The Upper Yough: The Hardest Whitewater in the East
Near Wisp, Maryland
Near the little town of Friendsville, the Youghiogheny River does something wild. In one narrow, boulder choked canyon it becomes what many paddlers consider among the most continuous stretches of technical Class Five whitewater in the eastern United States. This is the Upper Yough, and it is not for beginners.
The river drops steeply, and for miles it hardly lets up, hurling rafts through rapids with names that tell you everything you need to know. Meat Cleaver. Cheeseburger Falls.
National Falls. There is a strange twist to how it all works. The Upper Yough only runs hard on scheduled days, because much of its flow depends on water released upstream from the dam system in these mountains.
Outfitters in Friendsville watch the release calendar the way farmers watch the weather, running trips mostly on release days from spring into fall. Guides here require paddlers to be at least sixteen years old and often want previous rafting experience, because a swim in this canyon is a serious thing. It is beautiful, technical, and unforgiving, tucked into the coldest, highest corner of Maryland.
