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Written by Christopher Weed

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 27 March 2019

Hits: 189

Organizer(s): Chris Weed

Date: 2019-03-27

Kayakers (K1): Chris Weed, Matt Schott, Conner and other UVM Kayak Club boaters

Predominantly: Int-adv WW

Water Level: Medium

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: USGS 04290500 WINOOSKI RIVER NEAR ESSEX JUNCTION, VT

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Flow (cfs), e.g. '797': 1,750

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Height (ft), e.g. '2.96': 3.35

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge URL: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/vt/nwis/uv?cb_00060=on&cb_00065=on&format=html&site_no=04290500&period=&begin_date=2019-03-27&end_date=2019-03-27

I was running home from the Chace Mill to get my boat and other gear at about 2:30, and passed an SUV loaded with boats coming from UVM. A signaled and asked the driver (Conner) if they were headed to the falls; he indicated yes.

By the time I arrived at the Chace Mill's back parking lot (~3:00 pm) Matt was about to put on and everyone else was on the river. I launched at ~3:30 and headed down the falls to join them. We spent the next 1.5 hours doing repeated runs of the Horseshoe or practicing attainment in the rapids below the falls. After everyone else left I hiked back to the put-in and did a conditioning paddle up to the Lime Kiln Dam and back, and after that ran the falls again on the far right side.

The weather was cool (mid-40s) but the sky was cloudless. There were some broken ice floes coming down the falls around 4:30 or so, continuing until after 5:00, but very little ice on the river overall. A later visual check from Riverside Park confirmed that Salmon Hole below the dam is completely free of ice. It was a perfect day to be on the river.

Details

Written by Michael Mainer

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 23 November 2018

Hits: 195

Organizer(s): Jordan

Date: 2018-11-02

Kayakers (K1): Jordan, Mike, Justin, Justin

Predominantly: Advanced WW

Water Level: Medium high

Lots of water around this fall.  I awoke bright and early Friday morning thinking about the New Haven, but with Ranch Brook well over 100 and heading straight up it seemed there might be better opportunities.  I knew a few folks would be over in the Adirondacks, so headed over to Keene Valley, past a fluffy-looking North Fork Boquet and many waterfalls around Chapel Pond to John’s Brook.  There I found two New York Justins and a Vermont Jordan and a John’s Brook that was at the very high end of runnable.

An easy choice was made to head back to the NoFoBo.  This wasn’t my first time on it, but the general quality of the run still surprised me.  With a nice mix of big boulder gardens, constricted bedrock and sloshy mini-gorges, all connected by juicy class III, it is varied, fun and not too gnarly, at least at a good medium level.  We took out at Andy’s hole, which looked deadlier than anything we wanted to deal with at that time.

After the NoFoBo we headed back to John’s Brook, which had dropped into a juicy runnable range.  We used the lower put-in, about a 15 minute walk up from the trailhead. The first quarter-mile had a lot of walking (partly because there were terminal log jams every 200 feet and partly because overall, there was a lot of water and a lot of gradient and it all seemed kind of scary).  After the fourth log jam we were able to stay in our boats and actually got to enjoy some of the awesome boulder gardens the lower half of John’s Brook is known for, though we carried the two biggest ones. We took out a little ways down the Ausable. Jordan hit the road fast since he had to be in Burlington in an hour (it was Kristen’s birthday and yes, Jordan had the day off and he spent it all paddling) while Justin and I headed towards Vermont for what we were sure would be a great weekend of boating.  

On a side note, apparently if it’s your wife’s birthday and you’re planning on going boating, you can just let Justin know and he’ll notify the appropriate parties.  I don’t know how much he charges for this service but I hope it’s a lot.

Details

Written by Christopher Weed

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 20 March 2019

Hits: 191

Organizer(s): Chris Weed

Date: 2019-03-20

Kayakers (K1): Chris Weed

Predominantly: Int-adv WW

Water Level: Medium

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: WINOOSKI RIVER NEAR ESSEX JUNCTION, VT

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Flow (cfs), e.g. '797': 1410

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Height (ft), e.g. '2.96': 3.10

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge URL: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/vt/nwis/uv/?site_no=04290500

It was a beautiful early spring day in Burlington, and I wanted to paddle something, after road scouting some of our favorite runs the previous Sunday to see how much the ice had cleared. My message board post elicited no responses, so I headed to the Chace Mill to put on above Winooski Falls. By that time it was after 3:30 pm, and the air temperature was up to about 50 F.

After an embarrassing period of fumbling with my gear, I was ready to put on. My plan was to paddle upstream first. A bystander pointed out a large beaver sitting on the ice 50 yards upstream, and warned me that it might follow me for a while. In fact, it mostly minded its own business, and I got a good conditioning paddle before turning around and heading back to the falls.

At about 1,400 cfs, the falls was at a reasonably juicy but not nerve-wracking level for a solo season opener. I worked my way through the entry rapid above the main drops, doing several ferries for practice, and then ran the falls before my nerves got the better of me. After that came more ferry practice and upstream workout paddling. It became clear that a workout was needed. Long, intense runs will have to wait for later in the season.

All in all, it was a perfect day for a first paddle of the season. There was ice at the takeout by the Chace Mill, but it's almost at water level and easy to pull up onto. I was able to do that and step out of my boat onto crunchy snow, avoiding dunking my dry-suited feet in the ice-cold water. It doesn't get much better at this time of year!

Details

Written by Michael Mainer

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 21 November 2018

Hits: 189

Organizer(s): Nobody

Date: 2018-05-26

End Date: 2018-05-27

Kayakers (K1): Mike, Tom, others

Predominantly: Advanced WW

Water Level: Medium low

For the first time in a few years I actually had memorial day weekend clear to paddle, but didn’t really make any plans.  I sorta wanted a big Quebec weekend or something that like, but hadn’t the time to get a plan together. Still, a warm weekend on the Moose in New York seemed like an easy, fun and logistically simple option and as it turned out Tom was on board as well.  I have to admit that while the Moose is not the most exotic or sought-after run, it’s still a pretty good deal… you can camp by the river, run fun, mostly-friendly class IV/V and the pool-drop nature of the run makes it a great social river, especially with the level in the low- to mid-3’s.

On Saturday we had a large but competent group and had a routine run down to Agers.  Some folks went for the hard lines, some didn’t, but everyone was a having a fun, relaxing day.

Things took a decided turn at Sure-Form, when one member of our group, Molly, flipped at the top and washed out the bottom semi-conscious and unable to exit her boat.  I didn’t quite realize what had happened, but fortunately Justin and Jeff picked up on the problem faster than I did and 4 or 5 of us managed to get her out of the current and somewhat stable on a rock, while a few others corralled gear and Greg took off to call 911.  The next big stroke of luck came when a friend of ours, Olivia, who is an ER doc came down with the group behind us, and with her direction we moved Molly to a better position where she regained full consciousness and a little bit of feeling in her extremities. Once the Lyons Falls Fire Department arrived, 20+ firefighters and paddlers carried Molly across the runout of Sure-Form to the back of a pickup truck and thence to an ambulance.

This was a sobering event for a rapid that, while notorious for bloodying knuckles and smashing elbows has never really been viewed as truly hazardous.  To some degree, I think many of us have become indifferent to the shallow-but-not-shallow-enough nature of so many rivers in the northeast and the significant, but unobvious hazard that produces.

As a side note, the ultimate diagnosis was 2 or 3 broken vertebrae, a painstaking but nearly complete recovery and what everyone hopes will ultimately be a strong return to paddling.

Sunday went a bit better, with no real issues.  It was warm enough to paddle in a t-shirt. The best part of the day was when the entire group ran the alpine line at crystal.  In fact, sitting at the bottom watching 10 friends fire it off cleanly was one of the best parts of the season.

Paddling is always about taking the good with the bad and dealing with what the river throws at you.  Be well, be wise, beware, because.