Hazard Warning: Hazard information may be user-submitted and unverified. Conditions change frequently. Always scout rapids and obstacles yourself.
Rapid TX Class II+

Dam 1 (Horseshoe Falls)

Guadalupe - 4. Canyon Dam to First Crossing (16 miles) (TX)

Monitor this Rapid
Gauge Conditions
Guadalupe Rv at Sattler, TX Upstream Primary
Runnable: 250.0 – 6,000.0 CFS
Data from American Whitewater & USGS
Photo
Dam 1 (Horseshoe Falls)
Photo courtesy of American Whitewater
Description

Prior to 2002, this 6' dam was deadly, because its crescent shape caused most of the water to recirculate back into the dam.  Multiple people apparently lost their lives here.  In the July 2002 flood, 70,000 cfs went over the Canyon Lake spillway (the first time that the spillway had ever been activated), and that water entered the Lower Guadalupe just upstream of Horseshoe Falls, burying it in sediment.  The dam has since been excavated, but the character of it was forever altered by the flood, and it is now runnable.  At high levels (thousands of cfs), it forms a wave train at river right with a shallow ledge hole at river left.  The ledge hole looks grabby, but it is unknown whether anyone has actually been in it.  Use caution.  At low levels, most of the water goes to river right, and the shape of the natural shelf (exposed during the 2002 flood) creates a small diagonal hole that can hold and flip a tube.  That hole may present difficulties for recreational canoeists as well, but it is not known to be dangerous for whitewater boaters.

Location
Type
Rapid
Difficulty
Class II+
Mile Marker
1.5 mi
Directions
Navigate
View Full Run
4. Canyon Dam to First Crossing (16 miles)
Guadalupe
II+ 15.8 mi
Current Conditions
5-Day Forecast
Whitewater data from
American Whitewater