Chattooga River, Section IV Guide

The Chattooga forms the wild border between South Carolina and Georgia, and in 1974 it became one of the first rivers in the East protected under the federal Wild & Scenic Rivers Act — no roads, no houses, no development for its entire length. Section IV is the serious one: eight miles of Class IV+ whitewater through a roadless gorge, culminating in the Five Falls, five major rapids that drop roughly 75 feet in a quarter mile with names like Corkscrew and Sock ‘Em Dog. This is Deliverance country — the 1972 film was shot right here — and the river has earned real respect and real fatalities, which is why it is run guided, in rafts, with outfitters who’ve worked this water for fifty-odd years. You paddle when they tell you to and you hang on when they don’t. It is the biggest legal thrill in the state.