Fishkill Creek
Beacon
| Difficulty | II-IV |
| Length | 0.4 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Wappinger Creek Near Wappingers Falls Ny |
| Flow Rate as of 39 minutes | 202 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | April 26, 2016 |
River Description
Info from New York Exposed: The Whitewater State, Vol. 2.
Local paddler Ken Bolton shared, in 2009:
New York Exposed calls this Fish Kill, but that's slightly erroneous and confusing. NY State DEP calls this Fishkill Creek.
Further, while I haven't run the lower section down by Madame Brett Park, there is a great 0.5 mile run further upstream when the water is between 2 and 5.5 feet. Put-in is at Bridge St., off of Liberty. Cross the wooden bridge by foot and scramble down to the water. (The landowner and I are discussing access to the creek from the near-side.) Paddle upstream ~20 yards to a fun little hole on the left. The gauge is under the bridge on the left. A nice creek-wide standing wave is just below the bridge and makes a great play spot. Things flatten out until a hearty class III just before the take-out at the Central Hudson power station. A ten-minute walk up Liberty brings you back to the put-in. This creek is polluted: local kids, nearby auto dealerships, and the Walmart and Home Depot parking lots upstream contribute to a local history of toxic dumping. Shale creek-bottom, corroding rebar, and natural strainers abound.
Downstate New York Area Reaches
Beer Kill Beer Kill, W. Branch
...River Features
Bridge St. Putin
See the main page. This is the putin for a half-mile section which has a play wave and a III rapid.
Red Rocks
Ken Bolton shared:
'There is a spot locals call 'Red Rocks' about a quarter mile from the standing wave under Bridge Street. It's probably a class II+, and should be scouted for debris before it is run.'
Lat/longitude coords are a wild approximation, from online maps.
Put In
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportRan the segment above Madame Brett Park when visiting parents for thanksgiving, missed the water from the rain by a day or two.
Put in below rapids after the dam, using a set of stairs from the trail down to the creek. Level was very low and the creek was rocky. I was able to surf a small consistent wave towards river left below the rapids after the dam. Very short, rocky run that was not very eventful, other than getting stuck on the rocks a couple times. Takes maybe 5 minutes to get through it. Ended at bridge in front of park parking lot. The creek is divided into three segments by the bridge supports. River right segment was a little too low and my paddling buddy got stuck on the rocks. Center section had enough water to run without issue. Took out river right at a small beach after the abandoned hat factory that had a path up to the main trail.
Will be exploring this again when I'm in the area if the level is a little higher. Also want to try to run the rapids above the dam at the park. Need to first investigate to see if there is a better way to get access to it other than paddling upstream.
Captured at high flood stage. Bronx river pkwy was under 10ft of water that day.
I took this pic at flood stage. To give you an idea, the Bronx rive pkwy in Westchester was under almost 10 feet of water.