re: Whitewater rafting. The Ocoee or Chatooga?

Both rivers are great.

If you're looking for a one day trip, the Ocoee has bigger water and is the more ferocious river.

If you can do overnight trips, then go with the Chatooga. The Chatooga also has lots of side activities such as jumping off rocks or body surfing rapids.

Here's the Ocoee put in:



As you can see, once you get in the boat, you're committed to it.

In the middle of the river, there's a temporary keeper hole, but you want to go river left, so you have to make you way across quickly enough to not fall in.

I live in Alpharetta, little north of Atlanta, I'm looking to go on a guided trip in a raft in couple weeks.

Sorry...just saw this. I've done both. The Ocoee is awesome...but didn't compere to the Chattooga.

You won't be disappointed in either one. There were more outfitters on the Ocoee...and it isn't quite as remote as the Chattooga.

Done both... The section of the Chatooga with the 4s and 5s is awesome and better than the Ocoee. But for an all day trip the Ocoee is maybe just a little more consistent entertainment. If I could do it again I would definitely do the Chatooga section with the big water. In fact we did that section twice on two half days and then went to the Ocoee... You can't go wrong...

Chatooga- Hands Down !!

I've kayaked both may times and the ocoee is much more action packed. It maxes out at class 3, but it's solid class 3 the whole way. The ocoee is also dam released, so it's very Consistent. The Chattooga is great, much more picturesque - it's a wild and scenic river. It's also dependent on river levels. So in late summer you could be dragging down. The end of section 4 is class 4 but the entire river can be 5 in certain flow rates.

Ocoee will be more convenient and consistent while the Chatooga, (section IV) will be more remote and difficult. The five falls rapids on section IV are no joke and have killed many folks.

Middle Ocoee will be more action packed w/ more rapids while Section IV could kill your arse. Really nothing on Ocoee to worry about.

I've run the Chatooga, Ocoee, Nantahala, and I guess if you want to count it, the Saluda here in Cola.

It honestly depends on what you're looking for. If you want non-stop small, but still fun rapids, I'd say Ocoee. Be prepared for it to be crowded though.

If you want a beautiful day trip where you'll more than likely not run across any other people, like a bit of a break between rapids, and run large Class IV-V rapids that can and will kill you if you don't know what you're doing, Chatooga all day long.

Just got done running Section IV of the Chatooga again this past Memorial Day weekend. Awesome trip as usual.

Like the poster above me, I also highly recommend Wildwater if you're going with an Outfitter for the Chatooga.