Looking for information on "Sliding Rock"

[Steveo]

Hey everyone,

My father and I did a kayak trip on the Oswegatchie a while back. We started at the inlet and rode up to High Falls. My grandfather used to take my dad up there quite a bit when he was a kid, so his memory was a bit fuzzy. But he was telling me about this place somewhere around that area called "Sliding Rock".

Apparently this was a spot either on the Oswegatchie or one of the streams coming off from it. The water rushes over a large, flat rock that had been smoothed over time by the water and you could slide down it like a water slide. It sounded like a lot of fun.

I'm just wondering, has anyone here heard of Sliding Rock? I'd love to go check it out with him.

Cheers,
Steve

[DSettahr]

That sounds like the "sliding falls" on Sixmile Creek on the south side of Cranberry Lake.

[DSettahr]

Here's a photo of said falls:

And the approximate location on the USGS Topo:

It's not directly on the CL50 but rather accessible via the bypass trail that allows hikers to skip Olmstead Pond. The easiest way to get to it is probably by boat to the head of the West Flow of South Bay on Cranberry Lake, and from there by trail on foot to the falls (maybe 3/4ths of a mile of hiking?). Alternatively you can access it entirely on foot via the CL50 trail network but the falls are in a particularly remote part of the CL50 loop- you're probably looking at doing it as an overnight backpacking trip unless you're ok with a really long day of hiking.

Note also that there's a crack halfway down that you have to be a bit careful of... the unwary slider is liable to ended up with a bruised butt if you hit that crack at full speed while maintaining gluteal contact with the rock.

[Steveo]

That sounds like the "sliding falls" on Sixmile Creek on the south side of Cranberry Lake.

Thanks a lot for the great info and that approximate location on the map. I'm guessing this is the place he was talking about!

[Tick Magnet]

Good memories from ESF Summer "School" at CLBS!

Sliding down those falls on a canoe cushion.

Good times. 👍

[stripperguy]

MDB and I paddled and hiked in there as a day trip
we slid down the rock faces on out PFD’s, yeah, watch out for that crack
it was a long day trip, even though we had dead flat water
would be a tough paddle if there’s much wind

[lotus plaza]

Steveo, you may be referring to Sliding Falls on the Robinson River. It is north of Toad Pond and likely completely covered in blowdown from 1995 (based on aerial imagery research).

As a very informal New York "waterfall chaser", it is the most remote of all named waterfalls in New York that I am aware of. It is a life goal of mine to navigate there from Inlet as part of an Oswegatchie trip (or more realistically bushwhack from the Little Shallow lean-to).

[Conk]

Steveo,
The location you describe leads me to believe your father visited Sliding Falls on the Robinson River, but the description of his memories sounds more like Sliding Rock Falls on the Six Mile Creek. Perhaps he has memories of both. The falls on the Six Mile Creek are right on the Six Mile Trail between Cranberry Lake and Cowhorn Junction. The old loop trail (before it was abandoned in the late 70’s) followed the Cranberry Lake esker to Nicks Pond where it turned west over Pine Ridge to High Falls, a long but easy walk from the Oswegatchie. Before the removal of the High Falls footbridge, traveling south up and over Partlow Mountain was quite common on a well blazed portion of the old Red Horse trail. From its intersect with the Robinson, two miles of careful bushwhacking would take you to Sliding Falls. If your father’s memories predate the July storm of 1995, he may well have visited Sliding Falls on the Robinson. The 95 storm has made travelling in that region much more difficult. I last visited Sliding Falls in 2014. It is a 200-meter cascade over open rock, but nothing I would want my butt to travel on.

[Steveo]

I appreciate all the info in these replies. It may be beyond my limited skill level at the moment but I need to sit down and study some maps to see if I could plan a route out to get to one of these locations. Again, thanks for all info related to these falls.

By the way, apologies if it is posted elsewhere, but if anyone has a link to a good map for this area would you mind sharing? I am just getting into it, looking at printing some USGS topo maps but if there is a good one that is annotated with the camp sites and whatnot that I could buy or print that would be awesome.

[stripperguy]

Dec has a reasonably good comprehensive map showing all the you ask and more

[Darryl Glasgow]

Thanks a lot for the great info and that approximate location on the map. I'm guessing this is the place he was talking about!

So glad you finally found it. It was definitely a great time.