| Difficulty | II-III |
| Length | 1.7 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 15 fpm |
| Gauge | Farmington River at Tariffville, Ct |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 2.43 ftmedium runnable |
| Reach Info Last Updated | July 15, 2019 |
Tville (as it's called by locals) contains some of the most popular and consistent whitewater in Connecticut.
You can either run the river or park and play. Most boaters choose to park and play. To park and play, park at the end of Tunxis Ave. on the East Granby side, and walk down the dirt trail to the river. From here you can access the majority of the play features Tville has to offer, and still walk back up to your car when you're done.
Most boaters that run the river put in at Tariffville Park and takeout either at Tunxis Ave. (which avoids the slightly tougher sections of the gorge) or takeout after the former location of the broken dam.
Most evenings in the summer a solid crowd of friendly and inviting paddlers can be found throwing down in Tville's great play holes. Boaters from all over the area come here because there's consistent flows, year round, that provide a variety of options for play and river running. Stop by and check it out, you won't be let down.
2.4 feet on the gauge is considered to be the best playboating level at the lower, main hole. It can be surfed down to about 1.5 feet, and starts to flush out around 2.7 feet. However, at 3.0+ feet, a hole above this feature called Babylon begins to form that offers some good rides.
Tville is, however, not without some areas for concern. There are a series of concrete bridge abutments that have been the site of a fatality due to a pinned boater. These abutments supported the bridge that connected Tunxis Ave. in East Granby to Tunxis Ave. in Tariffville. They are located on the river left and river right side of the river where it passes Tunxis Ave. They can be safely navigated down the center of the river, or for a more challenging and bumpy ride, on the river right side. They're not an overwhelming dangerous feature, but boaters should make a point to never come into physical contact with the abutments when traveling down river to avoid a pin.
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...The bridge abutments can be safely navigated down the center of the river, or for a more challenging line, on river right. These abutments were the site of a fatality when a boater became pinned there. Exercise caution.
This hole, and several surrounding it, are the most popular features on this section of the river. The majority of boaters park at the end of Tunxis Ave and walk or paddle down to this location and surf. You can either walk back up to the parking lot from this point if you like.
There used to be a broken dam below the play hole. It was removed in 2012. What remains are a trio of Class III drops, which get harder as the water gets higher. The second one is a ~3 foot river-wide ledge similar to the gorge drop on the Quaboag, while the last one is a big tongue.
The river divides around an island. Typewriter is a twisting class III rapid along the river left side of the island. Just below the flow from the river right side rejoins to form The Vortex, a powerful seam that sucks down hard with more water. Big-time mystery moves here. The section of river just below the Vortex is narrow and deep, with rocky walls. This character continues for a short stretch until the river become wider and shallower again near the take-out.
Aug 12, 2013
6/14/2013 old dam site and immediately above, ~7pm, gauge 7.12' = ~7000cfs, with Mike Campbell and Andy Kuhlberg, investigated new high water waves at and above the site of the removed dam. New big surf is 'Brave New Wave.' Several big, pulsing waves, the new hole at the last ledge 'Inquisition' very retentive at least down to 3.5'. Best surfs at this level were not optimal for playboats (too short) or slalom boats (too long); would have favored boats 7-9' long. Posting 10 photos and videos when site problems are cleared.
Dec 24, 2011
Hi I'm looking for people to boat with in and around Connecticut. I just moved here from Montana and it hasn't been easy meeting boaters. If you need someone to paddle with who's a solid class IV river runner, with some V and creeking experience please drop me a line or a note. Thanks, Cooper 860-575-8473 cooper.waldron@gmail.com