Wills Creek, Pennsylvania, US
|
|
Fairhope to Hyndman
| Usual Difficulty |
III-IV(V) (for normal flows) |
| Length |
3.5 Miles |
Gauge Information
River Description
This river is a fun class IV with a road alongside allowing most of the river to be car scouted.
There is one section which merits a close look, Yo-Yo Rapid, while the rapid itself has changed
radically from the description found in most guide books, there is a difficult slot move in the
drop just below the house size rock that use to be the main problem in the rapid. The river left
slot is against the railroad retaining wall and is severely undercut creating a major problem if
things go wrong The center slot appears to be the best shot from above; there are shallow rocks in
the landing and just below the slot making the move more difficult than either the right or left
slots. The right slot consists of a boof move of a large flattish rock and is relatively clean,
however at high levels it becomes a large hole and there is a potential pinning rock 10 feet below
with all the current from the slot hitting it.
YO YO HAS CHANGED AGAIN DO NOT RUN LEFT SLOT AS IT NOW HAS A 10 ft X 10Ft PIECE OF CONCRETE IN IT.
THE SLAP OF CONCRETE SITS ON AN ANGLE CAUSING ALL FLOW TO GO UNDER THE RETAINING WALL.
Overall this a great run with a creekish feel, there is one other drop that is below the last
bridge befor the take out, its is a river wide ledge that can be run easily tight on the right side
or through a tough set of slot moves even farther right.
StreamTeam Status: Not Verified
Last Updated: 2007-03-05 09:06:14
Editors
No rapids entered. If you know names, and locations of the rapids please contact and advise the StreamTeam member for this run. 
User Comments
water dropped in from all sides. Went above the put in only to be turned around by a flooded road
by a tiny creek that was blown out. Watched at lease 6 different trees ranging from 20 to 60 feet
long and 18 to 36 inches in diameter washing down stream. Be vigilant about new wood the next time
someone runs this. Looks like the tiny stream that dumped into Wills had not had high water in many
years.
rocks that used to be just upstream making it hard to get to the left side of the shelf are gone,
and its now a straight-forward move to boof off the left side. Its possible the rebar is still in
the hole there, we didn't see anything at 7-800cfs, but it may be just underwater. The right line
still looks the same, though the rocks just downstream of the move definitely have some
undercut/sieve-like formations
weeks ago. Rebar sticking up just below the pour over in center. If you do run the middle line,
stay close to the big rock on the right side. At low flow like this you could see it about 4-5 inch
out of the water. Any higher of a flow and you wouldnt even know the rebar was there and could be a
real danger,especially if you go over the center drop and flip.
creek. You know it's coming because there's a few houses on river left, then a retaining wall
further down. You can skirt the wood on the FAR right, but you're still going to hit some small
branches. About a mil further down there is another log sticking out from river right. You can
easily miss this by running a small bony slot on the left.
of the rapid. Power through, keep the nose straight or you'll be back surfed right into a very
retentive hole. Its harder to clear with speed than it looks. Have a throw bag there as its an easy
rescue but horrible recycling. The last hole seems to be nothing when I've been there to actually
boat the railroad at sane levels. It would be interesting for people to post their highest CFS that
they cleaned this Railroad cut falls. Yo Yo is pretty easy to skirt right if you have any
riversense of where not to be and when to scout.
bridge). When we got to Yo-Yo we discovered that there had been a significant change to the drop A
10X 10 slab of concrete has fallen off the retaining wall on river left and settled in the river
left slot. It sits at a 45 degree angle and now forces all of the water under the undercut
retaining wall. There is no way to run the left slot and avoid the under cut or the half dozen
reinforcing rods hanging into the water. The right slot and center slot were still available and
have not changed. But given the nature of the left slot it is not a good idea to go left of the
large rock above the drop even as a set up for the center slot as this move would require a boat
length attainment above the left slot to make it back center. Nathan
WIlls gauge to the Hyndman Guage at the end of the run. Minimium was set at 2.45, However, I don't
have good data for determining the top end of the runnable, any help on that number would be
appreciated.
the listed put-in but part of the frequently combined Brush into Wills run.
(Railroad Cut Falls?) above the normal put-in. The Class 5 refers to Yo-Yo Falls, especially if it
has railroad debris in it!!! This has been true since at least the late 1980s (for proof, see
Appalachian Whitewater, Volume 2, page 28---a description that, I think, was not written by Nathan
Blatchley). The upper drop is not included in this section, even though it may well be Class 5 at
some level(s). In my experience, this whole section is Class 5 when the water is high enough (when
the big slide looked too insane for anyone to run). Or, if there is hidden debris, when it's low
enough, too!
The drainage area of the Hyndman gauge is 60% that of the Cumberland gauge, which would suggest
that the AWA minimum of 3.7=580 cfs at Cumberland would translate, on average, to 2.43=350 cfs at
Hyndman. We ran Wills in 2004 at 2.55=410 cfs at Hyndman (with Cumberland at 3.82), and were a
little above minimum, so I think 2.43=350 cfs would be about zero level.
the run. It can be accessed at the PA gauge webpage,
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/pa/nwis/current/?type=flow
the bridge) up the railroad tracks from where they cross the road. The river bends through an
S-turn and then plunges over four distinct ledges for a total drop of 30' (or so). Apparently these
ledges are all slightly undercut and as a result they all form really holes that might just hold on
to you as well as trees and all sorts of debris. This one isn't for the faint of heart. I've run it
down the right and across the big, mean, nasty hole on the third ledge and then boofed off the left
of the last drop and I've seen it run all the way down the left (recommended). Make sure you get
the last left side boof- that hole looks ugly…