River Signals from American Whitewater

 

Androscoggin Weekend with my Father in 1995

With Dad at the Pontook put-in

I’ve been going through old pictures after cleaning out my parent’s house, and I found these from one of the early whitewater trips that I did with my father back in 1995. 

We did several Boston AMC trips on the Androscoggin in the early 1990’s. The trips were always on the 4th of July weekend. We would go up on Friday, do the Errol Rips and the 13-Mile Woods on Saturday and a couple of runs below the Pontook Dam on Sunday before heading home. By this time, my wife was home with 3 kids (5, 2 and 3 months), so this may have been my last trip. Thank you Maris Noble for sending my father these pictures.

Running the Errol Rips below the bridge

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Maris' Pictures

Manville to Albion - January 19, 2025

It’s been a slow start to the paddling year for me. I got out for a couple of trips in December, but I also spent a lot of time with my mother getting ready for Christmas. Unfortunately, she fell in her house the weekend before Christmas, was admitted to the hospital, and passed away on Christmas night. Not the holiday we were hoping for. 

Since then, I have been busy with the final arrangements, cleaning out the family house and settling the estate. There is a lot to do, and it hasn’t left much time for paddling.

I was a presenter at the Introduction to Canoe Camping session put on by the NH/AMC yesterday. Working on my presentation was a nice distraction from everything else that was going on. The turn-out for the session was great, and it was fun to catch up with so many old friends and meet some new ones. It would be a great thing for RICKA to do and I think we would get a good turn out as well.

Talking about paddling is one thing, but I still wanted to get out to do some paddling, so today seemed like the day. With a snow storm predicted for tonight, it was cloudy and gray, but the temperatures were up in the 40’s. My first thought was to head to River Island Park, but the river was low. Instead, I decided to paddle below the Manville Dam.

I put in at Sycamore Landing, which is the headquarters for the Blackstone River Watershed Association/Friends of the Blackstone. Rather than paddling up to the Manville Dam, I decided to paddle down to the Albion Dam. My very first paddling trip was on this section of the river with my father back in 1989. This was also the first trip that I did after my father passed away in 2020. That day was cold and gray as well. Now, I miss them both…

Mom, Dad and Julie paddling on the Blackstone Canal in
Lonsdale at the first trip that I led for RICKA in 2006

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My Pictures

Introduction to Canoe Camping – January 18, 2025

I was glad to be one of the presenters at the NH/AMC’s Introduction to Canoe Camping. The session was focused on paddlers interested in moving into wilderness tripping. Presentations included Trip Planning and Organization (Jonathan), Necessary Skills (Bob), Boats and Paddling Gear (me), Camping Gear (Deb), and Food and Cooking. In addition, several presenters did presentations on their favorite trips (I did the Connecticut River), and there was a Show and Tell table where folks could see and ask questions about gear. It was a great session, and very well received.

Introducing my favorite trip video on the Connecticut River

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My Pictures