Open Boat, Moving Water - A Paddler's Journal: Dead River Weekend - Day One

Monday, August 12, 2019

Dead River Weekend - Day One – August 10, 2019

Norm running Spencer Rips

It has been a couple of years since I have been up to the Dead, so I was able glad that Conrad was willing to move the Boston AMC trip that he usually runs during my family vacation in July to August. We would be running a 2400 release on Saturday, and an 1800 release on Sunday.

The Dead is a great river, but it definitely makes you work. First, it is out in the middle of nowhere. My drive up on Friday, which should have taken 4½ hours, took over 7 hours due to traffic. Then there is the shuttle, which can be brutal. On Saturday we had 64 boaters heading up to the put-in. I ended up in the back of a pickup truck with 8 other boaters in the pouring rain for the 45-minute trip down dirt logging roads.

Jim running Minefield

Once you get on the river, though, it is all worth it. The Dead arises at Flagstaff Lake and flows 42-miles to its convergence with the Kennebec River at The Forks. It has one of the longest continuous whitewater runs in the northeast with approximately 30 named and unnamed rapids along the 14-mile stretch from Spencer Stream near Grand Falls to The Forks. At lower levels (1200 to 1800), the run is primarily class II rock-dodging except for a couple of the larger named rapids, which are class III. At medium flows, (2400 to 3500), it is class III with lots of long wavetrains. At higher levels (4500 to 8000), it is class IV and beyond my skill level.

The release on Saturday was 2,400 cfs with another 100 cfs coming from Spencer Stream – an easy class III. We had 9 boats (3 canoes - me, Jim and Norm; and 6 kayaks – Jonathan, Ken, Dave, Doug, Cian and Conrad). The day alternated between sun (rarely), clouds (lots) and rain (occasionally). We even had a couple of rumbles of thunder. We ran through Spencer Rips, Minefield and a bunch of other unnamed rapids before taking a break at Hayden's. We then ran Hayden's, Gravel Pit and some other unnamed rapid before stopping for lunch at Enchanted Stream.

Conrad below Minefield

After lunch we headed out into Elephant Rock. I got confused and thought that Elephant Rock was closer to Enchanted Stream than it actually is. I went right immediately and ended up bouncing through a nearby boulder garden that everyone else avoided. I then followed Doug down through the waves on the ledge at the left side of Elephant Rock. It was only when I got to the bottom and saw Conrad running the slot that I realized that I had missed it completely. Oh well, good to know I can also run the left side.

Next up was Mile Long that has always been my nemeses. I headed in and I did fine in the top half. I followed Cian through the middle and over the rock that usually fills my boat. This time I made it through relatively dry and was able to get down to the bottom before emptying my boat.

The crew running Hayden's

From there we continued downstream to run Upper and Lower Spruce and Upper Poplar. Hayden’s is often said to have the largest waves, but on this day, I thought the waves were bigger at Upper Poplar. Now, all that was left was Lower Poplar. I headed into Lower Poplar center right and followed the seam between the boulder garden and the big waves down to the middle where a large group of rocks forces you left into the waves or right into the boulder garden. In the past I have always gone right into the boulder garden, which is boney at lower release levels. This time I went left into the waves and bounced my way to the bottom of the rapid filling up my boat in the process. It was a fun ride.

We paddled the last couple of miles of quickwater down to Webbs to complete this great day - no swims. We had a nice dinner at Hawks Nest and returned to the campground for an early night.