Pine Creek — Blackwell to Slate Run: River Level Today — Can You Paddle It?

At 172 cfs Pine Creek is 78 cfs short of the 250 cfs this reach needs to float — that is the gap between today's reading and the bottom of the runnable range, not a small margin you can paddle through.

Over the last 24 hours it has gone from 197 cfs to 172 cfs, 13% down. Daily means over the past 7 days have run between 132 cfs and 202 cfs, 44% higher at the end of the week than the start. The last day and the week as a whole point opposite ways, which usually means a recent rain bump on top of a longer rising trend — worth a second look at the chart before you commit to the drive.

Pine Creek at Blackwell to Slate Run is a 13-mile Class II run in Pennsylvania — bouncy wave trains and the occasional small rapid. Most paddlers put in at Blackwell, PA access and take out at Slate Run, PA access, a trip that runs about 5 hours at a relaxed pace.

Whether it's worth the drive comes down to flow. This section generally paddles well at 250–4,000 cfs (a conservative estimate — see our methodology). Much below that and Pine Creek gets low and bony, so you end up scraping gravel and walking the shallows; well above the top of the range it turns fast, cold and pushy, which is a more serious day than most casual boaters want. We read USGS gauge 01548500 about every 30 minutes and compare the live number to that window, so the verdict at the top of this page reflects conditions right now rather than a monthly average.

Flows here are usually most dependable April–June. Spring can run high after rain or snowmelt, and late summer often drops too low to float well — but the gauge always beats the calendar, so check today's reading before you go.