Sacandaga, E. Branch, New York, US

Moose Mountain to Route 30

Usual Difficulty	III+(V) (for normal flows)
Length	7 Miles

Gauge Information

Name	Range	Difficulty	Updated	Level
SACANDAGA RIVER NEAR HOPE NY
usgs-01321000	3.75 - 7.00 ft	III+(V)	01h06m	2.52 ft (rc= -0.4 )

River Description

Route 8 parallels this section, so there are numerous putin/takeout options at the various pull-outs. Above Griffin Gorge the run is fairly mellow with a few short class-III sections. Griffin Gorge is located about 3 miles upstream of the East Branch/Middle Branch confluence. Route 8 veers away from the river and a small dirt road travels a short distance down to a bridge across the river. Upstream of the bridge is a small ledge which is easiest on the far right, with harder (class IV) lines on the left. After the bridge, look for two eddies on the right above the main drop of Griffin Gorge. These are easy to make at low water, but were definately interesting to catch around 14000 cfs. The main drop features a huge hole which may be boofable/punchable at lower flows, but take a look for yourself. Below the main drop, the runout to the gorge is fun at low flows, but features some huge holes at high water. After the gorge, there's a short reprieve before the last rapid on the run. The last 3 miles fall around 100 fpm and are continuous bouldery class-III at low water or a huge class-IV freight train at high water (At 14000 cfs it took us 10 minutes to run the final 3 miles)