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Photo courtesy Wildwater Ltd.

The ChattoogaÕs length helps maintain visitor loyalty. Wildwater Ltd. trips on the river typically last from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., whereas a trek down the Natahala takes around three hours.

Photo

Click on photo to enlarge

Photo courtesy Wildwater Ltd.

Corporations sometimes send employees to Wildwater Ltd. as a team-building exercise, to cohere among river, rocks and rush. ÒRafting has kind of moved away from a hig

LONG CREEK — Even during drought conditions, the Chattooga River’s seven-foot drops haven’t lost any of their teeth.

The river falls 75 feet in a single quarter-mile segment. It’s why gonzo paddlers know the Chattooga’s marquee rapids by name: Sock-em-dog, Left Crack, Right Crack.

Even so, the Wildwater Ltd. Rafting Company is, for the second straight year, facing its slimmest crowds on the Chattooga since 1971, when the outfit was founded. Wildwater Ltd. also maintains operations on other Southeastern rivers, including the Nantahala, Ocoee and Cheoah.

The portfolio allows Wildwater to redirect Chattooga clients looking for more intense action to rivers with power company-controlled flow — like the Cheoah River, located in northwest North Carolina.

“What we do is when we have people who want to go the Chattooga is kind of pre-qualify them,” said Wildwater Ltd. assistant marketing director Carolyn Allison.

Some adventures seekers stick with the Chattooga regardless. According to Allison, many guests select a river based on proximity and not power.

“The Chattooga is still a beautiful river. The scenery is gorgeous and you just can’t go wrong spending a day on the river,” Allison said.

A drought can reconfigure the Chattooga in interesting ways. Caves, chutes and other features are made accessible in lower waters. In addition, Wildwater’s guides make more frequent stops for swimming and other auxiliary.

“It opens up a totally new experience,” Allison said.

There are logistical adjustments too, with Wildwater tours putting-in and commencing further down the river. The company has moved from 12-foot boats to 10-and-a-half-foot models. Guest loads on the rafts have been decreased as well, down from six-per-boat to two or three, plus a guide.

The Chattooga’s length also helps maintain visitor loyalty. Wildwater Ltd. trips on the river typically last from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., whereas a trek down the Natahala takes around three hours.

Whatever the water level on the Chattooga, it’s the guides that make the trip, Allison said. Paddling prowess is nice, but an ability to present the experience is even better.

“We can teach paddling skills,” Allison said. “While you’re taking guests down the river, you have to be personable. Even though you’ve been down the river 200 times, this is the guests’ first time.”

In the past, Wildwater would have to scramble to find guides. University student job fairs were a honey-hole. While college kids looking for a scenic summer still make up a sizable portion of Wildwater crews, with the emergence of the Internet, finding guides became much easier.

The company maintains an employment page on its own Web site, wildwaterrafting.com, as well as placing ads on coolworks.com. The latter is a hub for employment for the North Face set. Listings include opportunities at state parks, resorts and ski lodges.

Rafting season on the Chattooga extends from the first of March to mid-November, with the most action in July and August.

“It’s a very transient business,” Allison said.

She should know. Along with her husband (and fellow Wildwater Ltd. employee) Lee Allison, Carolyn Allison are former residents of Jackson Hole, Wyo. Even though the Allison were avid skiers, by the mid-90s, they were ready to thaw out.

“When you get snow on the Fourth of July, it’s time to move,” Allison said.

Lee scored a job on the Nantahala a rafting guide, circa ’94. After a summer in the Great Smokey Mountains, the couple moved to Athens, Ga. and worked “normal” jobs, Carolyn said. That lasted a year.

“We loved living in a small community in the mountains,” Allison said. (She and Lee now live in Bryson City, N.C.) “We also like working for and promoting and living in an area where people want to come for a vacation. That’s pretty cool. Working in the whitewater industry is great, people leave here with memories.”

According to Allison, hiring a husband and wife is beneficial to Wildwater Ltd. as well.

“There’s some stability there,” she said. “There’s tendency in this industry to go work where something is going on. You move from paddling on a river to go work for a ski resort.”

Allison has noticed a change in Wildwater clientele since she came aboard in ’95. More and more seniors are showing up to bounce down the rivers. She attributes the shift to two reasons.

“The population base is in better shape. I see 60- to 70-year-olds rafting,” Allison said. “My grandparents never thought about doing stuff like this. And rafting is not perceived as high-risk anymore.”

Rafting excursions have become a favorite for church groups, Allison said. Corporations send employees to Wildwater as a team-building exercise, to cohere among river, rocks and rush.

“Rafting has kind of moved away from a high-adventure activity for burly men like Burt Reynolds,” Allison said. “It’s more of a cross generational activity now, grandparents and their children and grandkids.”

By no means does Allison wish to disparage mustachioed movie hunks. She credits Reynolds’ 1972 film “Deliverance” with introducing whitewater rafting to the vast American middle.

For more information on Wildwater Ltd. Rafting Company, call (877) 247-5535 or visit wildwaterrafting.com.