Walker Brook, New Hampshire, US

Danbury

Usual Difficulty	IV (for normal flows)
Length	1.75 Miles
Avg. Gradient	169 fpm
Max Gradient	400 fpm

River Description

Walker Brook in Danbury NH is a one-and-three-quarters-mile technical III+/IV steep creek with a handful of difficult drops and two optional class V drops. It is a fun narrow creek with no mandatory portages, continuous roadside access. It is runnable with very little water and usually before other nearby rivers come up. Similar in character, but a little more demanding than Wonalancet and Little Suncook; PLUS it has no flatwater.

Of the two class V drops, one is at the put-in and the other at the take-out. The drop at the take-out is known as Walker Brook Falls. This final class V drops 30+ feet in sculpted bedrock in three distinct drops all in less than 50 feet. It has been run river left and river right both with ease/success as well as a good thrashing.

Due to narrow width of streams of this type be constantly alert for strainers. Scout each blind drop (there are several) before the run to very they are clean.

At the top the river goes thru a number of steep and narrow class IV drops, one-after-the other, with occasional breaks of class III rapids.

Almost exactly half-way down be aware of a narrow drop that sweeps the paddler into a rock outcropping. Most paddlers opt to walk this drop after getting bruised ribs the first time.

The rapids below the mid-point are a bit stiffer than the upper half, and would be best described as ledge drops varying from 4-8 feet constantly down to the take out.

Walker Brook gets its start in the hills northwest of Concord. It is part of the headwaters of the Blackwater River, which eventually flows into the Contoocook and then into the Merrimack. Due to its location high in the watershed it is often running well before most other well-known whitewater runs, much like the creeks of the Baker River Valley which are often runnable before their correlation gauge shows it. A half inch of rain or more usually does it. Also, if the creeks in the Baker River Valley are running, or are expected to be running soon, Walker Brook is running.