Swimmin" or floatin' holes in the Cleveland/Collegedale/Ooltewah areas? (Chattanooga: rent, camping)

[Grizzlybear34]

As the summer heats up, my family is itching to cool off. Looking for a place to go lazy float down a small creek - not a whitewater adventure, just a afternoon with the back section down, soakin' in the sun. If we have to drive a little further than this immediate area that is okay including North Carolina or the north Georgia area. We were thinking about Blue Ridge, but I think that is about a 2 hour jaunt, so anything closer? Looking for some nice crystal clear water, not a murky float. A location where they actually rent the floats out?

Something out of on of those old Busch beer commercials...

[thesoundofwings]

The blue hole in Soddy?? It is a little bit of a hike, but absolutely beautiful! on the site below they have it listed as "Bowater hole", but the locals refer to it at the Blue Hole.

here is a link I found while trying to find a site on the blue hole, it lists swimming holes in TN SwimmingHoles.info Tennessee Swimming Holes and Hot Springs rivers creek springs falls hiking camping outdoors

[An Einnseanair]

What are you planning on floating in? Lifejacket only, inner-tube, kayak, canoe, flatboat, ski-boat, or yacht?

If you want to float in a shallow-draft boat (flatboat, canoe, kayak, or tube) you could try the lower Ocoee (below Parkville Dam) or middle Hiwassee (between Reliance and Hwy 411). I believe you can get larger boats in the lower Hiwassee (between Hwy 411 and Chickamauga Lake).

Lookout Creek on the west side of LO Mt. is a nice lazy river for canoe or kayak, but I don't know if it's clear of trees, etc. The people at the Chattanooga Nature Center would know that.

The Sequatchie is another one, and there's an outfitter near Dunlap where you can rent a canoe. But the one time we floated that one was after a hard rain which fell after a long dry spell, so all the cow and horse manure had washed out of the adjacent fields and was floating along with us. It might be cleaner during a normal float, but that day was pretty smelly.

There are also a couple in north Georgia where I know people float, but I can't think of the names right now.

[Grizzlybear34]

It would be more floating in a tube. Might try the lower Ocoee and the Soddy options. That is what i was looking for!

Thanks!

[Creekcat]

Try floating the Hiawasse River.

[An Einnseanair]

Lower Ocoee: I think there are public ramps right below the dam (make sure you check out the scale model they built of the Olympic Whitewater Course), and one at Hwy 33 at Nancy Ward Gravesite State Park. There may be more, but I don't know of them. You could always ask the people at Sunburst Rafting; they offer guided floats on the lower Ocoee and would know the river better than anyone.

TVA has scheduled "recreational releases" for Ocoee #1 dam only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but I've see the water up on other days, including on the weekend. It depends on TVA's power demand. I don't know if the river is float-able when they aren't generating power.

The water quality of the Ocoee has been improving in the past few years, but whatever you do, don't drink the water. Those articles mostly pertain to the water above Parkville Lake (Ocoee #1) because a lot of the "bad" stuff settles out in the lake.

If you want a lazy float on the weekend, then I recommend the middle Hiwassee. There's a public ramp at the railroad tracks, right next to Hiwasee Outfitters (http://www.hiwasseeoutfitters.com/ - broken link), and another at the Hwy 411 bridge. You'll probably want at least one generator releasing to float, and it takes 3 or so hours for the water surge to get from the powerhouse to the ramp.

[Grizzlybear34]

Now we're talking! Thanks everyone that has chimed in!!