 |
| Heading out |
New Year’s Day trips are a tradition for many northeast boaters. The superstitious among us believe that in order to have a good paddling year you must be out on the water on New Year’s Day. I don’t take it that far, but I do try to get out on January 1st whenever I can. This year I decided to join Jonathan, Conrad, and Nancy for an Icicle Run on the Upper Winni.The Winnipesaukee River (otherwise known as the Winni) is a 10-mile river that that runs from Lake Winnipesaukee to Franklin where it joins with the Pemigewasset River to form the Merrimack. There are two whitewater runs on the Winnipesaukee. The Upper Winni runs from Tilton Road to Riverfront Park in Tilton. It’s an easy class I/II run that is the site of an annual slalom race. I have run it many times in the past. The Lower Winni runs from Cross Mill Road Bridge to Trestle View Park in Franklin. Its a class III(+) run that is above my comfort level in my canoe, but I did it a few years ago with the MVP in a shredder.
 |
| Running Cribworks |
With the annual New Year’s Day release the river was at a nice level – 4.4 feet, 1,100 cfs. We met at 10:30 at the Holiday Inn on Route 140 (the usual put-in was iced in) for the shuttle. Jonathan suggested that that we walk-shuttle the 2-miles from the take-out across from River Front Park (behind the train museum) on the Winnipesaukee River Trail, which runs parallel to Route 3 from a little above Tilton center to Route 140. It worked great, and we met the group at noon as planed. Canoes outnumbered kayaks on this trip with 5 canoes (Jonathan, Nancy, John, Ken and Erik) and one kayak (Conrad). The river starts off with quickwater along Route I-93. The first railroad bridge starts the slalom course through First Trestle and Cribworks, followed by Second Trestle and waves below the School Street Bridge. It took us two hours to do the run, playing as we went.
 |
| The crew takes a socially distanced break |
Links:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.