A Hike at the Blackstone Gorge - January 17, 2015

It was another cold day, and ice has accumulated at many of my usual paddling spots, so I decided to take a hike down at the Blackstone Gorge.  The ice above the dam was thick enough to support a couple of determined ice fishermen.  Below the dam, ice shelves lined the banks.  I was able to hike along the river to the base of the cliff at the gorge drop, and then climb to the top before heading back.

Fishing on the ice above the Rolling Dam

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A Hike at Diamond Hill – January 10, 2015

I was going to take my canoe out, but as the weather gets colder, it becomes a lot of work.  You need to get the boat, get the cold-water gear and then find a place that isn’t iced-in.  We had a little snow, so today I decided to take a hike at Diamond Hill instead.  The paths were rocky, and it is easier to stay on the trail when it is already established in the snow, but still a good hike

View from the top of the cliffs at the quarry 

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New Year's Day run at Tville - January 1, 2015

Heading to the put-in

“Winter is not just about skiing”. That’s what Jo-Ann told the reporter from the Hartford Courant who came to get some pictures of our New Year’s Day trip on the Tville section of the Farmington, and she was right. New Year’s Day runs are definitely a tradition around here. Ian said “to have a good year if you’re a whitewater boater, you have to be in the water on the first”. Well, I was!

This year, I had a couple of options for trips on New Year’s Day, but I decided to join a group from the Where’s the Whitewater at on Facebook to run the Tariffville Gorge or Tville section of the Farmington. The run itself is short - just 1.5 miles - but there are play spots for paddlers of all skill levels.  At yesterday’s level (2.1 feet, 900 cfs on the Tariffville gage) it is a class II/III run. The difficulty increases as the level rises.

Running the Ledges

We met at Tariffville Park to run the shuttle down to the take-out on Tunxis Road below the Route 187 Bridge. The temperature was around 30º so we didn’t spend a lot of time hanging around. The river starts off easy with the few small ledges and nice surf waves. The best of these are Cathy’s Wave and the ledge below it. At this water level, you can surf these waves for hours. 

As you enter the gorge the intensity picks up a bit. I ran the Bridge Abutment Rapid to the right, and the rapid approaching the play hole to the left. Below the play hole is a small ledge. I eddied out on the left before ferrying to the middle to run the drop. I ran the ledges further downstream by doing the opposite - eddying out on the right, and ferrying to the left to run the drop. There is a nice surf wave (Typewriter) as the river turns left around an island, but I wimped out and didn't try to surf it. Good time as always – Happy New Year!

The crew takes a break

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Tville gage

2014 Year End Review

Unfortunately, I needed to work on New Years Eve, so my paddling is done for 2014. I always try to do at least one big trip each month, and here are some of the more significant ones:

January – Pawtuxet Cove

 February - Pawcatuck River -Richmond to Bradford  

March -  Branch River Icebreaker, Jim O'Brien Memorial Paddle

April -  Upper Millers, the Mighty Quin

May -  Ottauquechee River, Scantic River Church, Assabet/Concord - Acton to Concord

June -  Dead River Weekend

July -  Vacation on Great Island, Riverton
August -  Lower Deerfield

September -  Pawcatuck River Overnight, Seekonk River

October -  Nashua River - Groton to Pepperell

November -  Quinnebaug - Sturbridge to Southbridge, Satan's Kingdom

December -  Crystal/Boateater

I didn't do much camping this year - just a couple of overnight trips with the Paddle Across Rhode Island crew and RICKA.   Hopefully I will get to do some more camping next year.  Mike is talking about a trip on the Allegheny River in northwest Pennsylvania, and Tommy is talking about doing a couple of sections of the NFCT: Section 1 - Old Forge to Long Lake; Section 5 - Missisquoi; and Sections 9 & 10 - Rangley to Moosehead.

Some of my favorite trips for the year are here:

My Favorite Trips of 2014 from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo

Functional Freestyle - December 28, 2014

There is an ongoing thread on Paddling.net on freestyle paddling moves, so I took the Yellowstone out to give it a try.  I was able to capture the Axle, Cross Axle, Post and Cross Post on video, but the camera died while I was trying the Wedge, Christie and most of the sideslips. Here is my narrated version.

Functional Freestyle - Axles and Posts from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo

For me, the easiest turns, and the most effective in the Yellowstone are the post and cross post.  These are good on flatwater, but in moving water, the Axle or Cross Axle are safer bets.  I can get about 90 degrees on the initial skid, and get to about 180 degrees with subsequent forward and cross forward strokes.

Palm rolls and in-water recoveries are not something that I do on a regular basis, but they do help make the initiation and follow-up strokes more effective.  On the wedge, the in-water recovery gets the paddle into position for the bow pry much easier than tying to jam the paddle in place.  For the onside skidding maneuvers (Axle and Post), the palm roll can link follow-on bow draw and J-strokes to power the boat through the turn. 

My leans are wobbly, my transitions aren't very smooth, but I at least I can get through the turn.  This freestyle stuff takes practice, practice, practice...

Day after Christmas Paddle - Crystal/Boateater on the Farmington - December 26, 2014

Santa was good to me this year with a new PFD, helmet, river knife, whistle and gloves, so I decided to go out and try out my new gear.  I saw a post on the Yakkers Facebook group that Matt, Scott, Tim, Paul and Dave were going to paddle the Crystal section of the Farmington.  It’s been a while since I’ve had my whitewater boat out, so I decided to join in.

The day was relatively warm and the river was at a decent level – 1,100 cfs, 6.5 feet on the Unionville gage.  We put-in off Rt. 179 near Collinsville.  Even though there was no snow, Scott gave the seal launch hill a try.

Scott - seal launch at Crystal from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo.

The run is about 5-miles long and includes a series of easy class I/II rapids with lots of rock gardens with places to play. The first major rapid is Crystal, which is the site of an annual spring slalom race. Its about a quarter mile long and terminates in a nice surf wave. Below Crystal is the Ledge at the Rt. 4 Bridge that we ran to the right. After a short section of flatwater comes the Boateater Rapid – a long wavetrain that we ran just right of center. 

The run took us about 3 hours with no swims – pretty good for us.  Either our skills are getting better, or we are getting old and not taking as many chances.

Surfing above the Crystal Rapid

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Scott's Seal Launch

Unionville Gage

River Island Park – December 13, 2014

Lots of rivers were running this weekend, but I had stuff to do around the house, so my paddling was limited to a quick run at River Island Park.  The river was at 4 feet, 1,700 cfs – very fluid, but most of the features were washed out.  I took out below the power lines and carted my boat back to the car.  It’s a lot of work for a short run, but at least I got out and paddled.