Conservation organization: check out
Friends of Deckers Creek.
For a helmet-cam video of this section, check out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeczvJ6dLSo
Eric Henrickson 2004-05-21 17:29:02 This seems to be a rarely paddled section of Decker's Creek. Not that Decker's sees that much traffic anyway. It remains shrouded from view of passers by, but contains a remarkable series of drops, most of which are of the waterfall persuasion.
This section of Decker's is known to locals as "Golden Showers", referring to the history of untreated sewer discharge from Masontown and Reedsville immediately upstream. The sewage situation seems to have mostly resolved thanks to legal action by the EPA and the construction of a waste treatment facility. Nevertheless, the water quality still leaves much to be desired
Basically there are five or so drops becoming more continuous as the run progresses. The run starts with a couple small slides into a small eddy above a narrow flume with a number of thoughtfully placed ledge outcroppings guaranteed to inflict pain and suffering should you choose to view them upside down. After a short pool, the flow devides into three channels. The middle is the route of choice leading to a wicked sweet ten foot boof. The right can be run as well, and leads to the about the only decent eddy in the remainder of the run. The next drop is another ten foot boof with a less clean approach and landing. This is immediately followed by a cascading drop which leads to a series of sliding ledges which end in yet another, but much more burly, ten foot boof. This drop has some serious hazards. At different levels, the approach changes and is hard to see as you paddle into it. The landing is a fairly narrow channel between two flat ledges. The right ledge is undercut as is the upstream ledge. The left falls into boulders and debris. Land flat and eddy out, or continue downstream into a trashy, but less steep section of the river. The gradient mellows out here, but trash and trees in the river make it undesireable to run any further.
As far as water levels. It should be good to go if the Decker's Gauge is over 400 cfs.
Park at the small picnic area on Rt.7 just below Masontown. There is also a Rail Trail on River Left.