Trucking the Youghiogheny

Barreling through National Falls

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Sang Run Bridge to Friendsville

County: Garrett
USGS Quads: Sang Run, Friendsville
Difficulty: Class II V with 4.5 miles mostly steady Class IV V
Gradient: 53 feet per mile; three miles at 100 feet per mile
Average Width: 30 50 feet
Velocity: Fast
Rescue Index: Remote
Hazards: Class V rapids (National Falls, Heinzerling, Meat Cleaver, Lost and Found); many Class IV rapids. Two dangerous undercuts: Toilet Bowl at second drop on right of Charlie's Choice, Tombstone Rock to left of main channel of Lost and Found.
Scouting: Previously mentioned Class V rapids; boat-scouting of others is recommended when possible
Portages: Paddlers thinking of many portages should not run this river
Scenery: Beautiful in many places
Highlights: Wilderness gorge
Gauge: National Weather Service (Friendsville phone gauge), (703) 260-0305 or (412) 262-5290
Runnable Water Levels: Minimum Maximum
Sang Run gauge 1.5 feet 2.5 feet
Friendsville phone reading 2.8 feet 3.7 feet
Months Runnable: Winter/spring after rain or snow melt; summer/fall on weekdays when water is released into Hoyes Run hydroelectric station
Additional Information: Friendsville Gauge: Penn Elec, (814) 533-8911; Precision Rafting, (301) 746-5290; Mountain Surf, (301) 746-5389

The best take-out is on river left just below the Friendsville bridge at John Mason's Mountain Surf whitewater shop. Don't change clothes in the open in Friendsville — it angers the town residents. Please thank the Mountain Surf whitewater shop for providing this important public service. Also, if you take a shower and change there, please leave a dollar or two for use of the amenities.

If you are doing your own shuttle, take Route 42 south from Friendsville to Bishoff Road and go right on Bishoff Road to its intersection with Sang Run Road. Turn right on Sang Run Road to reach the put-in.

The political mess is the bad news. The good news is that miles of challenging whitewater amid a pristine mountain setting await you. The river is clear, the shoreline is timbered and covered with rhododendrons, and the rapids are superb. The whitewater ranges up to Class V with at least 13 or more spots that have been given affectionate names, such as Meat Cleaver or Eddy of Death.

A word of caution: The descriptions provided here can only give you a rough impression of what to expect. If you have doubts about your ability to handle difficult, steep, or technical whitewater, you should go elsewhere or at least take your first trip with someone who knows the river well.

A Cornucopia of Rapids

If there is one rapid that requires a special warning it would probably be Meat Cleaver. A blind drop that cannot be scouted entirely from a boat, it contains some weird currents with the possibility of a broach (a sideways drift) on sharp rocks in midstream.

More paddlers screw up here than anywhere else. Meat Cleaver is worth a few doses of adrenaline, but you will hit lots of good stuff before you get there. The rapids described below are generally Class IV (unless otherwise noted) when the Sang Run gauge is two feet. They are a shade easier at lower levels and tougher at higher levels.

About two to three miles down from the Sang Run Bridge you encounter Warm Up Riffle, a Class II rapid so named because it's a good place to goof off and warm up or picnic while getting your trip (and act) together. Not far downstream from Warm Up Riffle is Gap Falls, a sizable slide rapid with waves and holes on the way down.

Enter from river left; just before hitting the bigger waves in the middle, angle right and work right to miss the hole at the bottom. As you become more familiar with Gap Falls, at lower levels you may want to try for the Eddy of Death next to the left bank about three-quarters of the way down the drop. It derives its colorful name from the undercut rock guarding its downstream end.

Paddling Bastard

Once you're past Gap Falls, things mellow out for less than a mile (III+) before an intense three- to four-mile section begins. Bastard is first. Located on river left, it requires a tight right turn to miss a big hole and pop lightly into a big eddy on the right, behind the boulder that forms the right side of the main drop. The rest of the rapid can be boat-scouted.

Bastard is followed by Charlie's Choice, which can be run in numerous ways. The normal route is on the left — a tight, blind, double drop. On the right are two tight moves between rocks at the top of two drops, both of which have a pillowed boulder at the bottom. The first one can be quite abrasive at low levels, but the second one has more of a pillow. In the next rapid, don't get too far right on the second drop because of a dangerous undercut called Toilet Bowl.

Just after Charlie's Choice is Triple Drop (Class III V). There is a tricky hole-ledge combination, Snaggle Tooth, that can be run down the right, entering from the eddy upstream on the right or a very small eddy at the very top of the rapid on the left. There are three boulders on the right as you go downstream; for an uneventful descent, you should stay close to these boulders as you go down.

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