Clear/Branch River - RI

[eckilson]

If you are looking for whitewater in RI, the Clear/Branch is pretty much it. It's a 7-mile run with 3 easy class II rapids. My local club (RICKA) ran a race on this river on the 3rd Saturday in March from 1980 until 2005. It was discontinued when insurance became to expensive and river access became problematic, but us locals still try to run the river on the traditional 3rd weekend in March each year. We had a nice group out yesterday for the annual run - 3 poling, 3 solo paddling and 2 tandem paddling. At 4-feet on the gage the run is mostly quickwater with those 3 class II rapids. Yesterday is was 2.5 feet which is mostly bouncing of rocks and searching for a deep water channel. Polers made out better than the paddlers, but we all had a good time just the same. Few pictures here:

Branch River Icebreaker - March 15, 2025

Explore this photo album by Erik Eckilson on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

 

[Bobby Shepaugy]

If you are looking for whitewater in RI, the Clear/Branch is pretty much it. It's a 7-mile run with 3 easy class II rapids. My local club (RICKA) ran a race on this river on the 3rd Saturday in March from 1980 until 2005. It was discontinued when insurance became to expensive and river access became problematic, but us locals still try to run the river on the traditional 3rd weekend in March each year. We had a nice group out yesterday for the annual run - 3 poling, 3 solo paddling and 2 tandem paddling. At 4-feet on the gage the run is mostly quickwater with those 3 class II rapids. Yesterday is was 2.5 feet which is mostly bouncing of rocks and searching for a deep water channel. Polers made out better than the paddlers, but we all had a good time just the same. Few pictures here:

Branch River Icebreaker - March 15, 2025

Explore this photo album by Erik Eckilson on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

Thanks for the post. This one and the kind of nearby Moosup River are on my list. The AW write up is from 2009- Does the Clear still have the 2 dam portages?
Restoration efforts on the Moosup took down three dams over the past few years with one more removal in the planning stages.

 

[Erica]

Such a pretty little river!