page_title: Deerfield River
section_title: Recreation
hierarchical_section_title: Deerfield River / Recreation
caption_attribution_description: English: Snapshot of the Deerfield River, main stem, looking upstream at site DER-021 in Charlemont, just downstream of the Charlemont Waste Water Treatment Plant.
context_page_description: Deerfield River is a river that runs for 76 miles from southern Vermont through northwestern Massachusetts to the Connecticut River. The Deerfield was historically influential in the settlement of western Franklin County, Massachusetts, and its namesake town. The Deerfield River is the Connecticut River's second longest tributary in Massachusetts, 2.1 miles shorter than the Metropolitan Springfield's Westfield River.
  The river's confluence with the Connecticut is in Greenfield, Massachusetts, downstream of Turners Falls. The Deerfield is one of the most heavily used rivers in the country with, on average, a dam almost every 7 miles for its entire length. In Shelburne Falls, the glacial potholes and the Bridge of Flowers are popular tourist attractions around the river.
context_section_description: Activities on and around the Deerfield include whitewater kayaking, canoeing, tubing, fishing, swimming, and camping. A popular swimming area by the Stillwater Bridge in Deerfield has waterside cliffs up to forty feet high that swimmers jump from; this activity is tolerated but not condoned. There are two sections of the river for whitewater paddling: the Fife Brook section
  for class II and III paddlers, and the "Dryway" for class IV paddlers.
  There are several tributaries of the Deerfield River that provide excellent whitewater creek runs, including the class IV-V West Branch of the Deerfield in Readsboro, Vermont, the class V Dunbar Brook in Monroe, Massachusetts, the class V Pelham Brook in Rowe, Massachusetts, the class IV Cold River in Florida and Charlemont, Massachusetts, and the class III Chickley River in Hawley, Massachusetts.
  This is also an excellent trout fishery, great for fly fishing. Two sections between the Fife Brook dam and the Route 2 bridge are catch and release. There are 5 dams which control the majority of the river flow and allow selectible trout fishing through the year.
caption: Deerfield River in Charlemont, MA
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