Twentymile Creek
S. Ripley to Lake Erie
| Difficulty | III+(V) |
| Length | 9.8 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Walnut Creek Upstream Pool, Near Erie, Pa |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 3.44 ftbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | June 9, 2016 |
River Description
This is a really beautiful and challenging reach close to Erie. Like many other Erie tribs, this creek is in an isolated shale gorge with cliffs usually on one side or the other and bald eagles. If the ledge at the putin looks a little boney, but doable then you should be fine. If it doesn't look boney then you are in for a fast exhilerating run! Warm-up rapids start right at the putin with fun Class II's for the first couple of miles. After this the run picks up with some more serious ledges and then a wide falls. The falls is about 5 feet high and drops into a common pool with the Gage Gulf (Belson Creek.) Both creeks almost parallel each other just before they both drop into the pool with waterfalls separated by a very thin shale wall. Immediatly downstream the creek becomes extremely narrow and surrounded by cliffs on both sides. Once leaving the pool there is no turning back and you are committed to running this Class V box canyon called The Flume of Doom!
Western New York Area Reaches
Beaver Meadow Creek Canadaway Creek (1.) Canadaway Creek (2.)
Canaseraga Creek Cattaraugus Creek Cattaraugus Creek, S. Branch
Cazenovia Creek, W. Branch (1.)Cazenovia Creek, W. Branch (2.)
...River Features
Route 9
Put in on the north bank of the creek on the downstream side of the Route 9 bridge.
Junction Falls
The river becomes very wide and suddenly bends to the left. The falls is a good 4 or 5 feet but isn't very tricky. It deposits you into a calm pool below. This area is very isolated and scenic. You will see a waterfall on Belson Creek (the Gage Gulf) entering the pool parallel to Twentymile only seperated by a thin shale wall. Take out in the pool to scout the next rapid.
The Flume of Doom
WOW, where'd this bad boy come from you might wonder! Just after Belson Creek pours into Twentymile, you enter a narrow box canyon with steep shale walls rising up 30 feet above your head. The creek becomes very narrow and thunders through several good sized holes. Finally near the end of this flume is a slight drop into an unavoidable MONSTER HOLE!!! This one can point an 11 foot kayak straight up! Staring up, all you will see is hemlocks but I don't think you will get much of a chance to enjoy their esthetic value! Recirulation of the hole can reach downstream as far as 15 to 20 feet so paddle like hell! It is unknown how bad this rapid can be for swimming because I only know that Dave Atkinson and I miraculously made it through right side up. There is easily enough head room to do a roll IF the hole spits you out.
A portage is possible on the left side of the creek by getting out just after the falls. To get back down to the creek below the Flume of Doom may require ropes in order to lower boats down. Alternatively, one can walk about 1/2 mile through an oxbow lake area that is swampy and quite unpleasent. To get there, go perpendicular to the left bank and you will come to the big opening. Walk down the old valley until you get back to Twentymile.
Railroad Rapid
Railroad Rapid is one of the most structured rapids on Twentymile. It has nice eddies and a wavetrain that extends into the pool at the bottom of the rapid. At some levels it is an excellent playspot with good depth for enders and cartwheels.
Snake Falls
The creek drops several feet here in a gradual slide ending in a small drop. The deepest route is on the right, but don't go too far right or you will hit the shale wall. The hole is not very sticky though and there is an easy sneak down the left side of the rapid. Fishermen used to fish the pool just below this rapid, but now the area around the rapid is posted. Make sure you don't swim here or you might get busted for trespassing.
Tunnel Falls
After comming through a tunnel there is an artificial waterfall created by concrete. In general it is not as bad as Marijuannica Falls on Walnut, but the hole can have some kick to it at levels above 1.5 ft at which level this run should probably not be attempted.
Iron Bridge Falls
This is not really a true falls since most of the creek drops over a steep ledge but is very, very fast and fun! It is fairly long and large standing waves populate the drop with some big holes at the end of the drop. There tends to be a lot of fishermen here in the spring and fall so please be courteous but have fun! If the fishermen are not there, this could be a fun place to surf.
Lake Erie
Take out in Lake Erie or Route 5 at the Fish and Boat Commission parking area. If you want to surf waves on the lake it is only 100 or 200 yards from the parking lot.
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportRunning Good 1st day of Spring 2014
PA side under I-90
Pic under I-90. Upper good to run now. North of route 5 looks like death or serious injury for sure
Nate Blick getting tossed in the big one. Of the four of us I was the only one to make it through this beast upright and to be fair it was mostly due to being the group photographer and seeing where not to go haha. Also two of the four hard boaters were in playboats which probably will not be attempted again ever. The raft had to be portaged for obvious reasons. Proper line is center left with some good left angle because it kicks right harder than it appears.
Looks a lot different from up here, we all changed our lines when we got out at the bottom and looked at it. Once you take out to look at the bottom you are already committed, there really is no way out of the box canyon unless you set a rope before hand. Rescue is not an option either, pretty much on your own on this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOUR8FrlhQ8. Sorry you have to copy and paste AW won't take the link, you can also just type kayaking flume of doom in youtube. 63 degree in January, yea we had to take off work. Undoubtedly one of the biggest if not the biggest holes in the area. This creek has only been run a handful of times by probably less than ten people but its is a gem of a micro creek with a 36.9 square mile drainage basin its actually one of the bigger ones in town. I consider this part of the Erie PA creek network because it ends in Erie county even though most of the run is in New York. Interested boaters should also look at Four and Twelve mile creeks on AW in PA. Six and Sixteen mile are also excellent and soon to be posted. Walnut, Elk, and Little Elk are the Western Erie runs and are less difficult but still superb with proper level, offering less drops but more surfing than the eastern 'mile' creeks. Chautauqua creek in New York and its tributary little Chautauqua are considered sister creeks to Twenty mile and its main tributary Belson because they are right next to each other and Main branch and tributary are near equal in size and greatness. Little Chautauqua takes the cake for biggest drops. Unfortunately it has the most wood as well and is for the most part not runnable at present time although it has been before. I have seen video from 15 years ago when it was clean, and amazing. The Flume is also known as gauges gulf to locals, and is a popular swimming hole in the summer when the level is low.
This is nice shot of Twentymile (back) and the Gage Gulf (foreground) comming together. Dave and I had to fight our way up the hill to snap some pictures, but it was well worth it!
Here is the put in for this awesome run. Shown here is Dave Atkinson making final preparations for the decsent.
This is one of many small ledges near the put in.
Nice and scenic.
I wonder how high this one is?
Dave heads into the chaos! That took some guts to take this shot before heading into a Class V didn't it? I know, I'm vain!
This is a HUGE hole. In fact, when taking the picture I wasn't even that close to the hole. For scale, the tree above the hole was very large and there was plenty of head room underneath it!
Intimidating? Scarry? You bet!!!
You can see how far downstream the hole recirculates.
Nice little waterfall. I think this one is around Mile 5.
Not far above Railroad Rapid.
Do you really want to surf that Dave?
Dave approaching the artificial falls.
Dave Atkinson looking up at Snake Falls.
View of Iron Bridge Falls from below.
Juntion Falls is a fun and easy waterfall, but you will want to ferry to the left bank to scout The Flume of Doom after running the falls.