Pemigewasset - Woodstock to Campton - November 21, 2015

Me and Jonathan

It wasn’t the best weather for paddling, but I’ve paddled in worse.  Sometimes you just need to get out when the river is up.

I’ve wanted to paddle the section of the Pemi below the Ledges in Woodstock for a while, but it can be tough to catch. Last week’s rain brought the river up, so I sent an email to Doug D. to see if he would be interested. A Facebook post hooked me up for some tandem paddling with Jonathan. 

Blair Bridge

We ran the section from the Ledges at the Route 175 Bridge in Woodstock to the Blair Bridge in Campton – about 14 miles.  The river is shallow with gravel bars and cobbles along the banks.  I’d say that we caught a medium-low level - 3.5 feet, 650 cfs. on the Woodstock gage - mostly flatwater with a few quickwater rips.

It remained overcast throughout the day with low-hanging clouds hugging the ground.  Every now and again we would turn around and catch a beautiful view of the White Mountains shrouded in clouds.  We probably should have turned around more often. It took us about 4 ½ hours to paddle the 14 miles. There was no rush - we took our time and enjoyed views, and then enjoyed a beer and a burger at the Country Cow near the take out.  Another great day.

White Mountains shrouded in clouds

My Pictures
Doug’s Pictures
Pemigewasset Woodstock Gage
River Description from American Whitewater

White Rock Dam removal on the Pawcatuck - November 1, 2015

Heading downstream

The restoration of the Pawcatuck River took another step forward this fall with the removal of the White Rock Dam in Westerly.  For nearly 250 years, this dam at the lower end of the Pawcatuck River has blocked upstream passage to Rhode Island’s largest watershed. The dam has now been removed in an on-going effort to return the Pawcatuck to something close to its natural state.

The original dam at the White Rock site was built in 1770.  It was replaced in 1888 by a stone crib dam, and much of the river’s flow was redirected down a granite-lined raceway to the White Rock Mill. When the old stone crib dam washed away in the 1938 hurricane, it was replaced with a 6-foot tall concrete dam that stretched 108 feet across the river.

Checking out the old raceway

With the recent removal of this concrete dam complete, I joined a small group of paddlers who wanted to check out the new course of the river.  For the third week in row I would be paddling tandem - this time with Bill in the Mohawk.  We put in at the new access off Post Office Lane below the Potter Hill Dam, and took out on White Rock Road just upstream of the Route 78 bridge.  The river was 4.5 feet, 200 cfs. on the Westerly gage - just enough water to keep us floating.

We paddled down to White Rock and found all that remained of the old dam were the stone abutments on river left. The restored riverbed is nice, but not as exciting as a run through the old raceway.  The old raceway was high and dry, but is not being removed.  A barrier will be built at the top that will allow water to flow into the channel during high water.

The old raceway is high and dry

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Westerly Gage
Trip Description from Rhode Island Blueways

P-netters on the P-Cat in NH - October 24, 2015

You never know where you’ll meet another P-netter. I’ve been paddling the P-Cat Drawdown and BBQ on the Piscataquog River in Goffstown, NH for years. In fact, it was one of the first whitewater trips that I did when I started paddling back in 2005. It’s a short class II with a great BBQ after.

I usually attend this trip with the local RI crew, but none of them were interested this year. Instead, I signed up for the trip with the NHAMC and ended up in the “open boat group” – 4 tandems, 3 solos, 2 duckies and one kayak. One of the leaders was HikingMike (hope I got that right) from P-net. The river was at it's usual release level - 5.5 feet on the Goffstown gage.

I paddled tandem, which was a nice change. I got the bow, and Jonathan (also a solo open boater) got the stern. We made a good team and clicked pretty much right away catching eddies, ferrying and surfing. To me, the highlight of this trip is a playspot that has a habit of pulling open boats in sideways, and then spitting them out. I’ve had lots of practice demonstrating how not to side surf in this particular hole.

I warned Jonathan about my luck, but he was willing to venture in anyway. We did pretty well on our first attempt – stayed straight and backed out without incident. Now figuring that a 16’ tandem wouldn’t get pulled in sideways, we got a little more aggressive on our second attempt. As the bow got sucked down into the hole we immediately got spun sideways. We lasted for a couple of seconds before getting “window-shaded”. My 100% swim rate at this hole is safe for another year.  Great trip as usual.

Surfing with Jonathan

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Goffstown Gage

Charles - Wellesley to Needham - October 17, 2015

Bill and I had agreed to do some tandem paddling, so I loaded the Spirit II on the rack and headed off the to the Charles River. We joined RICKA for a round-trip from the Elm Bank Reservation (900 Washington Street) in Wellesley to the Cochrane Dam on Fisher Street (Charles River Peninsula Access Road) in Needham – about 11 miles. The river is relatively undeveloped except for a few large houses, and the foliage was great with lots of yellows, golds and reds. Nice trip.

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Lower Otter Brook - October 3, 2015

Marlene

I was suppose to lead an overnight camping trip at Burlingame on Saturday, but the forecast didn’t look promising – cold, rainy and windy.  Of the 12 campers who originally signed up, I was down to 3 when I cancelled the trip on Friday night.  But how does that old saying go – “when one door closes another opens”.  While rain isn’t good for camping its great for whitewater paddling.

I got an email that a group would be running Lower Otter Brook on Saturday, and now I was free to join in.  Lower Otter Brook is a small class II run in Roxbury, NH (outside of Keene).  The level is controlled by the huge Otter Brook Dam built by the Army Corps of Engineers.  We had six boats– 2 canoes and 4 kayaks.

Eric

The morning was cold and windy when I arrived at the put-in. I was glad that I brought my drysuit and gloves.  The level was around 350 cfs, which was slightly more that the typical spring release of 300 cfs.  We worked our way downstream dodging rocks, catching eddies and just having fun. 

I went through the Otter Ledge first, bouncing off the wave at the bottom and into the eddy below the ledge - prefect.  I was in great position to get some pictures, but couldn’t get the water drops off the lens in time.  Oh well…

Heading to the take-out

There was good flow coming out of Minnewawa Brook where Otter Brook joins to form the Branch producing long wave trains along Route 101.  We arrived at the take-out around 1:30, and debated a second run.  For me the answer was easy, I needed to be home around 3:00.  Looking at the gage, it looks like they shut the water off at around 1:30 anyway.

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Otter Brook Gage

Description from American Whitewater

Ninigret Pond - September 19, 2015

Paddling with Bill in the Spirit II

Although I have done a lot of paddling in South County, I had never paddled Ninigret Pond in Charlestown.  That changed when the RICKA Picnic was held there last Saturday.

Ninigret Pond is the largest of Rhode Island’s South County salt ponds, which include Point Judith Pond (a tidal estuary), and Green Hill, Quonochontaug and Winnapaug Ponds (coastal lagoons).  Like all coastal lagoons, the Ninigret Pond itself is separated from the ocean by a barrier island.  It is also connected to Green Hill Pond by a small channel

Taking a break at the beach

We put in at the boat launch at Ninigret Park and paddled west along the barrier island.  Other than a few houses on the north shore along Route 1, it is quiet and undeveloped.  We hiked across the barrier island to take a quick swim at the beach before heading back for the picnic. 

It was a nice trip, and nice to paddle tandem with Bill in my Spirit II.

View across Ninigret Pond

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Paddle Guide from Rhode Island Blueways

Fife Brook - September 6, 2015

We did our RICKA trip on the Lower Deerfield a few weeks ago, but it has been quite a while since I paddled the Fife Brook section.  I was able to get out yesterday with some folks from the NHAMC.  Release was 1,000 cfs – nice level.  We had 3 canoes (me, Joe and Abby) and 4 kayaks.  I took the right line at Zoar Gap and made it through fine. 

Zoar Gap

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