Farmington,

Tariffville (Route 189) to Highway 187 (Tariffville Gorge) (Tville)

Bob Taylor at T'ville

Bob Taylor at T'ville
Photo of Tariffville by Michael Phelan @ 3

Gauge Information

River Description

Tville (as it's called by locals) contains some of the most popular and consistent whitewater in Connecticut.

You can either run the river or park and play. Most boaters choose to park and play. To park and play, park at the end of Tunxis Ave. on the East Granby side, and walk down the dirt trail to the river. From here you can access the majority of the play features Tville has to offer, and still walk back up to your car when you're done.

Most boaters that run the river put in at Tariffville Park and takeout either at Tunxis Ave. (which avoids the slightly tougher sections of the gorge) or takeout after the broken dam.

Most evenings in the summer a solid crowd of friendly and inviting paddlers can be found throwing down in Tville's great play holes. Boaters from all over the area come here because there's consistent flows, year round, that provide a variety of options for play and river running. Stop by and check it out, you won't be let down.

2.4 feet on the gauge is considered to be the best playboating level at the lower, main hole. It can be surfed down to about 1.5 feet, and starts to flush out around 2.7 feet. However, at 3.0+ feet, a hole above this feature called Babylon begins to form that offers some good rides.

Tville is, however, not without some areas for concern. There are a series of concrete bridge abutments that have been the site of a fatality due to a pinned boater. These abutments supported the bridge that connected Tunxis Ave. in East Granby to Tunxis Ave. in Tariffville. They are located on the river left and river right side of the river where it passes Tunxis Ave. They can be safely navigated down the center of the river, or for a more challenging and bumpy ride, on the river right side. They're not an overwhelming dangerous feature, but boaters should make a point to never come into physical contact with the abutments when traveling down river to avoid a pin.

The second point of caution on the river is the broken dam, located downstream from the popular play area and the bridge abutments. This feature can be clearly seen when paddling down river and can be scouted on river left. The actual flume is pretty shallow with concrete underlying it. The water here is surprisingly raucous and boiley, like a small piece of big water. The piece of the dam that sits 40 yards downstream of the outflow of the flume is called Car Rock (the larger piece of the dam next to it is called Aircraft Carrier). This rock was also the site of a fatality when an individual unfamiliar with whitewater, and lacking proper whitewater equipment including a PFD, pinned underwater and perished. This rock should be considered undercut and dangerous. If you decide to run the dam's flume you should aim to paddle decisively towards river right and into the large eddy there. The move isn't that difficult, just not without consequences.