Rainy Run on the Upper Winni – April 29, 2018

The crew at the put-in

It was 70°and sunny on Saturday, so I worked in the yard. The forecast was 50° and rain on Sunday, so that was the day that I paddled.  

I decided to join the NHAMC trip on the Upper Winni in Tilton. It has been a couple of years since I have done this trip. It's a long drive for a short easy trip, but there wasn’t a lot of other options. With the rainy weather, I thought it would be a small group, but we ended up with 13 boats including 5 canoes.

Second trestle from the footbridge

We put in at the boat ramp on Sharker Street off Route 140 and took out at Riverfront Park. The river was at a nice level –  4.3’, 1,100 on the Tilton gage. The river starts off with quickwater along Route I-93.  At the first railroad bridge starts the slalom course through First Trestle and Cribworks, followed by Second Trestle and waves below the School Street bridge.

It took us about an hour and a half to do the run. I thought about a second run, but with the lousy weather I decided one run was enough.  Still glad I went.

Below Second Trestle

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My Pictures

River Description from American Whitewater

Tilton Gage

Paddle On - Winter/Spring 2018

No paddling today, but it hasn’t been a bad year so far - here are some of my winter/spring trips.  

Paddle On from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo.

Another nice great paddling song from Jerry Vandiver, and the nice thing is I have another four minutes for the rest of the year.  

Knightville section of the Westfield – April 21, 2018

Lined up and ready to race

I’m an early riser, so I prefer trips that start early, and I tend to get there early. The annual Jim O'Brien Memorial Paddle on the Knightville section of the Westfield fits the bill since we need to get on the river early to beat the racers. 

Paul and I arrived at the take-out around 8:30 and had some time to kill before the 10:00 shuttle, so we stopped to check out the Westfield River Wildwater Race. According to the website, this is the oldest consecutively run canoe race in the US. The novice race puts in on the Middle Branch in Huntington, and the "pro" race starts below the dam on the North Branch. It was nice to see so many canoes out on the river, even if many of them were paddled with double blades.

View of the River from the Knightville Dam

From there, we decided to check out the Knightville Dam and Reservoir. The dam is operated by the Army Corps of Engineers and includes 2,400 acres of undeveloped flood control land. After hiking down to the reservoir, we drove over to the dam itself, which gave us a great view of the river below.

At 9:30, we pulled into the picnic area below the dam to unload our boats and change in our paddling gear. A small group had started to gather as I headed out to run the shuttle. The Jim O'Brien Memorial Paddle is an annual trip in memory of a local boater who died seven years ago in a tragic whitewater accident. The level was about 5’, 1,100 cfs – a typical dam release level. The river is mostly class II rock dodging until you enter the Gorge in the Gardner State Park.

Paul Running the Gorge Drop

There are two drops in the Gorge section. The first is an unnamed rapid that is about 25 yards long that I ran to the right. The second is a 3-foot ledge known as the Gorge Drop. It can be seen from upstream by a big rock in the middle of the river. You run this just to the right of the rock, and move left to catch the eddy, or at least avoid the big haystacks downstream.

From the Gorge Drop down to the take out there are some rock gardens with a nice surf wave below the Route 112 Bridge. The run took about 2 hours at a leisurely pace.  

Surfing below the Worthington Road (Route 112) Bridge

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Knightville Gage

Westfield River Wildwater Race

Army Corps of Engineers - Knightville Dam Gage

River Description - American Whitewater

Crisis Averted - Upper Millers - April 14, 2018

Doanes Falls

My original plan was to do the Black River in VT with the NHAMC this weekend. It would have been a 3-hour drive for a 5-mile run, but it looked good and it would have been something new. Unfortunately, the weather was bad and the river came up beyond the level the leader was comfortable with, so the trip got cancelled.  Fortunately, it was the weekend for the Millers release, and I saw that Conrad was leading a Boston AMC trip on the Upper Millers – crisis averted.

I dropped off my boat at the put in on Blossom Street in Royalston, and stopped to check out Doanes Falls on the way to meet the crew at the take out.  When Doanes Falls is running it usually means a good run on the Upper Millers.  The level was between 1,350 and 1,400 on the South Royalston gage – a nice class III.  At 1,000 it is an easier class II.

Running Mile Long

I met Conrad and Mike at the take out on Crescent Street (799) in Athol. We ended up running the shuttle and paddling with Kaz, Rick, Dave, Glen and Sandy and Peter.  The run starts off with a couple of class III wave trains and a big surf wave below the first railroad bridge.  

After the railroad bridge is short section of flatwater, and then Mile Long Rapid – a long class III rapid.  The river then settles down again until you get to the second railroad bridge.  The last class III rapid is the Gorge that begins below the big waves at the lunch spot. Good time as always.

Upper Millers from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo.

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My Video

South Royalston Gage

River Description from American Whitewater