Bear Creek,
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U.S. 219 to Youghiogheny River at Friendsville (A nice river to run when the Upper Yough is too high.)
| Usual Difficulty |
IV (may vary with level) |
| Length |
7 Miles |
| Avg. Gradient |
84 fpm |
| Max Gradient |
100 fpm |
Gauge Information
River Description
Gertler, Ed;
Maryland and Delaware Canoe Trails
This one is often run when the Upper Yough is too high. It's basically a roadside drainage ditch,
with the resultant imperfect water quality and scenery, but it can be fast and continuous--a
pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. When it's roaring along at 1000 cfs, it's Class V. And
you'd best be lookin' for wood.
Directions: follow the road out of Friendsville. One good putin is at a roadside
pulloff just upstream of a small bridge; but there are others. The takeout is at the confluence
with the Yough, at the park in Friendsville.
Ed Evangelidi testifies:
First half of the run has easier whitewater (Class III) but often has more wood in the stream.
With more water, the south branch is also runnable.
StreamTeam Status: Verified
Last Updated: 2002-06-26 07:18:08
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
Only one tree was especially a problem mid-rapid and led to a member of our group broaching,
swimming and walking off. The others were carefully avoidable. Use caution. Another crew took off
of Bear within the first few miles because of wood.
this week. We put in about 3 or so miles above Friendsville and had to portage twice and paddle
around, over and under several other trees. These were easy to avoid today at a little less than
300 cfs but could be a hazard with higher water. Rob Teegarden Edit
years ago, we put in below an obvious concrete bridge that was too low at that level to navigate.
There was one tree portage and one or two logs to paddle around. The first scoutable drop was a
tight plunge between overhanging branches down a diagonal ramp to the left. The wave at the bottom
was intimidating, but not malevolent. The next big drop is a broken ledge adjacent to the elevated
patio of a house. Scouting is advised. Below here, the channel is worked by bulldozers and less
attractive, but still fun. After an initial cautious run, it's no problem to bomb down in less than
an hour, generally when everything else is too high. The streambed is narrow and fast! Great fun!
level, and the upper portion was extremely scrapey. Personally, I think 250-400 is a nice level,
300-375 being ideal. I'd have to recommend only boating the bottom 3 miles, and taking out at the
park in Friendsville. The Upper section is very pretty, but lots of wood.
water clear when I was there - wintertime though - and the banks are lined with mountain laurel and
hemlock trees. It is true the last bit has camphouses along it, but I found this run to be
surprisingly pretty given its proximity to the road.