Dead - Spencer Stream to West Forks – July 6, 2013

At the bottom of Spencer Rips
(Photo by Tommy Taylor)

The Dead has been on my list of places to paddle for a long time.  I remember my first canoe trip with my father on the Androscoggin way back in 1990.  The Boston Chapter of the AMC ran that trip, and many of those members talked about running the Dead.  It’s apropos that our small group (Mike, Earl, Tommy and me) hooked-up with the Boston Chapter (Donna Jean, Rod, Deb, Barbara, Ken and Scott) to do the run. 

We arrived at Riverdrivers around 8:30 and loaded up the boats for the shuttle.  With all the rain, we were concerned that the level might be significantly higher than the scheduled release of 1,800 cfs.  Andy at Riverdrivers told us that the dam release would be “an honest 1,800 cfs”.  With another 550 cfs coming from Spencer Stream, we estimate that the total flow was 2,350 cfs – a solid class III. At lower levels (1,200 cfs to 1,800 cfs) it is primarily class II except for the very first, and last couple of rapids.  At medium levels (2,000 cfs to 3,500 cfs) it is class III.  At higher levels (4,500 cfs to–8,000 cfs) it is class IV (and well beyond my skill level).

Running the slot at Elephant Rock
(Photo by Tommy Taylor)

The Dead is one of the longest continuous whitewater runs in the Northeast with approximately thirty rapids along a fourteen-mile stretch.  The river is mostly boulder type rapids with lots of holes and pour-overs. The shoreline has thick vegetation that grows right up to the river's edge that can make it difficult to rescue swimmers or bail out an open boat.  The major named rapids are: 

• Spencer Rips – deep water is right, big eddy below on left to stop and regroup.
• Minefield (2 miles) – long boulder garden with big waves and lots of holes – difficulty increases where the river turns left.
• Hyden’s – also know as Humpty Dumpty (3 miles) – run in middle, stay out of holes.
• Gravel Pit (4.5 miles)
• Enchanted Stream (7 miles) – good lunch spot.
• Elephant Rock – (7.5 miles) immediately below Enchanted Stream is a river wide ledge – blends into Enchanted Stream.  Can run the ledge, but usually run on right between Elephant Rock and the rock wall.
• Mile Long (8.5 miles) – another long boulder garden with big waves and lots of holes – filled up my boat here – twice!
• Upper Spruce Ledge (10.5 miles) – stay out of hole bottom left.
• Lower Spruce Ledge
• Upper Poplar Falls (11.5 miles) – Stay  away from holes upper right and lower left – stop in big eddy bottom right.
• Lower Poplar Falls (12 miles) – left is hero line with lots of dangerous holes.  The right line through the boulder garden can be boney, but much easier - I took the right.

We made it through without too much trouble.  We had just one major swim in the Mile Long Rapid – and it wasn’t me! 

Mike running Minefield
(Photo by Tommy Taylor)

Links:

River description from American Whitewater
Spencer Stream Gage

Riverdrivers Camping

Northern Outdoors Campsites

Seboomook – West Branch of the Penobscot – July 5, 2013

Running one of the ledges

It's remote - accessed by driving on 37-miles of dirt logging roads, but Seboomook on the West Branch of the Penobscot is worth the trip.

Seboomook lies in what is known as the North Maine Woods - a consortium of private landowners (mostly paper companies) encompassing 3.5 million acres of working forest. The scenery is beautiful, and on this day, the black flies and mosquitoes were vicious. Fortunately, the bugs are not problem on the river, and we did see a bald eagle swoop down and catch a fish. 

We ran the section from the Seboomook Dam to the Roll Dam Campsites. The river was at a great level – 800 cfs, which I am told is a medium level.  We had five boats – Rod, Deb, Harland, Tommy and me.  The run consists of 11 ledges that at this level were probably class III.  The drop and pool nature of this river is unlike most other New England rivers, which have long boulder strewn rapids.  The drops are intense but very short with a large slow recovery pool below. It’s a great place to practice running drops and punching holes.

I swam once, on the third drop trying to eddy out on river right behind a rock.  Otherwise I ran the drops clean. 

West Branch of the Penobscot from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo.

Links:

River description from American Whitewater
Gage - West Branch of the Penobscot at Seboomook Dam

Green canal and fast moving river - River Bend Farm - June 29, 2013

Duck weed on the canal at River Bend Farm

We’ve had a lot of rain this week, so rivers are running all over.  I’m planning to run the Dead next weekend up in Maine, so I wanted to stay local today.  I decided to do the canal/river loop at River Bend Farm.

I usually leave my car at the broken dam across from the Stanley Woolen Mill and carry my boat across the street to the canal.  This allows me to run the broken dam at the end.  Unfortunately, there is a strainer blocking the main channel through the dam, so I decided not to run it.  Instead, I put in at River Bend Farm and ran the loop from there.

Taking a break 

At this time of year, the lower section of the canal is usually covered with green duckweed.  Today, all the duckweed was at the upstream end near River Bend Farm.  The wind must have blown it there. 

The river was flowing nice (about 3.5 feet on the Northbridge gage) with enough water to allow you to go straight through many of the turns that are tricky at lower water.  Just above the take out to cross back over to the canal there is a river wide strainer across the river.  Hopefully the Rangers will get in there to clear it out.

Visitor Center at River Bend Farm

 Links:

My Pictures

Northbridge Gage

Albion to Manville - June 22, 2013

Today I got a little bit of an idea how the upstream sections of the Paddle Across Rhode Island might have been when I paddled up the Blackstone from Albion to Manville. It's just under 2 miles each way, but it took 1 1/2 hours on the way up, and less than a 1/2 hour on the way back down. Lots of water, but nothing compared to what we had that week. It would have been a long portage around the Pawtuxet River.

Manville Dam

Links:

My Pictures

My Video - Below the Manville Dam at 2,000 cfs

Salmon River - June 15, 2013

Paul and I had a good time running the Salmon River with Matt, Scott and the crew from Connecticut.  We had 7 boats – 2 canoes (me and Matt), and 5 kayaks (Sharon, Paul, Paul G., Ed and Scott). The river was a nice level – around 5 feet, 1,200 cfs on the East Hampton gage. 

The Comstock Covered Bridge

We met at the covered bridge on Comstock Bridge Road in East Hampton to run the shuttle. The original Comstock's Bridge was built in 1840 and is one of only three remaining covered bridges in Connecticut. We decided to put in on the Blackledge to avoid the portage on the Jeremy. The put-in for the Blackledge is the Blackledge Fishing Area off South Main Street near the intersection with Jerry Daniels Road in Marlborough. The put-in for the Jeremy is at the commuter lot at the intersection of Routes 2 and 149.

The Salmon River is formed at the confluence of the Blackledge and Jeremy rivers and runs about 10 miles to flow into the Connecticut River. It’s a pretty river that cuts a steep valley through the hills. This section is about 3 miles long and runs through the Salmon River State Forest – a popular area for hiking, biking and fishing. The banks are lined with hemlock trees and mountain laurel, and small water falls tumbled down the banks into the river. 

A pretty section of the Salmon

The Blackledge is mostly quickwater, so it is little less exciting than the Jeremy, but I think it is more scenic. After a couple of strainers, it opened up nicely. At this level, the Salmon is a nice class II run - mostly easy wave trains with some nice surf spots. We enjoyed the waves as we worked out way down to the largest rapid on the river – the broken dam.

The broken dam looked intimidating at first, but we all decided that the usual run through the slot on the right was the way to go. The large standing waves below the slot made for a fun ride, so we hiked back up and ran it a couple of times before continuing downstream. Some videos from the broken dam runs here:

Broken Dam on the Salmon River from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo.

The best surf wave on the river is just below the broken dam. We all took a turn, and I couple of us took a swim. Matt described my swim this way:

Erik was looping, and when he went into a stern surf, the hole pulled him back at what had to be 10 mph...it was the coolest move I ever saw from my open boating play partner.

Thanks Matt.  

Links:

My Pictures

My Video

East Hampton Gage

North Branch of the Pawtuxet – June 12, 2013

Hope Furnace Dam

I have a new favorite river – the North Branch of the Pawtuxet.  It reminds me a little of the Shepaug, and runs about as frequently.

We put in at the Hope Furnace Dam just downstream from the popular flatwater paddling spot and fishing area.  The water here is the cleanest in the state coming directly from the Scituate Reservoir.  We had four boats – three kayaks (Duke, Pat and Mike) and one canoe (guess who).  The river level was…?  That’s actually a good question since there are no gages on this section of the river.  I guess it’s safe to say that when the Pawtuxet  is in flood, this section will be running. 

Duke at the put-in

This is a short run - about 1.5 miles.  The river is pretty much continuous class II with lots of long wave trains.  The banks are overgrown, so there are not a lot of shore eddies – you need to catch surf waves on the fly. 

The most difficult rapid on the river is about a mile down where the river takes a sharp left turn.  The best route is to catch the big eddy on the right after the turn, and then ferry left to avoid the ledge, and then enjoy the long wave train.  A little further downstream is Mamba Eater – a nasty lowhead dam.  Stay left close to the wall to avoid the hole.

We took out at the Lavelee Street Bridge just above the Arkwright Dam.  Except for that low head dam, it was a great run.  I can tell because I didn’t take many pictures.

The Mamba Eater - stay left to avoid the hole

It was a two-boat day – June 10, 2013

Pulling Chuck's boat free

The Paddle Across Rhode Island ended badly for everyone, but especially for Chuck whose boat got pinned below the Atlas Pallet Rapid.  With nothing to do but go back to work, I jumped at the opportunity to help Chuck get his boat unpinned on Monday morning. 

We met at 10:00 at the Burrillville Middle School and hiked up the trail to the Atlas Pallet Rapid.  Jim paddled his boat up, and was able to climb up on the pile of debris that Chuck’s boat was pinned against.  I threw him a rope, he tied it onto the boat, and we started to pull.  Within minutes we pulled the boat free.  All boats should come free that easy.

The second boat is unpinned

With the river at great level and Chuck's boat free, Paul and I decided to do run down the Branch River.  We put in at the new boat launch below the Stillwater Mill.  The river was at a nice level – around 4 feet, 600 cfs.

Just below the Oakland Dam we found another pinned canoe that we were able to release. A cell phone in an otter box attached to the thwart still worked, so Paul was able to track down the owners. It seems they put in just above the Oakland Dam and promptly swamped in the flooded river. The canoe went over the dam and got pinned against the trees where we found it – along with two life jackets. Fortunately, the owners were able to get to shore safely.

Glendale rapid was fun – ran it just left of center.  Atlas Pallet was nice as well – ran it nice down the middle.  Good time.  

Surfing at Atlas Pallet

Links:
Freeing Chuck's Boat
Running the Branch
Branch River Gage