Esopus Creek
Along NY Route 28, Phoenicia
Phoenicia, NY
One river doing two jobs at once: a hallowed Catskill trout stream by morning and a laughing summer tubing run by afternoon, curling right through the hamlet of Phoenicia.
Esopus Creek is one of those rare rivers that means two very different things to two very different crowds, and somehow keeps them both happy. To fly fishers it is sacred ground, a Catskill trout stream near the very birthplace of American fly fishing. To families on a hot July day it is the tubing river, a bouncing, sun-flecked ride through the riffles that has been a Catskill summer tradition for generations. Both are right, and both meet in the water that runs past Phoenicia.
The Dutch borrowed the name from an Algonquin word for a small brook, though there is nothing small about the Esopus once the snow melts. It rises high on the shoulders of Slide Mountain and the surrounding peaks, drops through a series of steep cloves, and swings past Phoenicia on its way toward the Ashokan Reservoir and, eventually, the Hudson. Along that run it is by turns a fisherman's dream, a tuber's playground, and simply a beautiful mountain stream.
What Guests Love
- A river with a double life: revered fly fishing water and a beloved summer tubing run in the same current
- Floating the riffles on an inner tube on a hot afternoon, one of the Catskills' classic summer rituals
- Wading in to cast for wild and stocked trout in water fly fishers have prized for well over a century
- The scenery of the clove, with the creek, the road, and the old railbed all threading the same green valley
Worth Knowing
- The creek runs fast and cold and its level swings with rain and with releases from the Shandaken Tunnel portal upstream, so always check conditions before you get in
- Tubing is done through local outfitters who handle rentals and shuttles; go only when flows are safe and always wear a life jacket
- Fishing follows New York State freshwater regulations, so know the current rules and seasons before you cast
- Spring and after storms the water can run high and pushy; midsummer is the friendly tubing season, and there are quiet public access points along Route 28
Details
Phoenicia, NY
Learn about Esopus Creek
A cradle of American fly fishing
The Catskills are widely called the birthplace of American fly fishing, and the Esopus sits right in the middle of that story. As the most accessible Catskill river from New York City, it was among the first to draw traveling anglers, and there was already a boardinghouse taking in city fishermen up the valley by 1830. Over the following decades the sport put down deep roots here, and the names and techniques worked out on these Catskill streams still shape how Americans fish today.
The Esopus has one distinction the other Catskill rivers cannot claim: it is the stream where rainbow trout, brought east from California in the late 1800s, truly took hold and have thrived ever since. Add wild brook trout in the cold tributaries and stocked and holdover browns in the main stem, and you have a fishery anglers have chased for more than a hundred years, all within sight of the road through Phoenicia.
The tunnel that changed the river
The Esopus you see today was reshaped by New York City's thirst. In 1924 the first water came roaring out of the Shandaken Tunnel, a passage bored twenty-six hundred feet beneath Balsam Mountain to divert water from the Schoharie watershed into the Esopus above Phoenicia. The tunnel's portal, just up the valley, still pours cold mountain water into the creek, boosting its flow and helping keep it cold enough for trout through the summer.
That same engineering is why the river's mood can change so fast. Flows rise and fall with rain and with releases from the portal, so a stretch that is a gentle float one week can run high and muscular the next. It is part of what makes the Esopus a living, working river rather than a tame one, and the reason locals always check the water before they wade or float.
Tubing, wading, and a day on the water
For a lot of visitors the Esopus means one thing: dropping in an inner tube and letting the current carry you through the riffles on a hot afternoon. Tubing the creek is a Catskill summer institution going back decades, run out of Phoenicia by local outfitters who supply the tubes and the shuttle back upstream. It is bouncy, splashy, family fun when the water is at a friendly level, and there are calmer pools to drift and cool off in between the rapids.
The fly fishers, meanwhile, are out early and late, wading the pools and pockets in chest waders and casting to rising trout. The two crowds have coexisted, not always without grumbling from the anglers, for a long time now. Whether you come to catch a wild rainbow or just to float and laugh, the Esopus is the kind of clear, cold, storied mountain water that rewards a whole unhurried day beside it.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
The Woodstock Inn on the Millstream
Boutel48 Tannery Brook Road, Woodstock, NY
10 miles away|Learn More ›
Things to Do Near Phoenicia
Phoenicia
In town
The friendly little Catskills hamlet the creek runs through, a longtime tubing and fishing base with shops and eateries along its main street.
Ashokan Reservoir
About 15 miles
A vast, mountain-ringed New York City drinking-water reservoir with a promenade and a rail-trail, and some of the finest Catskill views anywhere.
Kaaterskill Falls
About 25 miles
One of the Northeast's tallest and most painted waterfalls, dropping in two dramatic tiers on a short but steep forest trail.
Slide Mountain
About 12 miles
The highest peak in the Catskills, headwaters country for the Esopus, with a demanding but rewarding summit hike.