Every named river in the Adirondack Park — the Hudson, the Moose, the Raquette, the Sacandaga, and the rivers that drain the High Peaks.
The East Branch Ausable River runs north through the Keene Valley corridor — the smaller, steeper sibling to the West Branch — draining the slopes of Giant, Rocky Peak Ridge, and the Great Range before merging with the West Branch near the hamlet of Keene. NY-73 shadows the river for most of its length, offering roadside views and informal pull-offs where hikers cross to reach trailheads on either side of the valley. The river moves fast through pocket pools and granite chutes; it's a secondary put-in for kayakers running the lower Ausable, though most paddle traffic stays west. Brook trout hold in the deeper bends above the Route 9N bridge.
The East Branch Ausable River drains the High Peaks backcountry — Marcy, Haystack, Basin, Saddleback — and converges with the West Branch at Ausable Forks to form the main stem that cuts through Keene and Keene Valley. It's roadside along NY-73 through much of the valley: pull-offs, swimming holes, and put-in access for kayakers running spring melt or post-storm high water. The East Branch corridor is trout water — wild brookies in the upper tributaries, stocked browns and rainbows in the lower accessible reaches — and it's also the quickest temperature check on snowmelt timing each spring. Anglers and paddlers both watch the USGS gauge at Ausable Forks for flow decisions.
The East Branch Ausable River runs north from the high country above Keene Valley — fed by snowmelt and tributaries draining Gothics, Sawteeth, and the Range Trail summits — before joining the West Branch at Ausable Forks to form the main stem. It's the steeper, wilder fork: whitewater in spring, cold pools and pocket water through summer, and a corridor for brook trout working upstream from the valley. Most hikers cross it rather than follow it — the hiking trails in the Johns Brook drainage use bridges and spur paths to access the High Peaks, not the riverbank itself. Access is scattered: bushwhack from trail crossings or fish up from the valley roads where the terrain allows.
The East Branch of the Ausable River drains the north side of the Great Range — collecting water from Sawteeth, Gothics, Armstrong, and the Wolfjaws — and runs northeast through the hamlet of Keene before merging with the West Branch at Ausable Forks. It's a classic Adirondack freestone river: boulder pocket water, gradient that holds cold temps into summer, and access points scattered along back roads and trail crossings in the upper valley. The East Branch sees less fishing pressure than the West Branch, partly because access is less obvious and partly because the gradient keeps trout populations modest compared to slower tailwaters. Paddlers run the lower sections in spring high water, but this is primarily a hiking-corridor river — you cross it or walk beside it more often than you fish it.
