LiquidLore: Some Fine Whitewater

... on the Fine section of the Oswegatchie. The Oswegatchie River in New York is a large river system with three branches that all come together to form the main stem that flows into the St. Lawrence. Typical to this part of New York, the river has copious amount of flat water punctuated by what can in some cases be some fairly stout rapids - this hole for example is not small.

Most people agree that the best of the Oswegatchie River is either the Bryants Bridge or the Sluice Falls section of the Middle Branch - I can't really argue against that, however the other branches do have some good pool-drop whitewater that often gets looked over because of other more popular sections in the area.

The Fine section of the East Branch Oswegatchie is the section in question today - despite the appealing name, most people think this section is anything but fine with long flat stretches and some rapids that most people will never run. This, coupled with two of the better drops sometimes not having water because of the action of two separate dams drive most people away.

All the same, this river is worth checking out, and I encourage you to do so, even if only once. The best thing about it is you can run it when everything else around there has virtually dried up, and the rapids that are there are really fun. Low water and some of the big drops will be a little more appealing as well. Having run this section at high levels, I can say it is definitely more exciting and you'll have a much better chance of having water below the dams, but the big rapids get even tougher than they already are. Did I sell you on it? Maybe not, but go check it out anyways - here are some shots of the run, and a link to the river beta to get you fired up.

In other news, if you live in Vancouver or plan on running the Seymour in the next little while, you may want to scout judiciously as there is a bad, unportagable (at anything but low water) log jam in the heart of the canyon - it will probably move at high water but for now it wouldn't be worth it, or safe, to run the river over maybe 2 feet on the gauge. With a spike to 5 feet this morning things may have changed, but be careful that the wood just doesn't get jammed up further down stream - scout before you drop in.