Otter Brook - March 24, 2012

Pat - the new guy

After a warm, snowless winter, it's turning out to be a warm, dry spring. Not much natural flow, so I think we will be chasing dam releases this spring - along with everyone else. This weekend was Otter Brook in Keene, NH.

When we arrived at the put-in, a large group had already gathered. NHAMC was running a trip, and there was also a group of open boaters from NE Riverrunners. The RICKA contingent included the usual suspects - me, Jeff, Paul and Andy - along with a new guy Pat. Pat had paddled with us last week on the Branch.

Running Otter Ledge

After running the shuttle, we put-in at around 11:00. The dam released at 300 cfs as advertised. At this level, the lower section is a nice class II with lots of rocks to dodge, plenty of eddies to catch and some easy surf waves. We worked out way downstream catching eddies and surfing waves.

After a short break for lunch, everyone ran the Otter Ledge without incident. Andy eddied out behind the rock on the right, and then ran the drop. Jeff, Paul and Pat bounced over the rocks going right. I bounced over the big wave going left.

Andy does some surfing

No swims to report, but Pat did have one close call near the bottom. He pulled off a nice save, but broke his paddle in the process. We arrived at the take out around 2:00. First group on, last group off - great day.


Links:
My Video - Jeff, Paul and Pat Run Otter Ledge
Otter Brook Gage