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| The three amigos - Erik, Paul and Jeff |
It has been an unusual January in southern New England. To the north and west it has been cold and snowy, but here in southern New England it has been warm and rainy. Great if you can get out and paddle, but kind of depressing if you can’t. Family obligations have kept me close to home, so my recent trips have been short and local. That changed when I got out with Jeff and Paul for a run on the Willimantic - the return of the "three amigos".
I've been paddling with Jeff and Paul for years. I’m pretty sure my first trip with Paul was a 2008 Icebreaker trip on the Branch River. I’m not sure when I started paddling with Jeff, but he is mentioned regularly in my early posts on this blog, which I started in 2009. His video of our Crystal trip in July of 2009 is one of my favorites. Along with Andy, Jeff, Paul and I would become the four amigos of the RICKA Whitewater group. The first video I can find of the four of us (young and slim) plus Eric D. is at the Millville Rapid in 2009. One of our more memorable trips was the fall dam release on the West in 2010. A lot of water under the bridge, or over the dam between us – literally.
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| Paul running the broken dam |
With another warm weekend in the forecast, I put out the word to see who would be interested in paddling on Saturday. I was glad when Paul and Jeff signed on – it would be like the old days. We had lots of choices, but decided to do a run on the Willimantic.
The Willimantic River arises in Stafford Springs and flows south for 25-miles to Willimantic where it joins the Natchaug River to form the Shetucket River. There has been talk of building a whitewater park in the class III/IV section below Bridge Street in Willimantic, but nothing has happened recently. I'd like to try the class I/II section from the Eagleville Dam to Bridge Street sometime.
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| Jeff running the broken dam |
We would be running the 6-mile section from the Municipal Parking Lot on River Road in Stafford Springs to Nye-Holman State Forest in Willington. We met at 9:00 at the Dunkin Donuts in Willington to run the shuttle. After leaving Jeff’s car at the take-out, we headed up to the put-in. The river was at a nice level – 5-feet, 800 cfs on the Coventry gage and 2.7-feet, 500 cfs on the Merrow Road Gage. To be honest, it would be even better with another foot of water, but 5 feet is my new minimum for this run.
The easy rapids start right at the put-in and continue for a mile down to an old broken dam that includes a small low-head dam at the top. We ran the dam to the left and made it through fine. From there, the river is mostly quickwater as it twists and turns along Route 32 and then I-84 to the Nye-Holman State Forest. We could have continued another 5-miles down to Merrow Road, or another 8-miles down to the Eagleville Dam, but for today 6-miles was enough.
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| The shuttle back - matching Bell Yellowstone Solos (and Paul's kayak) |
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