Bear Creek (Allegheny River trib.)

This is a fun creek, with some easy rapids and a couple of harder ones. There are also a couple of hazards to keep in mind. There is relatively little wood in the creek, but since many rapids are around blind corners it's important to keep an eye out for strainers. There are also several abandoned 3'-4' gas pipelines in the valley, with the occasional piece of pipe in the stream to be aware of.

Put in just upstream of the foot bridge in Bruin Park. There is a pipeline crossing the creek just downstream of the confluence at the park, but there is about 3 feet of clearance under it at medium water. The rapid just downstream has a big, flat boulder on river right that is deeply undercut (there are lots of undercuts here). A little further and you come to Trestle Rapid, a right turn under the wooden railroad trestle. Keep in mind that the stretch after the trestle tends to snag strainers. It's an easy scout on river left. There are three more rapids before the bridge by the water treatment plant.

The first rapid after the bridge is a narrow sweeper to the right into a small pool. The creek then splits into two channels around a couple of boulders, which are known to collect strainers. Downstream the creek has a bunch of class II rapids, with lots of blind corners.

About a half mile down from the treatment plant there is a long class II. After making several moves, notice the two huge boulders downstream on river right, and the current breaks diagonally to the right then straightens out again into a sizeable hole before a pool. At 1800 cfs on the Slippery Rock Wurtemburg online gauge this hole is sticky enough to hold an unwary boater, or if not the top one then one of the next two. There is an easy portage on river right (if you can spot the hole in time!)

After some more class II you'll see a cabin sized boulder on river right, with a channel straight ahead and a narrower channel cutting to the right behind the boulder. This is Long Island Ra

...