High Falls Creek, Pennsylvania, US |
|
| Usual Difficulty | V+ (for normal flows) |
|---|---|
| Length | 0.8 Miles |
| Avg. Gradient | 500 fpm |
Pull out your A++ game if you want to run the 7 Steps Of Death (first run by Nils 2/08). Dropping huge vertical on to slab rock with tons of piton and pin potential. Its a very Manky series of connected moves. Watching Jared and Grham run this on Video can load you up with a lot of false confidence.
This run is mean, wrecking the plans of phenomenal boaters for a good day out. Its the hardest creek locally and some are saying its harder than the Green Narrows, Blackwater (wv) as well. Expect pins to occur to someone in your group.
The real concern is that listing this run in the Geddes, Wick, Lock area will get those types of paddlers interested in running High Falls. Its only been run by the best boaters...creekers that go out all the time at all water level, flood conditions, all over the state, region or internationally. At this point its only been run completely on a couple days. One of those boater emailed me:
its pushy and your maneuvering over partially submerged undercut boulders without pillows
to bounce off so your slamming into them banging off sh*t and paddling hard like its a high
volume creek (real weird). at low water that rapid gets less crazy and more manageable but
everyone still gets pinned all over the place and has problems. the rapid above the
falls (30ft unrunable) is stuff you can get pinned up on as well and I've seen
another real good paddler pin in the middle of the rapid and have to get roped out. so we usually
sneak river right. This is an angry creek that could easily kill someone don't take it
lightly, swims are serious matters, and rolls are bad too.
The run starts off with fast fluming slide to a must portage 30 foot waterfall (make sure you hit the eddy). Some say it will be runable some day but I just don't see the line. Calling it class 6 is a stretch for me. Next up is the 150 Yard long "Luge" again make sure you know where you are getting out to scout the meat of the run, "The Seven Steps Of Death". Tumbling down losing vertical fast, these 7 drops are rowdy attention getters. While trying to pioneer good lines in the chaos boaters have pitoned, pinned, flipped and tumbled. Some portage only the first couple steps and finish off the easier ones taking out a few hard ledges. If anything goes wrong it will go wrong step after step till the end.
Finish off the run with class 5 action. Note the rapids below the 7 Steps look easier than they paddle.
Usually if everything is too crazy high this is the place to be, but if it's out of control just travel north a couple drainages to run laps on Wildcat which will be going strong.
Note the rock boulders anywhere around the 7 Steps are the slickest Mothers going.
Really be more careful than usual.
Grham, Rick, Eli and Jared's Run
There is no gauge but look for 2+ inches of rain on a damp watershed. Look at the Wick (NJ) and Lock (NJ) to see that they are spiking hard and blasting above 1500 cfs. The Tohickon (PA) will likely be above 3000 cfs as well if the rain spreads out over time enough.
| When | River/Gauge | Subject | Level | Reporter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Falls Creek [PA] |
The Seven Sisters of Death (first drops)
|
n/a | Wayne Gman | |
| 3y341d09h04m | High Falls Creek [PA] |
Last 4 Steps in the far distance
|
Great Boatable Flow | Wayne Gman |
| 4y42d09h04m | High Falls Creek [PA] |
5 of the 7 Sisters of Death
|
Unrunable | Wayne Gman |
| 4y46d09h04m | High Falls Creek [PA] |
Seven Steps Of Death
|
Unrunable | Wayne Gman |
| 4y47d09h04m | High Falls Creek [PA] |
5 of the 7 Steps of Death
|
Unrunable | Wayne Gman |
| Mile | Rapid Name | Class | Features (Legend) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | High Falls |  | |
| 0.0 | Luge | 5.0 |  |
| 0.0 | 7 Steps of Death | 5.2 |   |
| 0.1 | Exit Rapids | 5.0 |
Just below the 30 ft unrunable waterfall is THE LUGE, 150 yards of steep fast slides blindly dumping into the 7 Steps Of Death. Scout your exit eddy well.
5 of the 7 Steps of DeathThe first step is about 10-12 ft high to give you some perspective. On the river left side is a wicked piton and bow entrapping v notch. On river right it drops completely on to flat rock and moving flow. No pooling, only pillowing at best.
The next series of corners and drops are not so bad if isolated but together they are a formidable gauntlet. Pitons and broaches are typical and can greatly be reduced if you scout at low flows to know the riverbed character.
To this point the 7 Steps have mainly only been run by full on creekers that have run all of the hairy 5+ drops locally as well as across the region. Think twice.
Boat much harder than the scout would lead you to believe. At least class 5. Pinning potential all over the place.
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Ringing Rock State Park to Rt 32, High Falls Creek Pennsylvania, US (mobile)
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