Rice City Pond with the BVPC - June 23, 2026

It had ben raining for two days, but it stopped in time for my Blackstone Valley Paddle Club trip at Rice City Pond. We put-in at the Tri-River Medical Center and paddled upstream under the Stone Arch Bridge at Hartford Avenue and up an old section of the Blackstone Canal. Then we paddled across the top of Rice City Pond and up the Blackstone River before shallow water forced us to turn around and head back to the put-in. Nice night but no pictures – I forgot my camera.

Wickford Backwaters - June 20, 2026

Heading out into the
Wickford backwaters

I had originally planned to do a RICKA trip on the Sudbury River today, but with the ongoing drought the water was low and the water quality didn’t look great. Instead, I moved the trip to Wickford. Unfortunately, there was a small craft advisory on Narragansett Bay with winds from the west at 15 to 20 kt, gusts up to 25 kt, and 2 to 3 ft waves.

Since we could stay in the protected backwaters of Wickford Harbor, I decided to run the trip anyway. We had a small group of hardy paddlers – 1 canoe (me and Bill in the Spirit II) and 4 kayaks (Sharon, Bob, Paul and Fran). We headed out from Wilson Park into Mill Cove, up to Mill Creek, back past Calf Neck and over to the beach at Cornelius Island. Since the wind was pretty strong in more exposed areas, we decided to call it a day. It was just a 3-mile trip, but it was still nice to get out. Bill, Bob and I stopped for ice cream on the way home at the Inside Scoop, which is always a treat.

The crew - Bob, Paul, Fran, Bill, Sharon and Erik

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Blue Hills Reservation – June 18, 2026

Top of Buck Hill

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. 

Links:
My Pictures
Blue Hills Reservation Trail Map and Guide
Blue Hills Reservation Color Coded Hiking Trail Descriptions
Friends of the Blue Hills Guide

Lackey Dam - June 16, 2026

Me and Danny in my new Explorer

I was looking for an opportunity to paddle my new Explorer 17, so I reached out to Danny and he was happy to join me on the Blackstone Valley Paddle Club trip at Lackey Dam on the Mumford River.  

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. The Explorer paddled great.

Me and Danny with my new Explorer

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Mad River Explorer 17

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 is a royalex Explorer 17 built in 1991. The Explorer 17 was designed for wilderness tripping. It’s a big boat – 17’ 2” long, 37” wide, 15" deep and 2" of rocker. It should hold a lot of gear. I can’t wait to try it out, but first I need to figure out where to store it.

Fife Brook in River Trippers - June 14, 2026

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

Links:

My Pictures

Aaron's Video

Fife Brook Release Schedule

Charlemont Gage
River Description form American Whitewater

Dagger Cascade gets a new home

Satan's Kingdom in 2017

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.