Planning a Cartecay River trip: season, getting there, what’s open

Plan a Cartecay River trip around the season. The river runs about 19 miles through Gilmer County, Georgia, in the north Georgia mountains, and ends in Ellijay, where it meets the Ellijay River. Tubes and rental kayaks are summer-only. DNR stocks trout from March through August. In fall, the apple houses along Highway 52, the road that follows the Cartecay valley, are the main draw (Gilmer Chamber).

Getting there

Ellijay sits at the junction of Georgia 515, Georgia 52 and U.S. 76 (New Georgia Encyclopedia). The drive times below were computed from OpenStreetMap routing, starting in downtown Ellijay, with no traffic. Allow extra time, especially leaving Atlanta.

The river lies east of town along Ga. 52. Cartecay River Experience rents from 2400 Hwy 52 East in East Ellijay (Cartecay River Experience), and the public DNR launch is at the end of Canoe Launch Road off Ga. 52. Directions to the launch are on our access page.

The season, month by month

Sources: the outfitter’s season (Cartecay River Experience), DNR’s 2026 stocking list (GA DNR WRD), USGS monthly flows (USGS), and the Gilmer Chamber, which says more than 22 apple varieties are harvested from June through November (Gilmer Chamber). The festival is held at the Ellijay Lions Club Fairgrounds (Georgia Apple Festival). Museum dates are from the Gilmer County Historical Society, and peach season from Panorama Orchards. For the interactive month-by-month planner, see water levels and safety.

Where to start

For a rental float, start at the outfitter’s base on Hwy 52 East. It works first come, first served and takes no reservations (Cartecay River Experience), and our tubing page has its prices and rules. For your own boat or a fishing trip, start at the DNR launch on the Rich Mountain WMA Cartecay Tract; see fishing for licenses. For local information, the Gilmer County Chamber’s downtown welcome center is at 10 Broad Street on the Ellijay square, open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., (706) 635-7401 (Gilmer Chamber).

What is open in fall and winter

From Labor Day until Memorial Day there are no tube or kayak rentals on the Cartecay. Here is what is still available:

• The Rich Mountain WMA Cartecay Tract, with canoe access and river fishing, for anyone with a Georgia hunting or fishing license or a Lands Pass (Georgia DNR WRD). DNR says its trails close before 10 a.m. during deer, bear and turkey seasons, so check the hunting dates before a fall walk (Georgia DNR WRD).
• Trout fishing, which is open year-round on designated trout waters (GA eRegulations), though DNR’s Cartecay stockings run only March through August.
• Farm markets on Hwy 52 East. R & A Orchards keeps its market, bakery and cafe open year-round (R & A Orchards), and B.J. Reece Orchards keeps its farm market and bakery open year-round, apart from a few holidays (B.J. Reece Orchards). Hillcrest Orchards lists November hours of 9 to 5 daily without naming a year, so call ahead at 706-273-3838 (Hillcrest Orchards).

More ideas are on things to do and eat and stay.

Weather

Ellijay’s NOAA station has no temperature normals, so these come from the nearby Jasper station in Pickens County, about 15 miles south and at a similar elevation (NOAA NCEI). Normal highs there run from 47.5°F in January to 84.5°F in July (NOAA NCEI), and normal lows from 31.1°F in January to 66.8°F in July (NOAA NCEI). October’s normals are a 69.0°F high and a 49.7°F low.

The Ellijay station itself records about 59.4 inches of precipitation a year, from 3.45 inches in October, the driest month, to 6.24 inches in December, the wettest (NOAA NCEI). Snow is light, about 2.9 inches a year and mostly December through March (NOAA NCEI). The outfitter says the river itself usually runs 62 to 68 degrees (Cartecay River Experience).

On the river: restrooms and rules

American Whitewater says there are no restrooms once you put in (American Whitewater), so plan for that before you launch. The banks are private, so you can’t stop along the way, and the outfitter says a county ordinance bans coolers and glass on the river (Cartecay River Experience). The full list of the outfitter’s rules is on the tubing page.

If something goes wrong

In an emergency, call 911. Piedmont Mountainside runs a freestanding 24-hour emergency room in Ellijay, reachable at 706.515.4000 (Piedmont). The nearest full hospital is Piedmont Mountainside in Jasper, a 62-bed hospital at 1266 Highway 515 South (706.692.2441) with 24-hour emergency services. For minor injuries, MainStreet Family Care runs an urgent care clinic at 25 Highland Crossing in East Ellijay, next to Walmart, (706) 273-1954. It is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends (MainStreet Family Care).

Questions people ask