Israel River

Four of us ran from the bridge on Route 2 to Lancaster on 5/2/21. It was my first time on this river. The AW gauge was reading about 2200, The day before, the river had been too high to run safely. The upper section (to the railroad bridge) is a good warmup Class II at this level with clear lines through all the rapids. There are some big surf waves scattered along almost the entire route. Below the railroad bridge the waves get bigger, though there is usually a clean line though the rapids. Watch out for the low head dam below the powerline. It reveals itself only as a distinct horizon line with a cement slab on either side. It might have been possible to run it extreme river right at this level but we chose to portage, At higher levels the hole formed by the dam would be challenging (at best), probably dangerous. Scout before you even think of running it (it's easily scouted from Riverside Drive). Below the dam, the waves get even bigger, but again, the lines are easy to follow. I imagine these rapids would get more technical as levels drop. Great Class II river, wish it ran more often.