Crystal - June 7, 2025

Punch Brook

My original plan was to do the RICKA Flatwater trip on the Upper Wood River, but it got cancelled due to rain. My second option was the RICKA sea kayak trip at Potter Cove, but it got postponed until tomorrow. I needed to paddle today, so I sent an email to Paul D. to see what he was doing. We decided to do an early run on the Crystal section of the Farmington River to beat the rain.

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 (1, 2, 3), “Tville” or the Tariffville Gorge - class II/III, Riverton - class I, Satan’s Kingdom - class I/II(III), and of course Crystal - class II.

Ledge above Route 4

I met Paul at the put in at 9:00. We unloaded the boat and ran the shuttle down to the Red Barn. The river was running at 6.5 feet, 1,100 cfs – a great level with lots of play spots. 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 about 3-hours and I was on the road back home by 12:30. We beat the rain on the river, but it poured on the way home.

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Unionville Gage

Quinebaug - Danielson to Canterbury

Heading downstream

Paul has put this trip on the RICKA flatwater calendar for the past couple of years, but it always got cancelled due to low water. With the rain last week, the level was holding at around 4-feet, 800 cfs, so this year the trip was on. It was a little low for Paul’s liking, but I thought it was fine.

The Quinebaug River arises above East Brimfield Lake in Sturbridge and flows generally southeast for 60 miles through MA and CT to Norwich where it joins the Willimantic to form the Shetucket. We would be running the 10-mile section from Danielson to Canterbury. You can also shorten this trip to 5.3 miles by taking out at the CT DEEP Fish Hatchery.

running the broken Dam

This is one of the longer, more challenging sections of the Quinebaug with flatwater, lots of quickwater, and two class II rapids at the broken Dyer Dam (2-miles downstream, rebar river right - run center or left) and the old Wauregan Dam above the Wauregen Road Bridge (5-miles downstream).

I met the crew at 10:30 at Wayne R. LaFreniere Memorial Field at 39 Wauregan Road in Danielson for the shuttle down to Robert Manship Park at 50 Lovell Lane in Canterbury. It was cloudy and rainy, which would continue throughout the trip.

Running the Wauregan Dam

The current was moving fast as we launched at around 11:00 and headed downstream. We had 8 paddlers in seven boats (4 canoes and 3 kayaks). Everyone's confidence seemed to build as we ran the first couple of quickwater rapids.

The first real challenge was the class II drop at the broken Dyer Dam. The easiest line was through the center – a large tongue terminated in a small reaction wave. Everyone bounced down and made it through fine. With a little more confidence, we continued through more quickwater to the next class II rapid – the old Wauregan Dam. 

Approaching the take out

The Wauregan Dam is is a much longer rapid with rocks and holes at the top and standing waves down through the center. The line starts right and them moves to the center. Everyone made it through fine and looked like they enjoyed the run.

We stopped for lunch at the Fish Hatchery before continuing on the second half of the trip, which is mostly flatwater with a couple of quickwater sections. The trip took about 3-hours. Good time had by all in spite of the rain.

The crew at the lunch break

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Quinebaug Gage - Putnam