Traveled: July 2005, during Hurricane Dennis

The first weekend I was in Helen, the water of the Chattahoochee seemed low, but it was very busy and lively. Soon after, Hurricane Dennis hit land and brought a lot of rain to Northern Georgia. The water in the 'Hooch increased dramatically. I went tubing with my mother and we had already read the posts written here on the website. So we were warned about the cold water, to wear shoes, and to buy a stick. However, we learned our lesson when we didn't use the advice. Please take notice now! We are here to let you know we **Strongly Reccomend** shoes and a stick. One other thing that helped us greatly was that we had gotten the large rubber band to tie our tubes together. If we hadn't, we wouldn't have traveled together! Be very careful after it has rained!! The current was extremely strong and several people got hurt. For instance, we learned (after tubing) that a young girl had broken her leg the day before and while we were leaving a woman had broken her arm. It's a lot of fun, but please be careful!

The company we used (the green tubes) charged us $5.00 and it didn't matter if it was the long or short route on the river. The place was very well managed and had showers, a gift shop, and food. They drove you to the drop off place and you ended in the Headquarters. The ticket also allowed entry at a stop at the Alpine Crest Resort Club of Helen, where they had a slide. However, getting off the river might be tricky if you lose the stop! So be careful!

Tubing on the 'hooch' through Helen was a lot more fun and a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. For about $10 my son and I got two tubes, changing rooms, a short bus ride up the river, and three hours of fun. Family groups, teenagers and couples all had fun together bumping into each other and getting stuck on the rocks. No one is a stranger. It's more work than just floating along to push off rocks and keep afloat, I wouldn't recommend it for my Grandma.

Last june me, my brother, my mom,& aunt, & cousins went to helen for my birthday and we have never went tubing before since we were little kids so we talked our moms into taking us one afternoon about 4:00 pm. Well we went on the short route, but it was still fun. But we didnt wear any shoes so we got blisters on our feet from walking on the road to and from. So the next day which was my b-day me got the all dayer, and this time we went on the long route we had a blast, but our little secret is when u go in to pay to go tubin they have these little sticks for you to buy incase you get stuck on a rock. around 7 to 5 bucks well if u go to the dollar store across the street you can buy a broom for 1 buck unscrew the top and there u have it instead of a payin 7 bucks for one and it works better too. But a little advice they have these hooker on thingies were u can hook your floats together well my aunt, mom, and cousin and me made a circle hooken our selves togetther, well we were floatin down the river and all the sudden we went down the wrong water fall and so our flaoties folded us up like a taco. And all our stuff went floatin down the river. Luckily we got it all back soakin wet but we got 'em.

My family and I took a trip to Helen in July and really enjoyed ourselves, very relaxing and beautiful area. The best thing we did, however, was go tubing down the Chattahootchie River in individual inflatable tubes! What a blast! We went over and over again, and at $4.00 a ride (which lasted over an hour!) it was worth every penny!
Word to the wise -- the water is COLD! Also, be sure to wear shoes (a pair of sneakers would be perfect!) While the current is very mild and the water is not deep (ranging from just a few inches to 2-3 feet) I would also recommend you stay alert -- fallen trees and rocks can catch you by surprise and I did see one person with a pretty good cut on the foot.