2016 Year End Review

First successful run through
Stokers on the Scantic

2016 started off with a swim on the Lower Winni on New Year's Day, and ended today with an uneventful run at River Island Park.  In between, it was a great year for paddling.  

I did 62 trips this year, which is a little above my 7-year average of 57 trips. I got on a few new rivers including the Lower Winni, Neponset, Bungay, Saco and Sheepscot. I did a few less RICKA trips, but I did lead or co-lead trips on the Assabet, Pawcatuck and Sudbury, and organized a SUP Demo at Lincoln Woods. Here are some of the year's more significant trips:

• January - Lower Winni, Neponset, Lower Millers
• February - Willimantic
• March - Scantic
• April - Pemi – Woodstock, Knightville, Pemi – Bristol
• May - Thursday Night Tville, Otter Brook, Moose River Bow
• June - Simsbury and Tville, Pawcatuck – Richmond to Bradford, Assabet
• July - Pawcatuck – Shannock to Richmond, Whitehall, Bungay
• August - SUP’ing at Lincoln Woods, Sudbury, RICKA Picnic
• September - Fife Brook and the Gap, West
• October - Pawcatuck - Bradford to Potter Hill, Piscat Drawdown, Saco and Sheepscot
• November - Pemi – Bristol, Turkey Paddle
• December - Tville

Paddling my new Wildfire on the
Pawcatuck River

In February, I finally got the composite Wildfire that I've always wanted, and I've been loving it. I did get one good camping trip in – the Moose River Bow in ME. I was going to do a fall camping trip with Jonathan, but we ended up doing day trips instead – the Saco and Sheepscot. I also got to paddle every day of my summer vacation in Narragansett.  

I did a little more hiking this year, even though we didn’t have as much snow. 

• Cumberland Monastery
• Blackstone Gorge
• Tillinghast Pond
• Leominster State Forest
• Flint’s Pond

Here are some of my favorite trips from 2016 from RICKA Movie night.


RICKA Movie Night - My Favorite Trips of 2016 from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo.

In terms of my resolutions from last year, I didn’t do so well on rolling practice, but I did get a camping trip in, and did paddle in all six New England States. Resolutions for next year;

• Practice rolling – I’ll keep including it until I do it.
• Do at least one camping trip – hopefully two with one in the spring and one in the fall

Overall it was another great year, and there are still plenty of rivers I would like to paddle. 

Manville Dam - December 26, 2016

I went down to the Manville Dam for a quick, late-afternoon paddle.  Considering how low some of the other rivers are, I am surprised that the Blackstone has so much water - 2 feet, 500 cfs.

Link:
Manville Gage

Bring on Winter!

The first snow of the year has come and gone, and it got me thinking about all the great winter trips I’ve done.  There is nothing like paddling in the snow, but lately it seems that snow brings out the hiking boots and snowshoes more than the canoe.  Oh well, let's see what happens this year - bring on winter!

Tville - December 3, 2016

The crew

We finally got some rain last week, and the message boards were busy on Thursday and Friday with people getting out to paddle.  Unfortunately, I had to work, so I watched as the gages gradually dropped.  By Saturday, the options were pretty limited, but an old stand by was running – Tville on the Farmington River in CT.

Tville (or the Traffiville Gorge) is a class II/III run just north of Hartford.  It’s only a mile and a half long, but it has something for everyone – some easy surfwaves at the beginning, a bigger play hole in the middle, and some fun rapids and ledges as you run though the gorge.

Party Wave

Temps were in the 40’s, and there was a brisk wind blowing as we put in at Tarrifville Park.  We had 8 boats – one canoe (guess who) and 7 kayaks (Merrie, Jo-Ann, Shawn, Dennis, Sollie, Brad and Benjamin).  Level was 1.5 feet, 500 cfs - low, but runnable.  

We took our time and played on the easy surf waves above the gorge.  Entering the gorge, we ran Bridge Abutment, Play Hole, Ledges and Typewriter.  Run took us about 2 1/2  hours.

Surfing at Cathy's Wave

Links:

My Pictures

River description from American Whitewater

Tarrifvile Gage