Since I've only run it once, I don't have that "familiarity breeds contempt" problem Thump mentioned, which *is* a problem - when you're familiar with a run, it will of course seem easier than it did your first time down.

Regardless of what # you put on there, I looked over the chart to find similiar rivers. In difficulty of the moves, most of it is Class III from where we put on (across from the parking lot with the portapotty and changing rooms) down to the bridge. Exceptions are TakeOut rapid and that river wide ledge, with Take Out being a technical pushy Class IV move and the ledge mostly just needing to be able to boof, or you go for a beatdown. The Class IV part after the bridge, IMHO, is comparable in difficulty to the Lower Big Sandy at 6.1 feet, the Upper Yough at 2.2-ish, or Lower Big Creek at 3 feet, and very slightly easier than Lower Big Creek at 3.5 feet. All of these are a notch (two? however you define "notch") harder than Section IV at 1.8 as far as difficulty because at 1.8 the pools on Section IV are still very well defined and most of the rapids are not as pushy as those on the Cheoah, notable exception being Jawbone. If the scale is taking into account such factors as danger, or remoteness, then the Cheoah would be very low on remoteness since it's all roadside, and moderate to high on danger due to the stompy holes and the amount of wood (broach potential) in the stream. I don't know the run very well at all so if there are undercuts & sieves, that would raise the danger factor but other than the trees, it didn't seem to have any more mank than your average SE stream.