Raquette
1) Forked Lake Campground to Deerland
| Difficulty | II-III |
| Length | 3.6 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Raquette River at Piercefield Ny |
| Flow Rate as of 22 minutes | 6.98 ftrunnable |
| Reach Info Last Updated | April 8, 2016 |
River Description
Lat / longitude coords are approximate, from TopoZone.
The put in is just below the Forked Lake dam at the picnic area. There is a $6/day use fee to park your vehicle.
The take out is at the Deerland lean-to shelter. There is a small parking area on County Rd. 3 (North Point Rd) with a yellow gate on the back side. Follow the road behind the gate to the lean-to and to the river, about 100 yards.
Buttermilk Falls is in the middle of the run. The portage trail is on river right and is well marked. Above the falls is a long backwater of slow water and a definite horizon line. There is also an area to park on County Rd. 3 (North Point Rd) with a sign for the falls. You could take out or put in here or just look at the falls. The portage is a must, but at certain water levels there is probably somebody that could run them.
There are two sections of rock garden, one just below the dam and the other just above the take out. After the first section you hit the backwater of the falls, then portage the falls and there is a bit of whitewater below the falls if you put in before the end of the portage trail. After this, some flatwater, then the second rock garden section before the river dumps into Long Lake. The Deerland lean-to and the take out are where the river ends and the lake begins.
Eastern Adirondacks Reaches
Ausable, E. Branch Ausable, W. Branch (1.) Ausable, W. Branch (2.) Balm of Gilead Brook
...River Features
Put In
Buttermilk Falls
Lat/lon coords are approximate, from online maps.
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportRan this 4/30/2022 at 8.2 on the Piercefield gauge (whatever that means, it's like 50 miles downstream). At that level, it was II-II+ with maybe one rapid approaching a III and could approach III at higher water (the last two after buttermilk falls). The two hardest rapids were the one after buttermilk falls and the one right after the dam at forked lake. There are a ton of trees but nothing was river wide and you could usually snake through, but you'll want to scout the first rapid after the dam and any time you see a big tree around a bend. Fairly pretty section, but the prettiest I would say is the class II section from Raquette lake to Forked lake. I'm pretty sure that never gets paddled and it is beautiful back there (but short). Buttermilk falls is impressive if nothing else, but I'd really only run this again if I was doing something else in the area. I suspect the gauge reading is less relevant than the snowpack/ recent rain. If you wanted a rowdier run, maybe right after ice out would be the best bet.
There is also a gauge on river right that you'll see soon after leaving the dam. It read 1.15 feet when the automated gauge was at 5.70. This level is just runnable. It is rock garden and you're spending your time trying to stay off the rocks, but it was O.K. and something to run with water in it.
Good class II run if water is up - some strainers -