Pike, N.Br.
A) Carney Rapids/Old County A to Four Foot Falls (0.4 miles)
| Difficulty | III |
| Length | 0.28 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Pike River, Upper Branch Runs |
| Flow Rate as of 57 minutes | 71 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | February 2, 2021 |
River Description
At Old County A, Carney Rapids drops into a mini-gorge (right under the road bridge) which would be a sweet, straight-forward drop, except ...
There are huge timbers (embedded in the rock flanking the drop) which have huge spikes sticking out of them. Additionally, there is a large log in the pool at the base of the drop, angled diagonally up toward the drop, ready to hammer anyone / anything coming down the drop. Unless you have done a recent low-water scout, or otherwise have confirmation that these things have changed, this makes this a highly recommended portage (I.E., have a look, but plan to put in below it).
About one-third of a mile (of flat/flowing water with intermixed easy rapids) leads a to another interesting drop, Four-Foot Falls. A 1.5-2.0' ledge is a straight-forward run right or center, or a twisting run river left toward center. Almost immediately beyond this ledge is a weird slot against the left wall. At low water, all the flow drops about 2.5' into this slightly more than boat-width slot. At higher flows, another path down a somewhat more inviting ledge/falls would be available on river right.
For what it's worth . . . upstream of here, I have paddled (approximately 2 miles) from CCC Camp Road down to Old County A. It is a fine northwoods float, but holds no real whitewater. I have also paddled (the ~4.3 miles) from 4' Falls down to the 'Four Falls' put-in, and the river consists of easy shoals, flat water, and snags, with little gradient and extraordinarily little interest for whitewater paddlers (Incidently, same is true for all unlisted 'intervening' stretches of the Pike and both it's branches. I have not paddled upstream of the uppermost listed reaches, but have paddled all 'intervening' stretches, and cannot recommend as a whitewater trip anything other than what has been listed.)
River Features
Put In
Carney Rapids (Drainage ~71Sq.Mi.)
This short sliding flume drop would be easy fun to run if it were 'clean'. Unfortunately, huge timbers with huge spikes line the drop, and large rocks and another timber lay wait in the pool at the base. While I will concede that at some high flow it is possible (likely) that these hazards may be adequately covered to make a run possible, it is certainly NOT something I would encourage anyone to take lightly. If you have not seen this in person at a decent handful of flows, if you do not know how far underwater the spikes and the timbers may be, you really should not consider running this drop.
Upper Four-foot Falls
A short drive (or float) downstream of the Old-CCC Road bridge lies Four-foot Falls. The river twists to the right and spills across a broken upper sloping ledge, then twists sharply left to drop down a slot.
Lower Four-foot Falls
The lower part of this drop has a slot on river-left into which ALL the water falls at low summer flows. With better boatable flows, water will spread across sloping rock at what will be right or center-right of the flow. This is likely to be the more preferred route down this part of the drop.
Downstream, there is flatwater (occasionally punctuated by very very minor boulderbed rips) until the put-in for the 'Four Falls' section.
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportThis is the entrance to (upper part of) Four Foot Falls.
The lower part of Four-Foot Falls has a barely boat-width slot tight river-left (up against a steep rock-face which forms the shore). At the low summer flow in the photo, all water pours into that slot. At higher (runnable) flows, water may sheet across the rocks in center and river-right.
Not all that tall, but definitely potentially ugly! This shot shows the whole drop. Since it is taken from overhead (from the 'Old CCC Road' bridge), the perspective totally flattens-out the drop.
A slightly more close-up shot of the timbers in Carney Rapids, showing the nasty huge spikes (left of frame) which would gouge and shred your boat or catch on your body or gear if you ran this at low-to-moderate flows. Also visible (foreground) is the huge timber in the base pool, waiting for a boat to hammer into it!
Shot from downstream, you can see the slot (river-left, frame-right, against the shore) and the sloping rock down the left of the frame. At boatable flows, this rock should be covered, and a 'center river' route down it would probably be the preferred line.
Shot from near river-level below the drop, this gives pretty good perspective of the overall drop (maybe only about 4-5 feet). At the brink (top) of the drop, frame-right (river-left) you can see planks looking almost like a fence -- I suspect remnants of a diversion/dam from long ago logging operations or something such. In the main part of the drop, timbers flank the water in this low-flow shot. Those timbers have large iron spikes standing vertically (almost perceptible in this photo, more visible in another photo). In the pool at the base of the drop you can see large rocks to frame-right (river-left), and another huge timber angling up out of the pool. (This has been in this location since at least 1980's when I first saw this falls.) At 'runnable flows', these would no doubt be lurking not far below the surface, almost certain to cause trouble to anyone who tried to run the falls (NOT RECOMMENDED!).