The Ausable River (), also known as AuSable River and originally written as "Au Sable", runs in the U.S. state of
New York, from the
Adirondack Mountains
The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular ...
and past the village of
Lake Placid and
Au Sable Forks to empty into
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain ( ; french: Lac Champlain) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the US states of New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canada, Canadian province of Quebec.
The New York portion of t ...
(at ). It has an East and West branch that join at Au Sable Forks. The river forms a partial boundary between
Clinton County Clinton County may refer to:
*Counties named for George Clinton, first and third Governor of New York, and later the fourth Vice President of the United States:
**Clinton County, New York
** Clinton County, Ohio
*Counties named for DeWitt Clinton, ...
and
Essex County. The Ausable River is known for its
gorge
A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...
,
Ausable Chasm
Ausable Chasm is a sandstone gorge and tourist attraction located near the hamlet of Keeseville, New York, United States. It is directly due west of Port Kent. The Ausable River runs through it and then empties into Lake Champlain. The gorge ...
, located a few miles east of
Keeseville.
The Ausable River is long and drains a watershed of .
It was originally named "Au Sable" (French for "sandy") by
Samuel de Champlain when he first explored the region in 1609 because of its extensive sandy
delta.[
]
West Branch Ausable River
The West Branch of the Ausable arises from the conjunction of the MacIntyre, South Meadow and Marcy Brooks, east of Mount Jo
Mount Jo is a mountain in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains of New York. It is in North Elba, New York on land owned by the Adirondack Mountain Club. The Adirondack Loj and Heart Lake are at the foot of Mount Jo. There are two trails tha ...
near the Adirondak Loj
The Adirondak Loj (pronounced "Adirondack Lodge") is a historic lodge in North Elba, Essex County, New York. It is near Lake Placid in the Adirondack Mountains. The current facility, located on the shore of Heart Lake, was built in 1927 and i ...
; it then runs northeast to Au Sable Forks (), and is fed by Lake Placid and the Chubb River Chubb may refer to:
People
* Chubb (surname), a list of people with the surname
* Timothy O'Connor (Irish politician) (1906–1986), Irish politician nicknamed "Chubb"
* Chubb Rock, American rapper Richard Simpson (born 1968)
Other uses
* Chub ...
along the way. At high water-levels, the upper end provides demanding white-water paddling opportunities. Further along, it runs through High Falls Gorge at the Wilmington Notch, a gorge formed by a fault zone, with cliffs on one side and cliffs on the other.
East Branch Ausable River
The East Branch arises from Upper and Lower Ausable lakes in the Ausable Valley, which forms the south side of the Great Range
The Great Range is a mountain range in the Adirondack Mountains, near Keene Valley, New York, United States. It rises in the heart of the High Peaks region between Ausable Lakes to the southeast and the Johns Brook Valley to the northwest.
...
. The first are especially scenic, and can be viewed from trails on either side maintained by the Adirondack Trail Improvement Society
The Adirondack Trail Improvement Society (A.T.I.S.) is a nonprofit organization based at the Ausable Club in St. Huberts, New York, founded in 1897 to ensure regular maintenance and consistent marking of the trails in the St. Huberts and Ausable ...
. The river is then met by the Cascade Brook which flows from the Cascade Lakes, beneath Cascade Mountain, on its way to Au Sable Forks.[Jamieson, Paul and Morris, Donald, ''Adirondack Canoe Waters, North Flow'', Lake George, NY: Adirondack Mountain Club, 1987, pp. 270–272. .]
See also
*List of rivers in New York
This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of New York.
By drainage basin
This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented by order of confluence with their main stem, from mouth to source.
Long Island Sound (nort ...
References
{{authority control
Adirondacks
Rivers of New York (state)
Rivers of Essex County, New York
Rivers of Clinton County, New York
Tributaries of Lake Champlain