Toh Jammin'

Paddlers throughout the Mid-Atlantic and New England Regions will be gathering along the Tohickon Creek at Ralph Stover State Park on November 5-6 to enjoy the premier whitewater paddling destination in the Pennsylvania Highlands. For one weekend each spring and fall the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources manages controlled releases of 750 cfs from Lake Nockamixon into the Tohickon Creek. Anywhere from 300 to a 1,000 paddlers come out to paddle one or both days, with many participants representing various paddling and outdoor clubs including AMC's Delaware Valley Chapter, which is running the creek both days. The whitewater section of Tohickon Creek is only 3.8 miles in length but there are at least 6 challenging rapids in that stretch as well as superb scenery with towering, fern-studded shale cliffs and mixed hemlock-hardwood forest.

For those who would like a milder paddling experience but still take advantage of the lake release, there is a bucolic 7-mile stretch between the Lake Nockamixon dam and Ralph Stover State Park. Suitable for novice paddlers this section of the creek flows through iconic Bucks County landscapes of rolling hills, mills, stone farmhouses and smaller versions of fern-studded shale cliffs. Tohickon Creek is bounded on both sides by state and county parkland with excellent opportunities for hiking, rock climbing, birding and camping.

Tohickon Facts of Note:

• Tohickon Creek watershed is one the Pennsylvania Highlands designated "Critical Treasures."
• The late, famed author and Bucks County native James Michener donated the land that comprises Ralph Stover State Park
• The Lower Tohickon Creek is within the area designated as the Lower Delaware National Wild and River.