2014 Tuckasegee River Boating Releases

Content

Welcome!

Introduction

The calendars below describe the "boating releases" tentatively scheduled for the Tuckasegee River below Tuckasegee & Cedar Cliff Powerhouses in 2014.  Note that by passing your cursor over the colored calendar cells the release information will appear in a pop-up text window.  Unscheduled releases occur year round.  For the current three-day release schedule, consult the Duke Energy's Tuckasegee Generation Page.

Gage Information

The Tuckasegee release schedule is complicated.  Three bits of information are key.  First, boating releases are timed to arrive at the Tuckasegee Gorge put-in in Dillsboro between 10:30-11am.  They generally last 4-5 hours.  Second, releases are made from either the Tuckasegee Powerhouse on the West Fork of the Tuck or the Cedar Cliff Powerhouse on the East Fork of the Tuck.  West Fork releases average 200 cfs;  East Fork releases average 500 cfs.  Most non-commercial boaters prefer the higher East Fork releases.  Note that the flow at Dillsboro can be considerably higher than the release level due to the contributions of feeder streams.  Third, while unscheduled releases occur year round, Duke Energy accomodates wade fishing by avoiding daytime releases the entire month of April and those days of the months of May, September and October without scheduled releases.

Notes

The timing of the releases is tricky.  The two powerhouses are located 11 and 22 miles upstream of Dillsboro, and the time required for the releases to make their way down river is affected by the amount of natural flow.  Duke Energy works with the Dillsboro River Company (the outfitter across the river from the put-in), to time the start of the releases, but the science is not exact.  In addition, there are several popular alternate put-ins, including the Eternity and Devil's Dip park and play spots.  Eternity is only in play when the East Fork is releasing.  The water takes about 20 minutes to reach it.  Devil's Dip is located just upstream of Bryson City, about 35 miles downstream;  the water takes about 13 hours to reach Bryson City.  Duke Power attempts to time the anticipated arrival and departure ("recession") of the releases at their Tuckasegee Downstream Flow Page.

Duke Energy provides a printable Tuckasegee release calendar.  To print it you'll need a copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Shuttle Information

The most common put-in for the Tuckasegee Gorge is the public access point on river right near the Dillsboro train station and in the shadow of the US 441 highway bridge.  Following the removal of the Dillsboro Dam, however, a new put-in with lots of parking and bathrooms has been built on North River Road upstream of the old access area and the old dam site.  The most common take-out used to be on the river right just below the old and new bridges across the river at Barker's Creek.  As of summer 2013, however, the new owner of the formerly very paddler-friendly outfitting business located there was quite emphatic in expressing his preference that private boaters use the new Duke Power access point a couple hundred yards downstream.  It too is on river right and is marked by the wide concrete boat ramp.  Several outfitters run shuttles for a fee, including Dillsboro River Company and Smoky Mountain River Adventures.