Powerhouse Ledge

r
i
v
e
r

r
i
g
h
t
 upstream downstream r
i
v
e
r

l
e
f
t
Big waves, "Bubba Home Free" is the last down there in the pool (really only seriously shows up nowadays at higher water levels). Just be about a third of the way across the river off the right hand bank and punch it. The left side is no longer as much of a keeper as it used to be, so the only thing to really worry about with swimmers here is rocks if they're actually coming over the ledge.

In a hard boat these waves do make for some exciting surfing.

At high water levels this does turn into some extremely high waves (We're talking tens of feet!) with a severely nasty hole on the far left. In these circumstances, push right!

If you've got the time, glance to your left and note the "V" of new brick in the front of the powerhouse. I haven't confirmed this, but legend has it that the incident involved the wrong sequence of valve openings and a turbine clearing the river.

previous : Hell's Hole next: Takeout

I love to hear from my readers, but I get a lot of mail. If you're writing to set up a rafting or other outdoor adventure trip in the southeast Tennessee area, contact the folks at OAR , my favorite outfitters.

This is a part of the Virtual Ocoee pages of Dan's Whitewater collection in the home pages of Dan Lyke , reachable at danlyke@flutterby.com