Oak Orchard Creek

John E. Butts Memorial Park - Park n Play
Medina, NY

There is a little more on Oak Orchard than most know of. Much of it is tranquil water but there's some action too! Behind John E. Butts Memorial Park, (No, its not a prank made up name from The Simpsons) is a park n play spot. Its on Rte 63 in Medina just north of Rte 31A. Pull straight into the park and stay to the left past the skate park and playground along the water past the small dam until the end of the drive. Walk a short distance upstream across the grass just beyond the outfield of the baseball diamond. You are there.

When the Shelby gauge reaches 8.5', its a decent shallow starter wave with cushe eddies to either side that are easy to catch and get back on the wave. At 9.5(~550CFS -10'+, it gets lively! There are two surfable waves in a series here with the second wave being bigger and deeper. There are no real dangers to point out as we have pulled all the larger rocks from the pool at low levels so there is a mostly smooth clay bottom though not very deep.

If you go down stream, the dam splits the river 3 ways which is near the parking area. Left has potential but is a shallow bony boat beater. The river right two openings lead to the same two ledge drops maybe 2-3' each. Again, here there is potential depending on levels. On the river left side of these two drops it can get a little sticky and there are some trees roots and sometimes trash to be aware of. There are a few more drops continuing down river with each consecutive crossroad bridge. Each are bridge/road scoutable. Shortly after Center St. bridge is a tunnel under the Erie Canal then almost immediately following is the already posted 30'+ Medina falls dropping into the Glenwood Lake Reservoir.