SLOT CANYONS OF THE SOUTHEAST

Southern Utah and northern Arizona are famous for their slot canyons. What is less known is that there are slot canyons in the Carolinas! I never would’ve guessed it, but in the last couple of years I’ve become aware of several. One of them, on the Whitewater River, is stunning. Tips from several friends alerted me to that one. Since then, Spencer began hearing rumors of a slot canyon on the Chattooga River. The only problem was that the Chattooga is a long river, and we had no idea where it would be. Spencer’s best guess was that it would be upstream from the Bullpen Road bridge.

Team Waterfall actually did an exploration of a section of the river farther upstream last winter. We found a lot of cool stuff, but no slot canyons.

For the second part of my birthday weekend we decided to check the stretch of river where Spencer originally thought it would be. Since that winter trip, we’d heard more rumors that it was in that area. We had to check it out!

We got off to a slow start on Sunday morning, mainly due a lack of sleep the night before. As Jimmy Buffett once said, there is a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning. Copious amounts of coffee helped, and even a broken-down car didn’t stop us. Ultimately a stellar crew of Spencer, Stephanie, Scott, John, Kyle, and Amy, Ziggy, and Amy’s dog Aiden descended upon the Chattooga River. Boone’s paws were pretty torn up from Saturday’s hikes, and both dogs were whooped. Christy was still nursing a sprained ankle, so she decided to take the dogs home with her.

A fairly long trail hike and a short but steep bushwhack brought us to the river. Once at the river we headed upstream. After only short distance we reached a short but challenging climb. We had to climb a vertical crack between two boulders. Luckily there was a chunk of driftwood wedged in between them, which provided a good handhold. Once up that we worked our way across a few more boulders and found the entrance of the slot canyon ahead of us! The bottom of it was a narrow twisting crack between the cliff walls. Upstream the canyon was a few feet wide, with sheer, sculpted cliffs about 40’ high. There was even a low-volume waterfall cascading down the cliff. In any other place it wouldn’t have been noteworthy, but in this setting it was magical.

We spent the next hour or so exploring the canyon. Going upstream required swimming through a short but deep, dark pool. Beyond, we were able to scramble along a narrow, mossy ledge. That ended after a short distance. From there, it was necessary to swim. At first the water was calm, but then we reached a section of rapids. I decided to stop there, content with what we’d found.

Ultimately Spencer, Scott, and John continued through the canyon and farther up river, while Stephanie, Kyle, Amy, and I hung out. I headed out a bit later, ahead of everyone else. Later I found out that Spencer, Scott, and John reached the mouth of a second slot canyon but didn’t fully explore it. We will have to return!

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