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Description

Courthouse Creek is a great option for high water days in the Balsams. Driving up the dirt USFS road you'll get a great feel for the creek, which boasts quite a few nice Class IV bedrock rapids. About a mile and half up two closely spaced bridges bracket of two of the bigger rapids on the run. Paddlers can put in above or below these rapids, or drive up away from the Creek for a ways and put in below Courthouse Falls. This run is likely of comparable difficulty to the North Fork of the French Broad or the Upper Davidson though with a greater number of challenging rapids than the latter. If you are feeling like a big challenging waterfall, scout and consider the 45-foot Courthouse Falls. The falls were probably first run by Kent Wigington and Russ Kulmar around 1992.