The good news is that it’s well marked and after a short jaunt up a hill, you reach an old woods road that will make you think you should have brought wheels, though it quickly devolves into brush with thickets of high ferns and multiple blowdowns that require weaving right and left or stepping over. ‘Wilderness Factor 9’Ĭilley rates the river as a “Wilderness Factor 9,” but his descriptions have several inaccuracies including a trip distance of 20 miles, the missing carry across that point, and the distance of the Brumagin Portage. We relaunched the canoe with the profound hope that it might be flatwater the rest of the way to Copper Rock Falls, but sleepers continued to jump through the murky waters and bite the bottom of our boat, and then we spotted a well-marked carry on the left – clearly the real Brumagin Rapids. Dave Cilley, in his Adirondack Paddler’s Guide, suggests that most people run these rapids, though the water would need to be higher at a time when it’s probably also colder.Ĭilley’s map shows a short carry (with a campsite) across a point of land on a bend, though I think Cilley confuses the portages because he implies a length of 375 yards for the second carry. Floating Down Long Rapids - Having not found the half-mile portage along the right side of the river, we floated the canoe through most of the Class II drop. Maybe a bushwhack would have been easier. Ninety minutes later we reached the bottom. Dave Cilley, in his “Adirondack Paddler’s Guide” (Paddlesports Press, 4th Edition), says “Most people… run the rapids.” Or walk them, which is what we did, though we were able to float through one 20-yard pool and then navigate some pillows and chutes for another 20. Below that, I began looking for signs of the Long Rapids portage on the right, but we were quickly into the bones and never found the trail. ![]() Tom French photoĪ second, more challenging rock garden was a third-of-a-mile farther. The power of the Grasse River South Branch when it’s in flood stage can be seen along much of the river where trees and debris piles up along the shore. I suspect they were nesting in the deadfall. A large conifer, complete with a DEC designated camping site disc nailed to its trunk, had been deposited in in the middle of the shallows during some flood – demonstrating the potential power of the river. We passed a campsite on the right with signs of use, a beaver jumped from shore and slid under our boat, and then we came to our first gravel bed that required exiting the boat and floating 30 yards. Riffles that had been submerged in May were just below the bridge, but we carried the canoe along the shore and launched below them.Įmma’s first response as we headed downriver was “Wow, this is beautiful.” Something she said multiple times during the day despite our hardships. The easiest part of this Grasse River Paddle is the access at the bridge along the Spruce Mountain Road, four miles upstream from the top of Copper Rock Falls.Ī half-hour later, we were parking the Highlander at the Spruce Mountain Road hand launch where a bridge crosses the river. It was clearly marked just downstream from Class II rapids. We scouted the takeout at the First Brook Hand Launch, about one-quarter mile south of Rainbow Falls, when we dropped a car. A trip in the spring when the water’s high and cold is best left to experts with the right equipment including a wet suit. This river is not for the faint of heart. I decided to postpone the trip, and boy, am I glad we did. Plus, information from various sources was incomplete, contradictory, and incorrect. Rapids could be technical, water cold, and carries rough. Further research suggested caution was advised. ![]() I reconnoitered the access along the Spruce Mountain Road (off Tooley Pond Road) and it was ripping. Our original plan was for May, shortly after Emma’s return from college, but recent rains had swelled all the creeks and streams. RELATED: ‘The most magnificent waterfalls in the park’ ![]() At the time of his writing (1994 edition), it was privately held complete with “caretaker patrols” and the risk of “confrontation with this game club,” but that all changed in 1999 with the New York State acquisition of the South Branch Corridor along the Tooley Pond Road, which runs between Degrasse and Cranberry Lake in St. This section of the Grasse River is so remote that even Jamieson skips over it. Like most paddles with her, I knew it would entail bushwhacking multiple miles with our 18-foot canoe. My adventurous 20-year-old daughter has eyed this trip ever since I took her to the top of Copper Rock Falls last year and she saw the yellow “canoe carry” discs. Tom French photo Grasse River along Tooley Pond Road ‘not for faint of heart’ One of many rock gardens on the South Branch of the Grasse River parallel to the Tooley Pond Road.
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