| Region: | River: | NTS Sheet: | UTM Type: | Zone: |
| Central | Leech\Thunder Brook | 2 D\13 | NAD83 | 21 |
| River Description: |
| A popular place to go cliff jumping, this brook offers two, large park and huck waterfalls to run. |
| Difficulty Rating: | Hardest Rapid: | Flow Information: |
| | V | | V+ | This brook flows during the spring snowmelt and possibly |
| | slightly later in the spring, depending on rainfall. |
| River Levels: |
| How to get there: | Gradient: |
| | Put-in | Northing: | Easting: | Section: | Max |
| | 5423088 | | 586122 | | Distance: | 0.75 | | km |
| | Thunder Brook is marked (9 km from the end of the 4 lane | Gradient: | 33 | | m/km |
| | section) on the highway as you travel west from Grand Falls. |
| | The parking lot is on the right hand side (north) of the highway. | 176 | | fpm |
| | Shoulder your boat and start walking up the trail. Both waterfalls |
| | are obvious from the trail, as these are the only two features on |
| | the brook. |
| | Take-out | Northing: | Easting: |
| | 5422383 | | 585833 |
| | Walk back to the parking area, get in your car, and laugh all the |
| | way to Gros Morne. |
| Detailed Description of the River |
| First Descent: Decades of locals jumping and diving off the falls. First Kayak Descent (2004): Steve |
| Arns, Chris Buchanan, and Dave MacDonald. |
| |
| 2nd Falls (V) is a 12.5 m (42') drop into a large deep pool, which the local jump into from a 45' perch to |
| the right of the falls. The entry is a little tricky, through a narrow slot into a boat length pool above the |
| main plunge. If you make the slot, the falls, at good water levels, should be a straight forward plunge. At |
| very low water levels there is a ledge about 25 feet down whicht may be a problem. On this trip Dave |
| MacDonald put his head in order very quickly and probed the falls for Steve and I. After observing Dave's |
| perfect line and miraculous resurfacing from the depths, we ran the drop in short order. Given the way |
| in which Steve and I followed Dave over the edge, I propose to call the line Lemmings Leap. |
| |
| 1st Falls (V+) looks much harder then 2nd Falls. It is a wide chute which finishes as a 7.5 m drop into a |
| deep pool. The total vertical drop is 13 - 14 m. The landing zone is very narrow and is located beside a |
| broad rock platform the extends across the base of the falls. The left to right move required to hit the |
| landing zone passes perilously close to a bad sieve. The line is certainly not meant for mere mortals and |
| remains unrun. The locals also jump into the pool on this drop and it is quite deep. |
| |
| Paul Rose is the best person to keep an eye on flows for Leech Brook. |