Raymondskill Creek
SR 2009 to Rte. 209(Raymondskill)
Trip Reports
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Here is a video of hacker falls @ 2.52 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOR2IXAGA-c
& Flirting with disaster @ 1.89, if I lived closer I wouldn't have run it at that level (seemed a little low) but after a 2 hour drive I couldn't pass it up. Planning on getting back to it when the gauge reaches 2.5 again.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOR2IXAGA-c
Hacker Falls @ 2.52
Melissa Morgan runs a nice line on Hackers. Nice drop to start the run
Jesse Vollick nails his first time down Iron Staircase. Graham's Slam is in the background
At the lip of the 2nd drop of Raymondskill Falls
Someone put their eyes on the iron staircase and it was greatly cut down and all points(jagged limbs) cut off down to a low water mark. the huge trunk remains but is much more managable. Good river Karma to someone
Ran it last Saturday at 2.10. Although it was low all the drops were still good to go. The drop right under the bridge had a really shallow landing and one member of our group pitoned pretty hard. If you're running it at this level just make sure you use good paddle signals to make sure you dont land on your pitoned buddy. At this level it was more of a class IV plop and drop, but with the absolute must make eddy before the unrunnable big one, it deserves respect. I think next time we'll set someone with a line at the final must make eddy just in case.
Guage at 2.47 steady today. Newbie run for two of us. Taken down from the top by veterans Jeff Ackerman and Wayne 'GMan'. Perfect 1st time level. Just the right amount of adrenaline without the extreme.
Raymondskill ran at a medium high level today. The Bushkill gauge peaked at around 2.3. I ran Flirting with Disaster and afterwards because of the higher water decided it was more suitably named than at lower water. It was more of a 'within inches of Disaster' today. Higher water pushed me further left at the bottom than my 2 previous runs @ around 2.1(Bushkill). The wall on the left at the bottom really comes into play at higher levels. Watch your elbows and eyes. Scout and use good judgement on this one. It couldn't have a better name.
Here is a Description I put together based on information I have gathered over the last 5 years of kayaking the Raymondskill. The Take-Out is located on SR 2009 off of Rt.209 N. You cross the creek on 209 and take an immediate left following signs towards Raymondskill falls. There will be a parking lot on your left a little ways up the hill and a walking trail from the parking lot leading down to the falls. Drop a car at the lot, and then continue up the hill on SR 2009 crossing the creek once, passing Silver Spring on your right eventually you
Highest descent so far...
Big drop. 1st Descent.
Going over the handle bars!
This changed our minds forever.
The drop on this run which most boaters refer to as 'the Portage' in the middle of the run after the double drop 'Iron Staircase' that was never thought to be runnable, was successfully run today. The drop is a 20ft slightly off vertical drop, pretty much freefalling, onto a sloped slab which ramps about 15 ft ending with a 6 foot boof into the pool below. A boater swam the drop by accident last fall after swimming above the falls and could not make it to the bank in time and somehow was not seriously injured, which made us think that it could be done. Today it was successfully run in a kayak twice by Eli Landis. He cracked his boat the day before and decided to risk completely demolishing the boat by ghost running the boat over the drop first to find the right line. After the boat cleaned the line we decided it could be done but the transition at the bottom would be too abrupt. Eli told us he was going to run it and after all of us hinting towards trying to talk Eli out of it, he went up and did it anyway. He made it look so good it convinced all of us to give it a go. It has now been run 6 times, all clean lines. Eli decided to call it 'Flirting with Disaster'
you can run it down to 1.9 from the top or 1.7 from the bridge. It gets scrapy but verticals vertical especialy when nothing else is going
A week before this we ran the top half of the run and bailed at the bridge because it was getting a little scary (Bushkill was at 4' and going straight up). This was a much prettier, more relaxing day.
From 209 turn onto Raymondskill Rd.you will pass the Take-out on the left
use second parking lot {bath room changing room on site}take a look at
bottom ledge it can be a nasty hole and a mistake here it could be your
last.Left out of the parking lot you will cross over the bridge drop then
come to a stop sign.Turn right on Milford road{state road 2009 ?}.you will
cross Raymondskill{100 feet}with in a mile you will come to a dirt road on
the right{3rd guard rail ?}there is a small state park sign, follow to end
take trail on left,to top of hill then first trail to right.
Raymond Skill Rd, Milford, PA 18337 {this will get you close}
We put in farther up-stream (at the second bridge over the creek- from the falls parking lot) I wouldn
Photo by Jeff Ackerman
Jen Paisner cranks off the first drop on Raymondskill.
2.5