visitors center - mettowee river




Meet the Mettawee...

Sally Dewes hits the line on the Mettawee River. Photo by Dennis Squires

Mettawee River near North Granville
Class IV-V Length
4.5 miles
The Mettawee has good scenery and it doesn’t take much rain to get the
river up and running for a long while. Most any day from late March
through May will have enough (or too much) water for you to play on.
You’ll be getting out several times to look ahead when the river gets steep.

The first rapid (IV+) at the bridge is a great spot for a photo. It’s not as
gnarly as it looks – just stay right side up. The next good one (IV) is about
0.25-mile downstream. For the few miles that follow you’ll find easy water
and a handful of rapids that you can scout while staying in your boat. And
just as you start feeling really relaxed a big horizon line (IV+/V) appears –
get out and scout or portage on either side. If you run this, start down the
right center and keep paddling all the way through – things will happen
quickly. As you get to the big ledge, ski jump over the left center (and the
hydraulic), and keep paddling!

The next major rapid is Z-turn (IV); watch out for the undercut rock face
at the bottom right side (Sally’s Hole). This flows into the next steep, but
easy down the middle, rapid (III+). A few minutes more and you’ll be at
the falls and the take-out. The most exciting line here is way right – with
lots of airtime. Be aware that there’s a small cave behind the right side of
the falls, which, so far, has been more a source of humor than fear.

Directions: On NY Route 22 in North Granville, which is 20 miles northeast
of the city of Glens Falls, turn north onto Truthville Road (County Route
12). At the T take a left, the put-in is at the bridge. Or you can go right at
the top of the next hill and get in at the fishing access a few hundred yards
upstream (this is above the first hard rapid you’ll see at the bridge). For
the take-out, get back on Route 22 and head west. In less than 2 miles
you want to take the first right on Upper Turnpike Road and go about 2
miles, then park at the big turn out on the right at the falls.

Gauge: To find out how high the river is, go to
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis. Click on Real-time; select New York; and
finally, either select a site or view the entire Statewide Streamflow Table.
Levels of 4.4 feet to 4.8 feet are ideal and 5.0 feet is getting high. If you
don’t mind a lot of scraping you can paddle this as low as 3.5 feet.

When it really rains in New York there are probably 1,000 brooks, creeks
and rivers that can be paddled. They range from slowly moving water to
class VI. Most of these have very short doable sections, but a variety of
problems: lots of trees across the streambed, barbed wire, high water
bridges, waterfalls, dams and more. There are, fortunately, almost 250
rivers and creeks of various degrees of difficulty that can be paddled for
pleasure – if you know where and when to find them.

Adirondack Sports Fitness This article was first published in Adirondack
Sports & Fitness, the only regional publication that uniquely covers outdoor
recreation sports and fitness topics in New York State's Adirondack Park
and Capital-Saratoga region.

Dennis Squires (zapped@whitewateroutlaw.com) lives in Margaretville,
NY, and is the author of two river guidebooks, New York Exposed: The
Whitewater State – Volume 1 (north flowing) and Volume 2 (south
flowing).