Sawkill Creek is located in Greene and Ulster Counties, in the glaciated Allegheny Plateau physiographic province of New York State. Sawkill Creek is a tributary to Esopus Creek, a subwatershed to the Hudson
River. The watershed covers approximately 42 square miles (26,810 acres) and is located in the Towns of Hunter, Woodstock, Saugerties, Ulster and Kingston.

The main stem of Sawkill Creek is approximately 19.5 miles long, and falls approximately 1950 feet through its course. The headwaters originate at Echo Lake on the border of the Towns of Hunter and Woodstock at an elevation of 2,075 feet above mean sea level. The creek joins with two first-order tributaries before reaching an unnamed second-order tributary, combining to form a third-order stream. The stream meanders through the Village of Woodstock before flowing into the Town of Kingston near River Mile 12. Sawkill Creek terminates at Esopus Creek, at a base elevation of 135 feet above mean sea level.

The valley landform ranges from a moderately sloping to gradually sloping convex ridges with dendritic patterned drainages of varied densities and spacing. The valley bottom ranges in width from as little as a few feet in the headwaters to hundreds of feet in the middle and lower portions of the watershed. The morphology of Sawkill Creek and its tributaries varies depending on the watershed area, valley confinement, valley slope, bedrock structural controls, and anthropogenic features such as road encroachments and bridge structures. The predominant stream types along the mainstem include Rosgen Types C and B.

The stream substrate varies throughout the mainstem, changing from larger cobble and boulder in the headwaters to predominantly gravel through the majority of its length. Significant exposures of bedrock are present both in the headwaters and in the lower valley. Glacial till is the most extensive source of parent material in the watershed. Significant amounts of glacial till, outwash, and clay materials are present in varying depths throughout the basin.

excerpted from Sawkill Creek Stream Corridor Assessment Report, May 2007, prepared by Integrated River Solutions, Inc. for the Sawkill Watershed Alliance, Town of Woodstock, Town of Kingston, & Town of Ulster