Otter Brook - April 15, 2023

Heading out

I was planning to do the NHAMC Class III step-up trip on the Ammonoosuc River, but it was running high, I wasn’t comfortable with the class IV section below Pierce Bridge, and I needed to be in Topsfield in the early afternoon so the timing wasn't good. Instead, I decided run Lower Otter Brook with Paul and Pat.

This would be a repeat of the old RICKA Whitewater days. I was looking back and found a trip report from March 2012 RICKA trip with Paul, Andy and Jeff that described Pat as the “new guy". It has been a while since I’ve done this run with them.

Party wave

Otter Brook is a tributary of the Branch River (not our Branch River), which is a tributary of the Ashuelot River, which is a tributary of the Connecticut River. Otter Brook arises in the town of Stoddard and flows generally south for 13-miles to join Miniwawa Brook at Route 101 to form the Branch River.

In 1958, the huge Otter Brook Flood Control Dam was completed to protect Keene and the other communities along the Ashuelot River. The flow on Otter Brook is controlled by releases from the dam. The gage on Otter Brook is no longer active, but the historical releases were around 300 cfs.

Paul running Otter Ledge

I headed up to drop of my boat at the put-in before meeting Paul and Pat at the take out for the shuttle. There was a good crew gathering at the put-in with groups from the NHAMC, MVP and WTWA. We were the first to launch and head downstream.

The top of Otter Brook is narrow and rocky as it twists and turns through the woods down to Route 101. We headed down slowly being careful for strainers that couldn’t be seen from the street. As it turned out, the only strainers were the two that you could see from the street – the first in the shoot on the right side of Otter Ledge, and the second about half way down Route 101 with a small opening on the left.

Pat running Otter Ledge

We worked our way downstream catching eddies, dodging rocks and surfing waves. With the strainer blocking my usual route at the ledge my options were limited – portage or run the ledge to the left. I decided to run the ledge to the left, and made it through fine except for a loud cracking sound as I boofed the drop. Not a drop of water in the boat. We bounced along the final section along Route 101 before pulling out at the take-out below the bridge.

We had two cars at the take out to run the shuttle for our second run. It would have been easy to shuttle boats up and back, but I insisted on putting all the boats on my car to head up in one trip. Unfortunately, both kayaks came off the rack as we were strapping them on, and I now have nice scratches on both sides of my car.

Erik running Otter Ledge

The second run was a bomber run since we knew where the strainers were. Pat and Paul snuck through the strainer to run the shoot at the ledge. I boofed the left side of the ledge again, this time hearing an even louder crack as I went over.

We pulled over at the take-out and ran one last shuttle back to pick up the cars. I flipped my boat over to empty out the water before loading it on my car and noticed a 3 inch crack in the bottom just under the pedestal, and a matching crack on the inside. Now I know what the loud cracks were. Except for the cracks in my boat and the scratches on my car, it was another great day.

Back to the take-out

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My Pictures

River Description from American Whitewater