Chippewa Creek, OH

Pinning and Grinning

Pinning and Grinning
Photo of Low water in the Chippewa Gorge by Matt Muir (KHCC) taken 3-14-02 @ unrunnably low water

River Description

This Cuyahoga Tributary is very narrow, very steep, full of logs and boulders. Looks like fun!

The following description is courtesy of David Knox, who participated in the first descent with Eric Quigley and Max Metz and has run it more than once:

Chippewa is really intense. Our putin is under the 82 bridge, upstream from the falls. The falls are really easy, about the easiest drop on the creek.

There's some little stuff you can see from the parking lot, then it turns the corner, goes out of sight, and all hell breaks loose. I measured it out from the bridge to about a mile down, which is where all the gradient is, and in 1 mile it drops about 170 feet.

Most of the drops have no discernible point where it ends and the next begins. There are several serious undercuts, a few boulder sieves, and a sinkhole or two. Let's not forget to mention the strainers.

We named several of the drops- the first big one is called Dead Raccoon (V). The end is particularly tricky. The line goes middle to hard left, in front of a sieve, turning down through a small slot into a pool above the next drop, the Spout (IV). There's some easy III-IV stuff between there and the last BIG drop, Warthog (V+). It's got two pourovers and a big undercut in the entrance. The actual drop is big-splat-esque, except that instead of a big rock at the bottom, you have to stay on a 3 foot wide angled tongue. The left side of the tongue will drop you into a sinkhole and a pinning crease, respectively. The right side, if the water's high enough, will drop you into an eddy sieve.

This is probably the most difficult run in the state. It seriously blows away the Sheraton and Tinkers on difficulty and gradient. If only it ran more often.

StreaMaster's Note: Tinker's is longer, less wood-choked, and has more than your fill of play. I have no doubt that Tinker's is more fun.

Conservation Organization: check out the Friends of the Crooked River, who've been working on cleaning up the Cuyahoga (and its tributaries) and educating the public for 11 years.