This is a very good river for all types of paddlers especially beginners. Most rapids are easy to navigate and will have slow spots or pools at the end to gather lost equipment in the event of a swim. This river also plays host to many types of tubers, there are two tubing places along this section of river.
Directions to Put-In:
_From Asheville / Hendersonville Area:_ Take I-26 going towards Saluda. Stay on I-26 and go down the mountain into the Green River Gourge and get off at exit 59. When you come to the stop sign, make a left hand turn and go under the I-26 bridge,
then drive _past_ the on-ramp to go back towards Hendersonville, and make the very next left onto Green River Cove Rd. This is a windy road that will switch back on itself for 3 miles and drop you about 900 feet into the gourge. After going the 3 miles down into the gourge, Fishtop Access will be the first very large gravel area on your left, can't miss it. Park and then follow the obvious trail down to the rivers pool area. This is the place most people put in at, and this is where The Narrows paddlers take out at.
Directions to Take-Out:
_From Fishtop Access:_ Exit the parking lot by making a left onto Green River Cove Rd. Travel 6 miles to another large gravel parking lot on your left, this is Big Rock Take-Out. This is the main place most people will take out at, and the last accessable place to the river before it runs into Lake Adger further down the mountain. There are several other road side places that you can takeout at including the next most popular one at the second bridge crossing over the river, about 4.5 miles from Fishtop Access.
_Optional Put-In / Take-Out's:_ There are many other roadside areas that you can park at for different put-in and take-out combinations. Watch out for No Tresspassing and Private Property Signs and use what looks to be public pull off's to park at if you decide to put-in or take-out somewhere other than the designated access points of Fishtop and Big Rock parking areas.
Releases / Water Levels Northbrook Power Management posts a rolling 3-day release schedule at this link
http://carolinalakelevels.com/index.php/lake-summit The releases are given in units; one unit at 100% is adequate, it's nicer if there has been recent rain and a little inflow from the side streams. Two full units is sweet. That web page also lists the Lake Summit level, where 100.0 is totally full. Anything over that spills over the dam. A level of 100.4 means that the water spilling over the dam is approximately equivalent to 1 unit full (one unit at 100%). There is also an annual recreational release schedule posted in a pdf file.
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