River Island Park - December 5, 2021

Take-out below the power lines

It has been a while since I’ve had my whitewater boat out, so I took it out yesterday down at River Island Park. This has been my go-to park-and-play spot for as long as I have been paddling. The river was at an easy level – 2 feet, 600 cfs on the Woonsocket gage.

I put in behind the Bandstand at River Island Park and warmed up with some ferries in the quickwater before checking out the pour-over on the other side of the island. Underneath the Bernon Street Bridge are the remnants of the old Bernon Dam. There were some nice easy waves, so I surfed for a while. The section just below Bernon Street was boney, so I skipped it and paddled past the Bernon Mills to the Court Street Bridge.

Portage back to the car

I skipped the small waves directly above the Court Street Bridge and eddied out from the right behind the big rock in the center of the river. From there it is easy to move out on to the surf wave below the bridge. Downstream from the Court Street Bridge but before the Providence & Worcester Railroad Bridge is big ledge in the middle of the river. At most water levels, it just creates a big eddy that I usually catch from the right. I also caught some of the easy surf waves on the left.

Below the railroad bridge it is mostly quickwater with a couple surf spots. The best is created by a pipe running across the river. I eddied out behind the rocks and spent a little time shedding back and forth across the wave at the pipe. I paddled backwards down the boney rapid below the powerlines before lugging my boat up the flood control levee for portage back to my car.

Links:

Woonsocket Gage