Wallaceville to Cooperstown 7.0 miles
Class Grad Size
(Area/Volume) Scene/Pol Level
I 12/20 Tiny (49/82) B/A
mouth
of stream Rouseville
Topographic Maps: Dempseytown,
Franklin
County Maps: Venango
Description: When everything else in northern Venango County is too high, try the East Branch of Sugar Creek. This stream starts as an intimate brook running through tight Class I and II riffles in a hemlock forest. It picks up tributaries as it runs past farms and camps and finally enters Cooperstown as an open Class I small stream. Just before the State Route 4009 bridge the creek passes through an area of extensive tornado damage. Although the creek is now clear, the banks are populated by eerie skeletons of broken but still-standing trees. Where the stream has cut away the banks on curves, you can see evidence of glaciation: Layers of fine-grained lake sand on top of coarse stream gravel. [Reported 1999]
Difficulties: Fallen trees partially or completely blocking the stream above State Route 4009.
Shuttle: To reach the put-in, go south from Wallaceville on State Route 428. You will first cross Little Sugar Creek and then 50 yards later, Prather Creek. Put in on either of these; they join shortly and a mile later enter the East Branch. To reach the take-out, go back north on State Route 428 to Wallaceville, turn left/west on State Route 4022. At the junction with State Route 427, turn left/south and proceed to Cooperstown and the take-out on the main stem of Sugar Creek.
Gauge: Rouseville. This gauge on nearby Oil Creek will probably read above 4.7 feet.
Normal Wet Period: No available statistics on seasons. Since this section is tiny, it should normally be runnable only after a heavy rain or during spring snowmelt.