Slippery Rock Creek is a stream in western

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

Connoquenessing Creek Connoquenessing Creek is a tributary of the Beaver River, approximately 50 mi (80 km) long, in Western Pennsylvania in the United States. Course Connoquenessing Creek rises in eastern Butler County and flows southwest, through the L ...

Course and history

From its source in Hilliards in Butler County, it flows through

McConnells Mill State Park McConnells Mill State Park is a List of Pennsylvania state parks, Pennsylvania state park in Perry Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, Perry and Slippery Rock Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock Townships, Lawrence County, ...

before flowing into the Connoquenessing in

Ellwood City Ellwood City is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough primarily in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a small district in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Beaver County. The population was 7,031 at the 2020 ...

. Then, the Connoquenessing flows into the Beaver River just three miles south from the mouth of Slippery Rock. There are multiple stories about the origin of the creek's name. In one story, the indigenous

Seneca Indians The Seneca () ( see, Onödowáʼga:, "Great Hill People") are a group of Indigenous Iroquoian-speaking people who historically lived south of Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes in North America. Their nation was the farthest to the west w ...

called the creek Wechachapohka or "Slippery Rock", denoting the rocks at the bottom of the stream that could be easily crossed by natives wearing moccasins but not by soldiers wearing heavy boots. In another more prosaic story, the Native Americans coined the name due to natural oil seeps in and around the present-day McConnells Mill State Park that made the rocks slippery; those seeps were later eliminated by fossil fuel extraction.

Recreation

Slippery Rock Creek is a favorite for

whitewater Whitewater forms in a rapid context, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and ...

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...

ers and

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

ists from the region. With Class-II and -III

rapids Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade''. ...

and engaging beauty, it attracts regular paddlers from novice to advanced level. Slippery Rock Creek, however, can be very dangerous. The rocks are indeed deceptively slippery, and throughout the year, there are numerous reports of drowning incidents, mostly near the McConnells Mill State Park. In and around that state park, the creek formed a rugged gorge that is popular with hikers, and the Slippery Rock Gorge Trail along the creek and its Hell Run tributary has been named as one of the best hiking trails in Pennsylvania.

Watershed

Tributaries

References

External links