Grass
1. Lampsons Falls to Downerville
| Difficulty | IV+ |
| Length | 4.1 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 30 fpm |
| Gauge | West Branch Oswegatchie River Near Harrisville Ny |
| Flow Rate as of 38 minutes | 382 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | April 5, 2016 |
River Description
Directions:
Put In: Heading north out of Degrasse on Clare Rd. for 4-5 miles to the yellow/brown sign on the left for the trail to Lampson's Falls. It's probably about a half-mile easy walk to the water from there.
Take Out: On Route 24 just north of the town of Russell boaters will see a NY state sign for Downerville, a no-longer existent town at the confluence of the N. branch of the Grasse with the Main branch. Coming from Russell, turn right (SE) onto dirt/gravel Donnerville road, after old cemetary on left, take next right. Follow along beaver pond then downhill to confluence. About a mile and a half from main road to take-out.
Description:
The trail comes out right at Lampson's Falls, which is Fowlersville-sized but has a bunch of flakes sticking up that don't look friendly at all; judge for yourself, I had no issues continuing down the trail to the bottom. From the pool below you have some flatwater to warm up on before dropping into a nice pool-drop rhythm. Most of the drops are worth scouting just to see the assortment of possible lines that most offer up. At low water this seemed like a nice creeking progression from Taylorville on the Beaver, with a few drops which were definite steps up. Nothing is mandatory and everything was pretty easy to scout/portage. The last mile stretch the river starts to widen and become more small rapids. When you come to the Confluence of the North Branch on river right, there will be a small path through the woods which will take you back to the parking lot. This section can be connected and run all the way down to Russell.
Canton - Cranberry Lake Area Reaches
...River Features
Put In
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportImportant. as of may 5 2026 there is a terrible strainer on Lampson falls on right line and more wood blocking entrance to main line down the main falls. Our group ripped down from Lampson falls at 650cfsa. at this level Lampsons falls was quite low with no main line other than middle we dput in below the falls. we played at an unamed play spot before the 1/3 mile flat water paddle before old bridge. just after Lampsons falls. At around 650cfs Thanks was quite the large hole, I couldent imagine it any bigger. next was no thanks, there is also a line that goes right around the island that is not mentioned, this could be a horrible line, at higher waters there is a potential for a go arond at both the left sides of the thanks rapids. Both Should be properly scouted before ran. At this level mikes hole was a breeze. then snot rocket we went right line. the next 2 rapids we snuck through with no issues at this level. we walked north country boof. the sive at the boof main line was looking worse than ever. After northcountry boof the waster was really low and unfun till the take out in Degrasse. jut a note about the portages, there are large dec signs marking the portage trails, the actual trails have not been kept up and practically dont exist.
This is the downerville take out, it is a little upstream on the North Branch, however, there is a Path through the woods to walk upstream from the Confluence.
Low Level Creeking on No Thanks
The take out in Downerville, this is slightly upstream from the confluence of the North and Middle branch. A small path leads though the woods from the confluence up to this area
at 2000CFS
@ 2000 CFS
2000CFs
The Old Bridge Rapid At 2000CFS
At 2000 CFS
2000CFS
Paddler Beau Gaughran and SLU OC raft