Neversink River - Course

Course

The Neversink's main flow begins just south of the border between Ulster and Sullivan counties, where the east and west branches of the river join near the hamlet of Claryville. Both branches begin on the slopes of Slide Mountain, the highest peak in the Catskills. The west branch is joined by several major tributaries, such as Biscuit Brook and Pigeon Creek at Frost Valley YMCA in the town of Shandaken, Ulster County. In its upper course it is a rocky and wild stream, ideal for trout fishing although most of the land around it is privately owned.

Not far downriver from the confluence in Neversink, it is impounded to form the Neversink Reservoir. It is connected by a 5-mile (8 km) water tunnel to Rondout Reservoir, and subsequently to the Delaware Aqueduct. The Neversink Reservoir resulted in the displacement of many locals as several towns along the river were flooded to make the reservoir.

It flows generally southeast through the mountains and is impounded in the town of Neversink to form the Neversink Reservoir of the New York City Water Supply System. It flows through the town of Fallsburg, the hamlets of Woodbourne, South Fallsburg, and Old Falls. It then enters the town of Thompson near Bridgeville, where it intersects New York State Route 17/Interstate 86 at Exit 107. It runs past Holiday Mountain Ski Area. In southern Sullivan County, it returns to less developed country, going over its largest waterfalls, Denton Falls and High Falls in the Neversink Gorge. It then turns southeastward into western Orange County. Near Cuddebackville, it is joined from the northeast by Basher Kill, then flows southwest, paralleling US 209, joining the Delaware at Port Jervis, at Tristate Rock, where New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania converge underneath the Interstate 84 bridge.