Pemi - Woodstock – April 9, 2022

Running the Ledges

I thought I would be leaving today for a 4-day business trip to CA, but it got cancelled. That freed-up a day this weekend to paddle. For the second week in a row, I was on the road early Saturday morning heading up Route I-93 to the White Mountains to paddle the Class III Step-up trip with the NHAMC. This time we would be paddling the Woodstock section of the Pemi.

The Pemigewasset River, also known as the “Pemi”, arises at Profile Lake at the base of Cannon Mountain in the Franconia Notch. It flows south for 65-miles to Franklin where it joins the Winnipesaukee River to form the Merrimack River. There are a couple of other sections of the Pemi that I have paddled including the quickwater section from Woodstock/Thornton to Campton and the whitewater section in Bristol. The class II section in Woodstock is one of my favorites.

The gallery at the Ledges

We met at 10:00 at the put-in behind the Fire Station (51 Daniel Webster Highway, North Woodstock, NH), and ran the shuttle down to the take-out at the Ledges (Death Valley Road at the third Route 175 Bridge, North Woodstock, NH). The river was at a medium-low level – 4.5 feet, 1,250 cfs. We had 14 boats – 13 kayaks and one canoe.

We divided into two groups of 7 for the run downstream. The two most difficult rapids are at the beginning and at the end. Right at the put-in is a 2-foot drop that is run in the center. After that, the river is mostly quiclkwater with couple of class II rapids – Woodstock Squeeze, Gravel Pit and Powerline. The biggest rapid is the Ledges at the end. It is class II+/III depending on water level. We all did a couple of laps at the Ledges trying different lines.

 

The Ledges from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo.

Links:
My Pictures
My Video
Woodstock Gage
River Description from American Whitewater