Day after Turkey Paddle – Crystal – November 24, 2023

Crystal/Punch Brook Rapid

Like the New Year’s Day Paddle, the Day after Turkey/Black Friday Paddle is becoming a bit of a tradition around here - skip the shopping and get out on the river to burn off calories from of that turkey dinner. When I saw that Paul D. was running a CTAMC leaders choice class II trip on Black Friday, I decided to join.

We got some rain on Tuesday that brought up a lot of rivers up and gave us hope for some interesting options. Paul’s initial list included the Salmon, Shepaug, Naugatuck and Housatonic, along with several class II sections of the Farmington - Riverton, Satan’s Kingdom, and Crystal. Unfortunately, by the time Friday came, most of the rivers had dropped, so we ended up on the Crystal section of the Farmington River – fine with me.

Surf wave at the wall

The Farmington arises near Otis, MA and flows generally south and east for 47 miles through Connecticut until it flows into the Connecticut River near Windsor. There are several sections of the Farmington that are popular for whitewater boating – New Boston - class III/IV, “Tville” or the Tariffville Gorge - class II/III, Riverton - class I, Satan’s Kingdom - class I/II(III), and of course Crystal - class II.

Back in the day I took many trips out to Crystal to paddle with Matt and Scott. It’s a long drive for a relatively short run, so I hadn’t been there for years when COVID hit. With the Farmington River Trail running alongside, Crystal was an easy bike shuttle, so Paul and I ran it three times in three months (January, February, March) in 2021. By April most people were vaccinated and the car shuttles started up again. This would be my first time back since then.

Bernackie Rapid

We arrived at the put-in (185 Canton Road, Burlington, CT - 41.794267, -72.925324) at 10:00 to run the shuttle down to the Red Barn. The river had peaked at just over 6.5 feet, 1,000 cfs. on Wednesday, but had dropped back down to 5.5 feet, 700 cfs. by the time we got on the river - low, but still runnable.

The run is a series of class I/II rapids that start off easy and get more difficult as you move downstream. The first major rapid is the site of the Punch Brook Slalom. From there, the rapids continue as a series of rock gardens and wave trains. We spent a lot of time surfing and ferrying through the rock gardens. The largest rapid is the ledge above the Route 4 Bridge that we ran to the right. The run took us about 2 1/2-hours and I was home by 4:00. Sure beats shopping.

Seal Launch from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo.

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Unionville Gage
River Description from American Whitewater

Ware River Poling Cruise - November 18, 2023

A nice collection of poling boats

I don’t do a lot of poling, but I do try to get out a couple of time a year – usually the Branch in the spring and something else in the fall. Last fall we had a nice group on the Souhegan. This year we were back on the Ware River.

The Ware River flows 35-miles through central MA before joining the Quaboag River to form the Chicopee River. There is a class II section in Gilbertville from Hardwick Furnace Launch to the Ware-Hardwick Covered Bridge that we poled on a snowy day back in 2009. I’d like to do that section in my whitewater boat sometime. Today we would be poling the 6-mile section from the South Barre Dam (42.3864 -72.097) to Hardwick Furnace (42.343812,-72.157774) that we last poled back in 2013.

Below the Wheelwright Dam

I arrived at the put-in at around 10:00 to find Matt, Oz and Bob waiting for us on the river. They had put-in early and poled up from the put-in. The rest of us – me, Chuck, Dan, Chris and Jonathan - still had to run the shuttle. The river was at a nice poling level – 3-feet, 45 cfs on the Barre gage. 

This section of the Ware is pretty with lots of twists and turns down to the backwater from the Wheelwright Dam where we stopped for lunch. As we played in the quickwater below the dam, Kaz, Rick and Dave paddled upstream - they used the put-in at the Wheelwright Road Bridge (42.38012870629823, -72.11359100862931). For us, it was a short trip down to the Hardwick Furnace take-out. 

The crew at Wheelwright Dam

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Barre Gage

Class II Contoocook - November 5, 2023

A selfie from Jonathan

Jonathan and I joined the NHAMC for a tandem run on the class II section of the Contoocook in the morning, followed by their Pot Luck/Annual Meeting in the afternoon. The first time I paddled this section of the "Took" was was during the NHAMC Whitewater School back in 2005.

The Contoocook River arises at Poole Pond in Rindge, NH and flows generally north for 71-miles to Concord, NH where it empties into the Merrimack River. With a large drainage basin and a total drop of over 700 feet, the Contoocook is one on the best-known whitewater rivers in New England with the class III “Freight Train” section from Hillsboro to Henniker, and class II section in Henniker ending at the Ramsdell Bridge.

That's me in the stern

We met at 10:00 at the take-out (Ramsdell Road Bridge in Henniker, NH) to scout the final rapid. The level was low but runnable – 6.5 feet, 500 cfs. We ran the shuttle and put-in at the railroad bridge piers on Western Avenue at around 11:00. At this level, the top was quickwater until we got past Bridge Street in downtown Henniker. From there it was mostly class II rock dodging down to the Broken Dam Rapid at the Ramsdell Bridge.

After the run we headed off to the Pot Luck/Annual Meeting for the NHAMC Paddlers. The food was great, and we heard about the China Lake River Restoration project. It was nice to see the club so active.

 Running the Broken Dam Rapid below Ramsdell Bridge

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Henniker Gage

Class II Section description from American Whitewater

Class III “Freight Train” Section description from American Whitewater