Nolichucky River — Below Nolichucky Dam: River Level Today — Can You Paddle It?

At 789 cfs the Nolichucky River is sitting in the middle of the 200 cfs–3,000 cfs range for this reach, with 589 cfs of margin to the nearer edge — the most forgiving part of the window on the numbers alone.

Over the last 24 hours it has barely moved, 830 cfs to 789 cfs. Daily means over the past 7 days have run between 836 cfs and 1,260 cfs, 29% lower at the end of the week than the start.

Nolichucky River Below Nolichucky Dam is a Class I run in Tennessee — easygoing moving water with light riffles and nothing technical. Most paddlers put in at Nolichucky Dam tailwater access and take out at Downstream access near Greeneville.

Whether it's worth the drive comes down to flow. This section generally paddles well at 200–3,000 cfs (a conservative estimate — see our methodology). Much below that and the Nolichucky River gets low and bony, so you end up scraping gravel and walking the shallows; well above the top of the range it turns fast, cold and pushy, which is a more serious day than most casual boaters want. We read USGS gauge 03466500 about every 30 minutes and compare the live number to that window, so the verdict at the top of this page reflects conditions right now rather than a monthly average.

Flows here are usually most dependable April–October. Spring can run high after rain or snowmelt, and late summer often drops too low to float well — but the gauge always beats the calendar, so check today's reading before you go.