Delaware
7.5) Scudders Falls Recreation Area
| Difficulty | II+ |
| Length | 0.6 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Delaware River at Trenton Nj |
| Flow Rate as of 43 minutes | 8180 cfsmedium runnable |
| Reach Info Last Updated | June 7, 2025 |
River Description
Great wave train and various hole/waves due to a broken down wing dam depending on water level.
If this is too low, you might want to head over to the Lambertville Wing Dam.
Lat/longitude coordinates are an educated guess.
Robert North 2005-01-10 23:33:13 The Lowdown on Scudders Falls
Located just off of Route 29 about a 1/3 mile north of I-95, Scudder Falls may be the archetypal park-n-play spot. If you park in the lower lot, it is no more than 25 yards from your car to the river and about 100 yards back to your car when you get out. That being said, Scudders actually offers a lot more than the wave train along the Jersey side that most people think of as Scudder Falls. The Delaware here is 200+ yards wide and there are at least 6 features that provide decent to very good play opportunities at levels from about 8,000 cfs to 50,000 cfs (use the USGS Trenton gauge). Although it isn?t Holtwood, it is the closest reliable play spot to Philly and most of New Jersey and southeastern PA and is good, on average, for about 8 months of the year.
The 'Falls' are caused by an old stone and wood beam diversion dam originally built sometime in the 1800s for a mill located on the Jersey side. Most of the old dam in the middle of the river has long since washed away, but sections on the Jersey and Pennsylvania sides as well as a little bit remaining in the middle create some nice features. The Jersey side of the dam had reinforced concrete poured on top of it sometime in the 50s or 60s, apparently in an effort to stabilize the old stone dam.
Starting from the Jersey side, the different play spots and approximate levels for each are:
Jersey Wave train ('The Wave') - Levels 7,500 to ~ 20,000+ cfs (9'-11')-- depending on your boat length and hull speed, the front wave is good from about 7,500 cfs to 20,000+ cfs . (11/5/2007, Bob Claudia):
...River Features
Put In
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a report13,000 cfs
Great descriptions and usfeul information.I am in a group that has been planning to run the John Day from Clarno to Cottonwood for a month and a half this weekend (7/30). We thought after the high flows all summer, a little later may be better and we would be running at prime levels for bass fishing and a relaxing float.What is your opinion of running the river in 4 days at around 700 cfs? Is this too ambitious?What are your thoughts on Clarno Rapids at that level? BLM claims at low flows it will be too shallow to float through and portaging may be necessary, but doesn't really define low .Thanks for any input or advice,Joey
I agree. I don't like feeling ulomofcrtabne if I can't give what I feel is expected of me. Why can't the Church do a donation Sunday for supplies? I can contribute kleenex, snacks, coffee.... Make it a week instead of a month? Just an thought.
Very true, there is more than enough room right along the canal, you can see where others have parked and you are well out of the road. Someone was kind enough to drop pallets into the canal so you can walk across at knee high depth, or just ferry across. Things may be a little muddy but who cares? You are gonna get wet anyway. And the walk to the put in is less then a hundred yards, you can ferry under the wave instead of continuing upstream to put in. Just bring a dry by for anything you might get wet. Within the past six month or so I've paddled 12,000 - 25,000, with the lower being a nice hole, and the higher being a river wide wave.
Just park at the downed bridge and seal drop into the canal, ferry across, then walk 60 seconds to the hole.
Wave all the way across 26,000 cfs
26,000 cfs
Loop
cool pic by Theresa Dickenson
Frank Looping the nemesis