I joined Bill, Al and Nancy for another nice hike – this time led by Nancy at the Blue Hills Reservation. The 7,000-acre Blue Hills Reservation stretches from Dedham to Quincy and includes more that 120-miles of trails. There are 22 hills in the Blue Hills chain with Great Blue Hill being the tallest at 635-feet. We would be climbing Buck Hill at 493-feet
We met at 8:30 at Triboro Plaza to carpool up to the Houghton’s Pond Recreation Area. I couldn’t help thinking about all the times I drove by the exit for Houghton’s Pond on the way to work. It was nice to be able to stop and visit. After a quick stop at the Visitor Center to pick up a trail map we headed out.
View of Boston from Buck Hill
Nancy led us on the Buck Hill Red Dot Trail to the top of Buck Hill. We then came down the Summit Trail, to the Forest Path White Triangle Trail and back on to the Buck Hill Red Dot Trail – about 5-miles. The trails were moderately strenuous with some rocky sections and lots of hills to climb, but the view of the Boston skyline from the top of wind-swept Buck Hill was pretty amazing. Again, I was glad to be on the hilltop looking at the office buildings of Boston rather than working in them.
We stopped for lunch at the Hillside Pub in Canton. Next week we will hike at Diamond Hill, but I would like to come back here again sometime.
I was looking for an opportunity to paddle my new Explorer 17, and the paddle club trip on Lackey Dam was it. I reached out to Danny, and he was happy to join me.
The Mumford River arises at Manchaug Pond and flows 18-miles east until it joins the Blackstone River in Uxbridge. We put in just above Lackey Dam and paddled upstream into Lackey Pond. This time of year the pond is starting to get choked up with water chestnut. The open channel is to the right, but we went a little too far left and had to fight our way through the weeds. Once back on the river we paddled under Route 146 and upstream until it was blocked by trees.
I’ve been looking for a tandem river tripper in Royalex that can carry a big load. Now I have one - a Mad River Explorer 17.
Mad River’s most popular canoe, the Explorer, was introduced in 1975. With its shallow-V hull for stability, moderate rocker for maneuverability and symmetrical shape for solo paddling, the 16’ Explorer has been called one of the most versatile canoes ever built.
My new-to-me canoe (HIN MADHX402F191) is a Royalex Explorer 17 built in 1991. The Explorer 17 was designed for wilderness tripping and carrying big loads. It’s a big boat – 17’ 2” long, 37” wide and 15" deep. It will hold a lot of gear – can’t wait to try it, but first I need to figure out where to store it.
Bob has a group doing a wilderness trip on a remote Canadian river next month and wanted to practice whitewater in river trippers, so he organized a trip on the Fife Brook section of the Deerfield. With my sore knee, tandem paddling sounded great, so Aaron and I headed up with my Mohawk Whitewater 16.
There are two sections of the Deerfield with summer releases that are popular for whitewater paddling. Advanced paddlers often head to the Dryway in Monroe Bridge. This is a class III-IV section of river for experienced whitewater paddlers. We would be paddling the Fife Brook section, which is mostly class II, with the exception of Zoar Gap in the middle which is class III. This would be my 23rd run on Fife Brook, but the first in a tandem.
Aaron was at my house at 7:30 to drop off a new-to-me Mad River Explorer 17 and head off to the Deerfield. We met the crew at 10:30 at the Fife Brook put-in to run the shuttle down to Shunpike. The release was 800 cfs. from 11:30 to 2:30, so we practiced ferries and eddy turns/peal outs at the put-in before heading downstream.
Just downstream from the put-in is the first rapid known as Hangover Helper - a ledge extends across most of the river resulting in a 2-foot drop followed by a long wave train. We ran the drop and played in the waves before moving downstream.
The next rapid - Carbis Bend - is similar but smaller. A ledge extends out from the left side of the river producing a couple of easy surf waves. Aaron and I did a couple of surfs, but there were too many kayakers cutting our place in line, so we moved on.
Just downstream from Carbis Bend is Freight Train, which is a long wave train that ends with a large surf wave. The rapid takes its name from the speed that many people build up running through the waves, and the railroad bridge just downstream that carries freight trains across the river. We missed the tight eddy on the right, but were still able to get on the big surf wave.
After Freight Train we took a break for lunch at the Bridge to Nowhere before running Pinball. Pinball is a rock garden that’s a great place to practice eddy turns, peel outs and ferries. Aaron and I ran the entire rapid backwards ferrying from rock to rock
After Pinball is the Island Rapid. As the name describes, the river is split by an island. The usual route is to the left with large waves and fast moving water where the river reconnects at the end. Aaron and I were able to catch the eddy on the left and get some pictures of others coming through.
After the Island Rapid comes Zoar Gap – the largest rapid on this section of the river. We scouted it from the road and confirmed the usual line - just right of center down the shoot at the top, then left down the shoot at the large boulder.
Aaron and I went down last. We caught an eddy on the left on the way down, and then headed over to catch one of the of the rocks on the right. We ended up further downstream than I expected, and before I knew it we were in the Zoar Gap rapid.
Fortunately, Aaron had a better sense of where we were than I did. He guided us down the first shoot and lined us up perfectly for the second drop. Always trust your bowman. My record at Zoar Gap is now 23 attempts with 13 successful, 6 swims and 2 walks. I have been successful on my last 6 attempts
After the gap, we continued downstream to the Shunpike Rest Area. On the way home, we stopped at the Picnic Area in Shelburne Falls for Ozzy’s hot dogs and potatoes. Here is Aaron's video of the run.
There are a lot of unnamed rapids, but here are the named ones as best I could identify them:
Hangover helper 0:37 Carbis Bend 1:08 Freight Train 2:07 Surf wave below the RXR bridge 3:51 Minefield (ferry practice) 7:05 Mimi Beach 9:38 Island Rapid 10:02 Above Zoar Gap 10:54 Scouting Zoar Gap 11:33 Running Zoar Gap 12:17 Running Zoar Gap - Slo-Mo 12:54 Mini Gap 13:55 Bam Dance 14:30 Spin Out 15:04 Conjunction Junction 16:05 RXR Bridge on Lower 17:04 Waves on left before take-out 18:10
This boat is going to Aaron Rouby. It’s a 1993 Dagger Cascade C1 with original outfitting, Voyageur bags, and Hydroponics spray skirt. It was originally owned by Jim Cole. I’ve had it for about 10-years, but I could never roll it, and now I can’t kneel in it even with the pedestal raised to 7-inches. Its a fun boat, but not for me. I think it will have a good home with Aaron.
Lincoln Woods is RI’s oldest state park. It opened in 1909 after acquiring farmland and woodlots from the Olney, Arnold, Comstock, and Mitchell families. Over the years, it has grown to 627-acres around Olney Pond bordered by Route 146 to the west, Breakneck Hill Road to the north and Great Road/Route 123 to the east.
We would be hiking the Lincoln Woods Trail, which loops around the northern end of the park. It is a very pretty woodland littered with large glacial erratics. It is also a maze of unmarked trails and we pretty quickly got off course. We still did about 3.5-miles, and then went out for breakfast at 9 Twenty Cafe in Lonsdale.
I joined last night’s Blackstone Valley Paddle Club trip on the Nipmuc River – one of my favorites. The Nipmuc River arises in Burrillville at the confluence of Round Top Brook and the Chockalog River, and flows south about 3-miles to Harrisville where it flows into the Clear River.
We had 16 boats with 3 canoes. The river was low but runnable – 3 cfs. 2.8 feet. We paddled up a couple of miles over three beaver dams, including one that was built since the river was scouted last week. Unfortunately, the top section is clogged with trees. From there it is a quick trip back downstream. Nice night.
