Fife Brook - February 19, 2017

Carbis Bend

As I drove up Route 91 into Deerfield, I saw snowmobiles in the fields and ice fishermen on the lakes, and I wondered if it was a good idea to drive 2 hours to go canoeing.  Then I drove over a bridge and saw that the Deerfield River was flowing high and ice-free, and I knew it was going to be a good day.

As things turned out, I had a couple of paddling options. There was a group doing a low level (500 cfs) run on the Lower Winni. I definitely want to do that somethime, but decided it would be better to do with a group I know when the water is a little warmer. There was also a group doing a Tville run. As much as I like Tville, I’ve run it a lot lately, so I decided to run the Fife Brook section of the Deerfield River instead.   

Freight Train 

I met the group of 6 kayaks and 3 canoes at the take out for the shuttle up to the dam.  The river was at a nice level – 3.5 feet, 1,100 cfs.  It looked like winter with snow on the ground, but felt more like spring with temperatures in the high 50’s. 

We put in at around noon and began working our way downstream. We ran Hangover Helper, did some surfing at Carbis Bend and Freight Train, and played in Pinball for a while.  When we reached the Gap, I headed down first to get some pictures.  Everyone made it through fine.  When it was my turn, I looked at the rapid, looked at my boat sitting on the rocks, and wimped out and decided to walk. Oh well, at least I didn’t swim…

Hangover helper

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