Canoeing on flooded creeks

[BattleRifleG3]

I recently had a pretty fun canoe trip on a flooded creek in western PA (Raccoon Creek in Beaver County).  We hit our share of snags, tipped over twice when my friend in the bow squirmed when we hit trees, and I had a wild chase of a paddle in shoulder high water, but we had a fun and ultimately safe trip, losing only a few cans of soda in the creek.

We had a basic idea of where the stream was going and what it looked like.  A few trees with branches hanging gave us a few waterfall scares.

I was wondering how one would survey a creek before taking a trip to avoid hazards like dams, waterfalls, pipes, and drains.  Somewhere I have a topographic map of the state that I hoped would tell of any waterfalls by steep elevation drops, or may even have them marked.

Anyone know how to find this information?  We're tentatively planning a trip from Hopwell Township to near the Ohio River as soon as Tuesday.

Also, anyone know whether it would be generally safer, if forced to go over a waterfall, to go with the canoe or without?  This is western PA so we're not talking Niagara or anything.  I know that if you go with the canoe, you should take it head on, not sideways.  Also, if you end up underwater, you should let the current take you downstream, beyond the turbulence at the falls, instead of trying to get to the surface too close to the falls.

[Cap'n Jon]

BRG3...
I go to http://www.nws.noaa.gov/ and click on the river section and most of the rivers around me are listed as to how fast they are flowing...

Here are a couple rivers, well waterfalls by me...There are 50 of them in my county alone...and 150 more in the rest of the U.P. of Michigan...




This river falls 1,000 feet at 8 waterfalls. Each has a drop of 50 to 100 foot or so...

[BattleRifleG3]

Welp, I done gone got shipwrecked last Saturday.       Tried canoeing in another flooded creek whose current was much higher than I'd experienced before, probably due to a steeper elevation drop.  It's usually just a trickle.  Got separated from my canoe, which got splatted and stuck against a tree.  It was quite an ordeal getting back to it, particularly because there was no shore, it was all brush with water underneath, with thick thorns.  When I got back to it, I couldn't pull it free (it was pinned by the current) so I tied it up to take it away after the water level lowered.  Got back and found the rope had snapped.  Fiberglass canoe was probably destroyed by a waterfall downstream.   :cry:   I was thankful enough to get out alive, though I did know how to deal with the situation and came out with just a few sore muscles and scratches from the thorns.  Oh, and the creek jacked my wallet  :x