The Brewster River passes from a floodplain through a steep gorge that has a remote feeling despite its proximity to roads and settlement. At the bottom of the gorge there’s a wading pool that stretches around to the left of a camping platform with a heavily used fire ring. From the wading pool the water deepens into something big enough for a few strokes. At the top of the gorge water drops more than 30 feet, plunging into a couple of tight potholes about ten feet wide with gobs of rockfall and snags. The trail to the top of the gorge starts at the fire ring and climbs to the left of the river, but there’s no safe descent to the pools on this side of the canyon.

These are all the parts of Brewster to ignore.

Instead, scramble part way up the gorge from the bottom. Amid the more than one dozen boulders, some the size of small houses, the river takes three bounces and lands in a small, deep Jacuzzi with a brilliant seat opposite. Plus, there’s a butt-wide ledge at water level so you can kick back and take it all in. There’s also room on an adjoining boulder for sunning.

You have to approach from the right. So cross at the bottom of the fall and follow a path uphill about 20 yards. Couple of tricky steps among the boulders to get down to this place. Nothing serious, though.

Copyright Running Water Press 2002