Mad

WARNING!! As of this afternoon (and maybe yesterday) there is a large tree (hemlock or spruce) lodged in the right side of Horseshoe Falls, with branches actually sticking out of the falls, plus more (and larger) branches sticking out of the water 20-30 feet downstream of the drop. When I saw it late today the flow was about 500 cfs, so it seems to be quite securely held in place.

The trunk is not visible, but the branches indicate that it is fairly large, and may have many additional branches coming off of it under the surface. Clearly it is a very serious entrapment hazard for anyone who runs the falls blind. Even running the left side sneak drop is questionable, inasmuch as a swim or bad line could put someone right into the strainer in deep and turbulent water. My advice is just walk the drop, and wait for the next major runoff event to flush it out.

Everything downstream is clear—for now. If this tree does flush out of Horseshoe it may create a comparable hazard downstream, unless the flow is sufficient to push it all the way to the Winooski River or up on the left bank and out of play.