Pocantico

This is a scouting report for the Ledges, a creek-like feature on the Pocantico River.  It shows what is probably the minimal level for running it.  Paddlers can do 'laps' on this feature by eddying out at the bottom and walking a gravel trail back up.  Video with descriptions can be found at this link - https://youtu.be/gdXnnf4Sxeg

One thing to note: The 3.0 on the Croton River gauge should have risen to that level, not fallen.  The watershed area for the Pocantico is small.  It doesn't stay up for long after the heavy rains.  By the time that the Croton Falls to 3.0, the Pocantico has fallen much quicker.

For Class 2 paddlers: Don't let the rating stop you from enjoying this river. If you start out at the usual put-in, Sleepy Hollow and Old Sleepy Hollow Ext. you will be paddling a mix of flat but fast moving current, CL1 and CL2 rapids with only two small easy to avoid CL3+ rapids which are easily portaged. The CL4+ is above the put-in, you'll have to hike up along side the creek if you want it. Don't park at the small 'pull-overs' above the usual put-in, it's not legal to do so, and there are 'no trespassing signs' upstream of the put-in and I was detained by Westchester Police for being there. The usual put-in is a public and legal place to park. It's unlikely that you'll have a problem parking where you are supposed to be and walking along side the creek upstream to see the big CL4+ slide. From the usual put-in, if you wish to portage the CL3+ spots (there are two of them), when you see a small, cute, rustic paddestrian bridge made of wood and stone, pass under, the creek takes a sharp right, then left in flat water, eddy out creek-right walk up to the paved walking path, walk downstream to the ledges. The secound CL3+ spot is further downstream in the cemetary. When you pass under, or just before you pass under a pedestrain bridge, eddie out. Easy portage on a paved road. Another place you might need to portage, regardless of ability is when you go under a large tunnel due to four river wides trees. At higher water we paddled over them with no problem. Water is flat here. (Note: The water is no longer flat here due to the flood in April 2007 and two of the strainers are now gone. Because the water is swift here now, it is critical to make the eddie just after the tunnel. It's not a hard move for a solid CL2 paddler but you must make this move. A few feet pass the tunnel there are old growth trees that completely block passage. I think you get one more chance if you blow it. The tunnel has small waves at normal levels, at high levels they get kind of big. You do not want to swim here. If in doubt, scout prior to the run. The whole thing can portaged by taking out before the tunnel and putting in after the tunnel. I run the tunnel and portage the strainer only on river left) After which, you need to go left of the island. If there are new strainers, they may present a problem because there's not a lot of room and the stream moves kind of fast here. The secound CL3 spot desribed above is downstream of this. There are quite a few strainers on this creek. Most of which are quick easy portages, easy to see and get out in time. (Note, most strainers now gone be be alert, it dosnt take much to block the entire creek).

ran the top drops today. low water.

We ran this again when other streams in southern NY and NJ and Ct were up. At a better level we were able to paddle over the four river wide tree/strainers pass the tunnel with no problems. It seems if the Moodna reaches it's Minimum( which on AW is the gauge on the Ramapo in Mahwah) and it's still raining, the Pocantico should be at a good level. It will NOT hold water as long. I usaully will go if I can get there while it's raining, a few hrs afterward or if it was raining hard the night before if I'm going in the mourning. The first time we ran it, nothing else was up. Again, for the most part, its a CL2 river.

This is looking down from the bridge 'old sleepy hollow ext. That pipe on bottom left of the pic is from the bridge, NOT in the water. This is your typical CL2 rapid on the 'tico'.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: ran this again on 4/17/07 after a lot of rain, a lot of flooding and closed roads the day before. The Pocantico was real high Tues when I ran it and Monday's flood stage water got rid of most strainers but added new ones: after the ledges you'll soon get to where you'll see two pedestrainian bridges, one after another, they both had strainers under the bridges toward river right. Eddie right (left if need be) or just slow down and make sure you can get by safly (river was moving fast that Tues and I wasnt taking any chances but they were passable). Further down the river splits in two (left is best) and the river makes a sharp right and the gradient picks up for a bit and you'll pass a tree trunk on your right (you'll see it right after the right turn) eddie behind this trunk, there's a riverwide. One more POSSIBLE SERIOUS HAZZARD: when you get to the tunnel, other times it was flat but on this day it had a fast moving wave train and it used to be flat. The riverwide used to creat a dam-like effect but no longer the case. YOU MUST EDDY OUT IMMEDIATLY AFTER PASSING THE TUNNEL. The water was crashing into and under this large tree. If you wanna play it safe you can avoid this potential danger by eddying out after the large pedestrian bridge with three arches (which you should do so anyway due to a riverwide pipe, I usually duck it myself) and portage the tunnel and put back in after the tunnel and strainer.

The Pocantico can be paddled from just above the bridge where old sleepy hollow rd crosses the river below
Pocantico lake to the lower end of the cemetary above 9A. The Hagstrom westchester maps show the river pretty well.

http://www.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&q=tarrytown,+NY&z=19&ll=41.104298,-73.846136&spn=0.000829,0.002108&t=k&om=0
This seems to be the area called the Ledges, something like the 'hard' section of New Boston on steriods, the slides and
ledges are bigger and the section longer. I would rate it at the very low water we saw as an easy IV. Thre is easy scouting or carry on the right. The rest of the river is class II, except one drop in the upper part of the cemetary section just after a walk bridge (see map) that is short but ugly.
There is a walk in- path with a footbridge just above the ledges at the point above where the river gets really close to Sleepy hollow road before bending away into the park. On river right upstream of the bridge is a wall remnant. This wall has a top cornice and below, cinder blocks. At the level we ran which has to be considered minimal there were 3+3/4 cinder blocks visible.

Blow-downs:
The river from the put-in up-river to the dam had several trees.
There was a river wide tree trunk comfortably below the ledges just before the hairpin left turn that could be boofed hard left although certain people felt it should be crossed as a group effort and made a party out of it.

After the next footbridge there is a big must carry tree trunk with vines but in flat water. R right was easier carry but left was doable.Jim said this was new in the last couple of weeks. It is rotten and cracked so it may not persist.

Immediately after the tunnel at the aqueduct crossing is a 50 foot section of log jams (must carry) (beaver dam?) There is an easy eddy on R at this level after the tunnel and a steep but passable carrry on river R.

We hiked up into the cemetary to take out, it looked like you could also take out more easily along Dell street on river left above 9A. The whole section along the cemetary was painfully bony at this level, the section above was shallow but OK.

More water could make things interesting in all ways. There are spots blow the ledges and the cemetary nasty drop that could be nice or not waves or holes at higher water. The cemetary drop may be easier with more water.

The whole area is filled with a rabbit warren of paths with a pretty consistant horse path nearby on river right most of the way.
Total time on the river was about 3 hours, with scouting and boat bumping over slow water.

One addendum- after the ledges and there is a point were the river splits around an island. The main flow and route goes left, at least at low water. There is a passable tree down just after the next right bend.

This is a typical CL2 rapid on the 'tico'.

Tis was taken before doing our secound desent.
This is basically a steep slide. No holes or waves (too steep?). There are ledges within it and different lines to be had.

This map is useful to know where certain hazards are, shuttle directions, where the more prominent rapids are, places to scout. Do not use it to scale as converting inch to miles will be real inaccurate. Also, there's no gradient lines so you would not know that if you portaged the entire tunnel (Croton aquaduct) it's quite steep.