch of Capsey Creek and wonder if any of you have done so.  I'm an experienced canoer but have not found anyone locally who has floated Capsey.

Would appreciate any advice on floating Capsey but especially;
1.  how / where do you gauge the water level?
2. Is it floatable all the way with enough water?
3. Particular spots of interest while floating?

Thanks very much.  Hope to be able to contribute to this site over time.

Uncle Wayne

[McDowra]

The Bride and i have talked about some canoe runs, your questions are good ones, I'm interested in the answers myself.

[Joshua Szulecki]

This is one I've been dying to try out, too. I was actually joking about doing it with inner tubes, because I don't own a canoe. If you end up doing it, let me know how it turns out, and keep your eyes peeled for hidden falls.

[Uncle Wayne]

If you end up doing it, let me know how it turns out, and keep your eyes peeled for hidden falls.

Will do.  I'm laid off work for 2 weeks starting the 16th.  I'm gonna try it then and I'll let you know how it goes.

[grillmastertoo]

i found this link from alabamawhitewate r.com........it didnt give much info, but hopefully it will help some...

http://alabamawhitewater....e/guide_files2/capsey.htm

[Uncle Wayne]

i found this link from alabamawhitewate r.com........it didnt give much info, but hopefully it will help some...

http://alabamawhitewater....e/guide_files2/capsey.htm

Thanks.

[toph]

Wayne - What size boat do you have?

[Uncle Wayne]

Wayne - What size boat do you have?

16' 9" Old Town and a 15' Coleman.

[toph]

Just curious...I've got one similar to your Old Town but figured you might be using something smaller for creeks like Capsey. 

Have you paddled Brushy Creek either up or downstream of the lake?  I would really like to do the downstream section but the multiple portage potential in doing so seems unattractive...k ind of like how frustrating it is when you go paddling during low water levels and end up dragging your boat half the trip...but worse

[Uncle Wayne]

Just curious...I've got one similar to your Old Town but figured you might be using something smaller for creeks like Capsey. 

Have you paddled Brushy Creek either up or downstream of the lake?  I would really like to do the downstream section but the multiple portage potential in doing so seems unattractive...k ind of like how frustrating it is when you go paddling during low water levels and end up dragging your boat half the trip...but worse

I'd like to have something smaller for creeks like Capsey but don't go enough to justify the expense.  So I'm gonna try it with the Old Town when I get the chance.

I have paddled both directions on Brushy, going upstream almost as far as you can go and downstream to the concrete bridge on the Hickory Grove road.  My son and I were upstream exploring a waterfall on a feeder and he asked if a particular vine would hold him up if he swung on it.  I stepped up on a 2' high rock and pulled hard on the vine and it held, the first time.  The second time I pulled it broke and I fell, landing 12 feet down in a drainage of the falls and broke my ankle.  So here I was with a 12 year old, almost 2 miles upstream from the truck and in the middle of February with a broke ankle.  We splinted the ankle, I crawled almost 100 yards to the canoe and got in with out much problem.  I'd left my good leg outside the boat against the bank to steady it for my son to climb in.  When I pushed us off, I flipped the canoe over.

Now with all the above I'm standing on one leg in chest deep water trying to help a 12 year old flip our canoe back over.  It's funny now and we even laughed about it back then.  I guess to keep from crying!

 Long story short, we finally made it to the truck parked at the campground,  he walked to get help and 5 hours later I'm in surgery and have 7 screws and a 3 inch plate added to my bone structure.

You can gauge the water level downstream at the concrete bridge.  If it's around 3' from the water level to the road level, you'll not have to take out unless there's a log jam.  At that level I've made it all the way through from the dam without a single portage.   Don't know how much lower it could have been because it's been that level each time I've floated it.

We'll have to team up sometime.

[Uncle Wayne]

Hello, my first post.  I'm interested in canoeing the almost 8 mile stretch of Capsey Creek and wonder if any of you have done so.  I'm an experienced canoer but have not found anyone locally who has floated Capsey.

Would appreciate any advice on floating Capsey but especially;
1.  how / where do you gauge the water level?
2. Is it floatable all the way with enough water?
3. Particular spots of interest while floating?

Thanks very much.  Hope to be able to contribute to this site over time.

Uncle Wayne

Wednesday of Spring Break, Pully, his dad and I explored Capsey Creek by hiking, crawling and wading from the bridge on Imanfield road to Brushy Creek.  It was an adventure.  The water was still deep enough that we couldn't wade the creek as planned except in short sections, the bluffs were so steep we couldn't walk the edge near the water in several places and were forced to climb above the bluff line and work our way through some of the thickest Laurel Hells I've seen in the forest. 

But we made it and we all agreed that Capsey is floatable by canoe and  would be lots of fun on an inner tube as Joshua suggested. There are several small rapids and a couple of 1 foot drop offs along the route.  Several side streams offered a glimpse of small waterfalls.  We explored most of them but some were across the creek from us and the water was too deep to cross over at most of them.  We did cross at Jaybird falls because it is probably the biggest one we saw along the route.  It was flowing nicely.

As far as  a gauge of water depth, I measured the water level at the low pressure bridge across Brushy creek when we finished our trek and it was 58 inches below the road surface.  We all agreed it would be an enjoyable trip at that level.  If it was much lower than that, I believe there would be several spots the canoe would drag and not float.

So the best advice, and I haven't floated it yet so this is my opinion only, would be to catch it after a big rain, measure the water level at Brushy and go from there from what I said above.  That's what I'm going to do the next time I can.