Little Conemaugh (North)
Lilly to South Fork
| Difficulty | I-III |
| Length | 14 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Little Conemaugh River at East Conemaugh, Pa |
| Flow Rate as of 49 minutes | 8.40 ftbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | October 31, 2016 |
River Description
**Description:**This section of the Little Conemaugh, especially dropping in at Lilly, needs pretty high flows. The gauge is inacurate as well. It all depends where the rain falls. Best bet is to shoot me an email to ask if Cassandra is passable, if so, you can drop in from Lilly down, or if the gauge is 2000cfs or greater, it is probably running. You pass under a lot of original, ungraffitti'ed bridges, which makes for some awesome scenery. It also is freshwater until a certain point where an AMD site called 'Mars' can be found on it.
Class II - III continuous creek from Lilly to Portage where it slows down to a float with some class I after 'Twin Lakes' in Jamestown on the way down towards Wilmore. From Wilmore to South Fork it picks back up to class I with smaller II after another north branch which is class I and unmarked on AWW comes into it.
I would consider the area through Cassandra to be class III as it starts with a rapid, has some fishing dams to drop down and is a fast through the park all the way to where Ben's Creek meets it past Oil City. There is nothing big water about this, but it can be technical especially at higher flows, only reason its marked a class III.
It is pretty much continous class II from here on out but you must be aware of a natural beaver dam that has formed shortly after Hughes Borehole. Make sure you take the river left channel when the river forks shortly after Hughes. There are still bigger strainers in the river that can easily be avoided and mainly in areas where there is no gradient, but need chainsaw and a crew. Most other trees have been cleared in 2015.
There are river access points to put in and take out all along this section, the main ones in Jamestown, Portage, PA, rt. 160 in Wilmore, and Ehrnefeld before the south branch comes in From Portage to South Fork this section is a very friendly class I with maybe one small class II rapid.
The Little Conemaugh originally ran around t
...River Features
Lilly Put In
Put in in Lilly is after the confluence of a smaller stream after the railroad bridge. Look for the big cemetary on the hill, there are a few parking lots on the river. I would drop in downstream from where 'Bear Rock Run' comes in, less trees and a bigger creek
Cassandra
Cassandra part I is coming into Cassanrda, 'Festivle Park' is on your left. This starts with a class III drop into fast moving water over a fishing dam before going under a bridge. Flood walls surround you. It starts here and will end past the river left turn. After that it continues a bit fast until you go back into the forest with a nice little beach on river left. Lengthy class II/III rapid.
Oil City
This river will calm a bit until just past Cassandra to 'Oil City.' This turns back into a class III, not as continuous as before until Ben's Creek flows into it
Jamestown Access
There is a big tree on the riverbed, after the tree, Noel's creek comes in the right.
This is Jamestown, with Twin Lakes up on the left. You need to be a member to go up there. After twin lakes, it eases quite a bit all the way to the Wilmore take out, then you could continue on down towards South Fork, where it picks back up to a class II creek/river.
You can maybe find parking at Twin Lakes or Jamestown Rod N Gun Club parking lot.
Wilmore Access
Take Out after the class II - III section, the rest of the river is suspected to be slow to South Fork, more details to come.
South Fork Access
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportA bridge in Lilly PA