Wills Creek
1. Fairhope to Hyndman
| Difficulty | III-IV(V) |
| Length | 5.7 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Wills Creek Below Hyndman, Pa |
| Flow Rate as of 54 minutes | 1.78 ftbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | July 17, 2025 |
This river is a fun class IV with a road alongside allowing most of the river to be car scouted. There is one section which merits a close look, Yo-Yo Rapid, while the rapid itself has changed radically from the description found in most guide books, there is a difficult slot move in the drop just below the house size rock that use to be the main problem in the rapid. The river left slot is against the railroad retaining wall and is severely undercut creating a major problem if things go wrong The center slot appears to be the best shot from above; there are shallow rocks in the landing and just below the slot making the move more difficult than either the right or left slots. The right slot consists of a boof move of a large flattish rock and is relatively clean, however at high levels it becomes a large hole and there is a potential pinning rock 10 feet below with all the current from the slot hitting it.
YO YO HAS CHANGED AGAIN DO NOT RUN LEFT SLOT AS IT NOW HAS A 10 ft X 10Ft PIECE OF CONCRETE IN IT. THE SLAP OF CONCRETE SITS ON AN ANGLE CAUSING ALL FLOW TO GO UNDER THE RETAINING WALL.
Overall this a great run with a creekish feel, there is one other drop that is below the last bridge befor the take out, its is a river wide ledge that can be run easily tight on the right side or through a tough set of slot moves even farther right.
Artificial rapid formed when the railroad blasted a cut through the rock that now forms a series of jagged ledges. Most paddlers put in below this one if not hard core. Walk down the path to the field and take the tunnel under the tracks
Start in the big eddy above, run the lead in on river right. Catch the river right eddy before the first drop or skip. From here you go to far river left. You can then catch the river left eddy to take a look, or just continue to run the lefthand slidish drop. Punch the hole. This puts you into a pool in the middle of the rapid, a short break before the meat. There are a series of 4 river wide ledge holes. You run them on the left staying about 6-10ft off the shore. On the last ledge drop you want to try to be further away from the left, aiming for the small kicker/wave train that is between the pocket hole on the left and the ledge hole on the right.
At higher levels the water piles up behind the ledges making a mound you need to climb up before you can continue down the rapid.
The put-in is below the railroad cut, where the road turns away from the Creek, just above Fairhope, PA. Just above the put-in is the Class V 'Railroad' rapid (see above) which resulted from the railroad cutting a new channel to avoid following what is now an oxbow.
'Yo-Yo' Rapid: While the rapid itself has changed radically from the description found in most guide books, there is a difficult slot move in the drop just below the house size rock that use to be the main problem in the rapid. The river left slot is against the railroad retaining wall and is severely undercut creating a major problem if things go wrong The center slot appears to be the best shot from above; there are shallow rocks in the landing and just below the slot making the move more difficult than either the right or left slots. The right slot consists of a boof move of a large flattish rock and is relatively clean, however at high levels it becomes a large hole and there is a potential pinning rock 10 feet below with all the current from the slot hitting it. YO YO HAS CHANGED AGAIN DO NOT RUN LEFT SLOT AS IT NOW HAS A 10 ft X 10Ft PIECE OF CONCRETE IN IT. THE SLAP OF CONCRETE SITS ON AN ANGLE CAUSING ALL FLOW TO GO UNDER THE RETAINING WALL.
Shortens the run, skipping the mellower stuff down to Hyndman. Good takeout for running laps
Hyndman Takeout - For a longer run there is a ballfield and some parking at the PA 96 bridge over the creek.
May 4, 2026
Ran wills creek on 5-2-26 at 2.66ft down to swimming hole
One riverwide strainer shortly after YoYo rapid that we were able to sneak against the river right bank
YoYo rapid is also very different to anything described before. Here is a short clip of it now https://youtu.be/MkLKMb1i66g
Apr 3, 2018
Ran Wills on 3/4/2018. Level was 2.97'. This was my first run since the very significant change at YOYO. At this level is was straight forward, just point the boat down stream and hit the center chute. As mention by RNorman there is a submerged boulder in the chute. This boulder would most likely be a problem with any less water and if you flip roll up quickly or tuck tightly. The rapid may need a new name as YOYO just doesn't seem fitting now.
Made it back to Wills 4/2/2018 Level was 2.98'. New log at the top right hand side of Railroad Cut Falls. Also a tree extending from the right side to the left side of the creek just above the first bridge. We were able to scrape over it on the far left.
Nov 4, 2012
Lost a Blue Werner Sidekick paddle just above YoYo on 03 03 12. Name and contact info are on it; pogies were attached; would love to be reunited with it if anyone spots it.
We ran it at 750 cfs and except for the lost paddle, had an awesome run. No change in the rebar situation, so heads up through YoYo. This is a great creek!
04 22 12: Lost paddle is found and returned! Thanks to Vern, who found it while fishing, and to his paddling son Josh, who got it back to Ohiopyle for me!
Thanks! John
May 23, 2011
The center line at Yo-Yo has changed for the better after all these spring floods. All the little rocks that used to be just upstream making it hard to get to the left side of the shelf are gone, and its now a straight-forward move to boof off the left side. Its possible the rebar is still in the hole there, we didn't see anything at 7-800cfs, but it may be just underwater.
The right line still looks the same, though the rocks just downstream of the move definitely have some undercut/sieve-like formations
