Pemi - Woodstock to Thornton - May 2, 2026

Pemigewasset River Iron Bridge

It rained on the way up, and it rained on the way back, but in between we had a pretty good run on the Pemi from Woodstock to Thornton.

The Pemigewasset River, also known as the “Pemi”, arises at Profile Lake at the base of Cannon Mountain in the Franconia Notch. It flows south for 65-miles to Franklin where it joins the Winnipesaukee River to form the Merrimack River.

Mist is the hills

There are a couple of other sections of the Pemi that I have paddled including the quickwater section from Thornton to Campton and the whitewater section in Bristol. The class II section in Woodstock is one of my favorites. It is a 4.5-mile trip that alternates between quickwater and class I/II rapids. This time we extended it by another 5-miles and went down to Robin’s Nest Road in Thonton.

We met at 9:30 at the put-in behind the North Woodstock Fire Station at the Woodstock Family Park and ran the shuttle down to the take-out at Robin’s Next Road. We had 8 boats, all canoes – 4 tandem and 4 solo. The river was a little low – 3.5-feet, 450 cfs., but surprisingly fluid, although we skipped the bid drop at the put in.

Running the Ledges

This section of the river alternates between quickwater and class I/II rapids. There is the Woodstock Squeeze - the river narrows and takes a hard left turn at a large rock wall. the Powerline Rapid - a long s-turn, Tree Fall Alley – a fast moving shoot which is often full of strainers, and Gravel Pit Bypass – a fast moving shoot which terminates at another rock wall.

The largest rapid is the Ledges. Usually there are lots of lines through this series of drops, but at this level the line on the right was best. Everyone made it through fine, and we continued down to the take out at Robin’s Nest Road.

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Pemi Woodstock Gage