Barbaree Creek

We headed down to run the "Alabama Sixpack" on Cheaha Creek in early March 2010. The Pack was a long term goal of mine so the day was already gauranteed to be good. Since we had time and water, we decided to run Barbaree as well. Barbaree comes into Cheaha Creek below Lake Chinnabee just upstream and east of FR637C, which is the next "bridge" below Lake Chinnabee. Barbaree has nice clean water (barely any evidence of chicken) and is a pleasant enough run. It is not an adrenaline workout. It is mostly class II with only a short bushy stretch of III. But we only had to get out for trees twice, which is not bad for a semi-wilderness run.

The shuttle is not hard and is short if you can 1) find the 637C bridge (don't go down 637B) and 2) get across Cheaha on the bridge. FR 637C is the next road downhill from the turnoff to Lake Chinnabee. It heads off to the south and does have a small sign next to it. Stay on 637C and you'll get to the bridge. If you can get across the bridge, drive up past the FR 637E turnoff and park at the old road heading north. Its an easy seven minute hike in along the old road to the Creek.

The level is actually not too hard to judge, because FR637C really is only a low water bridge over Cheaha. If it has just about enough water to make you nervous about driving across it, Barbaree is at a nice med/low level. Barbaree could be run pretty high because there really are not any big rapids. But that'll make the shuttle much more complex.

Finally, as of late 2010:

Maggie Johnston now owns the cabin on the hill across Talladega Creek from the Waldo Old Mill restaurant and rents it out as a guest house. This as an option for boaters who are interested in paddling Talladega Creek, Hatchet Creek or others in the area. See her VRBO site.