Reconnaissance – July 23, 2011

It’s vacation week - no gym, no internet. I still wake up early, so after a cup of coffee, I decided to check out some potential paddling spots near our cottage in Narragansett.


Seawall at Camp Cronin

I started close to home at Camp Cronin at the tip of Point Judith. It has great views of the Point Judith Lighthouse and is at the east end of the seawall that forms Galilee’s Harbor of Refuge. From here, I could paddle around Sand Hill Cove, or out to Point Judith.

Next, I headed over to Pier 5 (South Pier). It was low tide and the water looked relatively calm. From here, I could paddle down to the Narragansett Town Beach and get some great views of the Towers.


Marina Bay on Point Judith Pond

Next, I headed up Route 1A to the Narrows. As I walked across the old Concrete Bridge, I was surprised to see Mike and Susan snapping pictures of an osprey nest near the bridge. They would be doing the Narrow River trip with RICKA latter in the morning. From here, I could paddle down the Narrows to the ocean, or up to the Narrow River and into Pettaquamscutt Cove.

My last stop was Great Salt Pond or Point Judith Pond. I could put in at the boat ramp in Galilee and explore the harbor, or put in at the boat ramp at Marina Bay and explore the upper end of the pond.

So many options, so little time.

Point Judith Lighthouse

A Great Summer Day on Fife Brook - July 17, 2011

Jim running Hangover Helper

Had a great day yesterday on the Fife Brook section of the Deerfield. We had six boats – 3 canoes (Jim, Ed and Erik) and 3 yaks (Andy, Hector and Elaine). Release was 900 cfs which is OK – maybe a little low. Weather was absolutely perfect – sunny and in the high 80’s. Great day for swimming.

We put in at around 11:30 and began working our way downstream. We ran Hangover Helper, and had a good time surfing at Carbis Bend and Freight Train before we stopped for lunch. Racers from the ACA Whitewater Downriver Nations came though after lunch. It wasn’t a big group, but they were moving. We played in Pinball for a while, but then had to pick up the pace after that so we didn’t run out of water.

Elaine at Freight Train

By the time we reached Zoar Gap the river was already down a couple of inches. Three of us took the sneak line to the right, including Elaine who had a great first run through the Gap. Ed blasted down the middle. Only Andy tried the more difficult line to the left. He flipped at the top and a bounced down the rest of the rapid. Oh well – it was a good day to swim.

We took out at around 4:30 – the last group on the river – as usual. I got to paddle a Blackfly Option at the take out. Now that is a cool boat.

That's me running Zoar Gap

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Albion to Ashton - July 9, 2011

I spent a couple of hours yesterday paddling a short, but pretty section of the Blackstone - Albion to Ashton.  This section of the river follows the bike path, but has very little development otherwise.  I was glad to see that a new put-in with nice granite steps has been installed below the Albion Dam.  This will make portages much easier. 

Blackstone Gorge with BVPC - July 5, 2011

I led the Blackstone Valley Paddle Club trip last night at the Blackstone Gorge. We had a good group with 20+ paddlers. It was suppose to be a joint trip with RI Blueways, but no one from Blueways showed up. That’s OK, they still do good work, and have a great website.

The Blackstone is dropping to its summer level with water just barely making it over the Rolling (definitely not Roaring) Dam. The river was 7 feet, 200 cfs on the Rt. 122 gage. I did a short talk on Blackstone Valley history along with the safety talk, and then we headed up stream. I was happy that about half the people actually got out to check out the old Millville Lock, and about a quarter actually made it up to the Millville Rapids. The night ended with ice cream at Sandy’s Softserve in Blackstone. Life if good.

Water trickles over the Rolling Dam

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Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park

RICKA Flatwater Training - July 3, 2011

We had a nice group yesterday at RICKA's Flatwater Training - 8 students, 5 instructors.  As  usual, I had the only canoe, but I always make it a point to practice wet exits and recoveries.  It took me two attempts to get back in my own boat, but was able to get Tom back in his boat on the first try.

Bill demonstrates a brace

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Branch River - Forestdale to Slatersville - July 2, 2011

I decided to try something different this morning, so I headed over the Branch River to paddle the section from Forestdale to Slatersville.

1826 Slatersville Mill

I wasn’t sure where to put-in, but as I drove up School Street in Forestdale I saw two guys carrying a boat down the river at the old Forestdale Mill site, so I put-in there. The Forestdale Pond was dotted with white, pink and purple water lilies. Once I got past Village Haven, the river was too shallow (2 ft., 42 cfs) to paddle, so I hiked up the river to Slatersville. I should have brought my poling boat. Across from Village haven would be a good place to put-in for poling.

The Village of Slatersville was established in 1803 and became the model for industrial development in the Blackstone River Valley.  Unfortunately, you can’t see much of the village from the river.  There are some nice views of the 1826 Mill, the Providence Pike Bridge and the Lower Dam.  The short section from Slatersville to Village Haven would be a fun section to paddle in higher water.


Branch River from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo.

Links:
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Slatersville from woonsocket.org

Manville Dam – July 1, 2011

Yesterday was my birthday, which was nice because we got out of work early for the 4th of July weekend. I took my whitewater boat down to the Manville dam for a couple of hours. River was around 2ft., 500 cfs. – not bad.