White River - Stockbridge to Bethel - April 28, 2024

Running the Ledge Drop

First was Easter, then I got sick with the flu, then I had other family issues to deal with, so I didn’t do much paddling in April. Fortunately, I was able to catch Bob’s trip on the White River in Vermont.

The White River arises in the Green Mountains and flows south and then east through the hills and farmland of central Vermont before emptying into the Connecticut River at White River Junction. When the river is up there are miles of quickwater and easy rapids to enjoy. Two of the most popular sections are Granville to Stockbridge and Stockbridge to Bethel (Upper on American Whitewater). I had paddled the section from Granville to Stockbridge twice before (1, 2), so I was glad we would be paddling the section from Stockbridge to Bethel on this trip. The trip is around 11-miles, and I would be paddling tandem in my Mohawk with Bill.

Running the Ledge Drop

We needed to meet the group at the bridge over Route 100 in Stockbridge at 10:00, so Bill was at my house at 6:00 for the 3-hour drive up to the put-in. We had rain on-and-off as we drove through NH and VT, but it stopped by the time entered Stockbridge. We arrived at the put-in at about 9:45, and the rest of the group was ready to go. We quickly got unloaded and ran the shuttle down to Peavine Park in Bethel.

We launched at 10:45 and headed downstream with 9 boats – 1 tandem, 3 solos and 5 polers. This section of the river starts off much like the section above with quickwater and easy riffles. The river was a little on the low side at 5’, 1,500 cfs on the West Hartford gage – perfect for the polers, but a little low for the paddlers. Rock-dodging was the order of the day and we had to pick our lines carefully to avoid the shallows. 

Running the Ledge Drop

The river runs along Route 107 for almost the entire trip. We stopped for lunch just below the bridge at Blackmer Boulevard. There are two class II(+) rapids below the Blackmer Bridge – the first a rocky ledge drop that we ran to the left, and the second is a shoot with large waves that we ran center/right. From there it was more quickwater and rock-dodging down to the take-out.

With a long drive home ahead of us, Bill and I packed up our gear, said our goodbyes, and got on our way. The rain started up again just as we were pulling out – lucky us. There is also the Lower section below Bethel that I would like to try sometime.


White River from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo

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West Hartford Gage
White River - Granville to Bethel
White River - Bethel to West Hartford