Details

Written by Tracy Wilson

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 24 May 2013

Hits: 17840

Organizer(s): Tracy Wilson

Date: 2013-05-22

Kayakers (K1): Tracy, Mike Beers, Tom Rodgers, Ryan McCall, Jim Poulin, John Atherton, Chris Weed, Rich Carlilse, Justin ?

Deck Canoers (C1): Alden Bird

Predominantly: Nov-int WW

Water Level: Medium low

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: 423

Details

Written by Ryan McCall

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 19 April 2013

Hits: 212

Organizer(s): Ryan

Date: 2013-04-12

End Date: 2013-04-15

Kayakers (K1): Jason M, Dan M, Jamie D, Paul C, Ryan M

Predominantly: Int-adv WW

Water Level: Medium low

This was the 6th annual pilgrimage to VT for the Pee-yea boys. Over the years it's been a mish-mosh of buddies that have made the trip up every April since 2008, but two of the guys have been a constant and were the only ones to make it up this year, Jason McMullen and Dan Mayer. Both solid boaters an considerably better than me. So being on the water with them is both fun and usually low stress. This year would prove to be a a lot of the former and mostly some of the latter.

Day one. They drove up through downpours to hit the VT/NY state line and be greeted by sleet and snow. WELCOME TO VT! This sort of screwed up the late afternoon paddle that we had slated for the day. No worries, a class IV+ drive up Route 100 filled their cup with enough gnar for the day. Plan B - eat, drink and be merry.

Day two. We had planned to hit the Baker Valley in NH for the day. Knowing that Jamie S and Brandon A were going to be over there as well, it was a no brainier to hit it and have some good local knowledge with us. A quick call to Paul and Jamie D also brought two other solid boaters into the fray. With a group of 6 we were all set for the day. We ran the South Branch Baker first and it was at a medium low level. It is for the most part read and run with fun bedrock stuff at the top down through the Mill drop (which always requires a scout because of wood) and then below you have cannibal falls (walk) and then lots of fun pinball stuff to work through. We spent a few extra moments at cannibal because Jason was planning to run it until he finally gave up the ghost, concerned that he wouldn't make it far enough across the current to where he needed to pull the boof stroke. On down the river we went to the last drop above the take out. Impressive in view it is less than inspiring when paddling down it at lowish levels. However one of our group found the deep spot and had a little town time in this hole, both in and out of his boat. Crazy and sort of comical at the same time - everyone was just fine when it was said and done with. The run was over and the NH boys had to get off to their respective duties for the weekend and Paul and Jamie D headed back to VT for late day commitments. Jason Dan and I were off to Pond Brook... At a low fluid level, pond offered up some really fun drops and a couple of great slides and one of the best boofs in the north east that you can sky off of. We all had solid runs down this river with a couple of funky miss haps, like a wicked piton on Megaslide for Dan and a sideways pin-flip-kick-donkykong think for Jason on one of the drops that he drifted into sideways. However the sun was shining and the day was shaping up nicely. We all finished off the run with a three amazing boofs off the flake in succession at the end of the run. Back to VT for a night on the town in Burlington - man these boys like the UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ. I think the hardest part of the day was negotiating the class 5 crowd at the red-square that night!

Day three. Recuperating from the class V night in Burlington, we watch some golf and got our bearings straight, before heading out into the raw spring day/afternoon for a run on the local standard. The Lower Lad was around 900 cfs and was feeling much more grumpy than usual. Jason was still foggy so decided to sit in the warm truck as Dan and I got in a run. I found out I was still foggy once on the river, flipping in the eddy and making a necessary roll (a rarity for me). The run went with out incident and we were headed back to my place for some more R&R and some of my wife's class IV+ curry!

Day four. Time to head back to PA for the boys. We stopped by every damn river on the way south to find them all running too low (WHAT THE HECK!) until we got to Rutland, then things seemed to have a good bit of flow coming into them and were on the rise from the warm sunny morning. Bingo - that is when we pulled the trigger on the Clarendon Gorges. Man what a high quality run! It was at a much high level than I had ever been on it, but was a load of fun. The first gorge was clean of wood and mostly read and run with great ferry moves and boof's galore. Then the flats leading up to the Mill Drop were less bony than usual (more water + Irene scour) making for quick work. Mill Drop was looking rather stompy and had some nice fluffy holes in the lead in to the crux. We all ran it cleanly down through the slot - VERY COOL! Off we went thru the next shallows section to the head of Devil's Gorge (Lower Clarendon). Grundle Puncher - the class VI rapid at the head of the gorge looked more ugly than I've ever seen it - terminal would be the right word. So off to the portage we went to put in below this rapid. The portage is a total PIA and to top it off it was still covered in ice because the gorge doesn't get sun in this area. Options - seal launch 20 feet down the ice bank and slam the wall on the opposite side of the gorge or toss in your boat and jump in to get an eddy! Neither option was ideal, but we got down to the river in one form or another and started paddling. If you haven't been in this gorge it is as tight as anywhere I've ever boated. Some places are less than 10 feet wide. The rapids are more or less class IV and sport some pretty good holes to ruin your day if you aren't on line and there is the occasional vertical drop that can take you by surprise. We all had decent lines through the gorge except for one of mine which ended in a bit of a thrashing, but in the end it was HIGH QUALITY white water in a beautiful setting! We got off the river around 4:30 and it felt like it was pushing 70 degrees. Spring had sprung in Rutland County. The guys had about 6 hours of driving ahead of them and I had a little over an hour back to Monty-P. Life was good and we wrapped the 6th edition to the PA-VT series.

Looking forward to Next Year....

Details

Written by Jim Poulin

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 22 April 2013

Hits: 21578

Organizer(s): JimF & JimP

Date: 2013-04-21

Kayakers (K1): JimP, JimF, Frank, Ed, Ken, Paul, Sue, Mark, Dottie, Jonathan, Silas, Rod, Jamie, Chris

Canoers (OC1): Tony

Deck Canoers (C1): Ryan

Other Personal Watercraft: Tina

Predominantly: Novice WW

Water Level: Low boatable

(non-paddlers): Dawn, Jessica, Charlotte, Derek, Joann, John

Was this a river trip with two food events or a couple of food events that included a river trip? Well, I guess I’ll let you decide…

There were five parts of this “trip” so the trip report will deal with each portion separately.

Part I — Brunch

Sunday morning, April 21st started off cool and clear. A perfect day for brunch! Seventeen (17!) paddlers and five hungry non paddlers descended upon Main Road in Huntington, home of the Fecteaus. Jim and Jessica did a marvelous job hosting the brunch and many participants brought dishes to augment the feast. Plus the time spent socializing let the temperatures warm to somewhere just over the freezing mark!

Part II — Put in to the Huntington Gorge

We launched from Port Fecteau at around 11:30. The level was “Low Fun” which means we can make it down! The first stretch, while the Huntington is a wide valley river, proved challenging in a few spots. Not so shallow that you had to get out of your boat, but not fluid enough to float over everything.

JimP ran lead and TonyS was sweep boat so we could keep track of everyone. As one can imagine, seventeen boats can stretch out quite a bit on the river! And you try doing a head count on 17 moving paddlers — I came up with a different number every time! 15, no, 16, no, 15, grrr, no wait 17!

Once we entered the Gorge Section — which I identify as paralleling Dugway Road — the river pinched and low flow is less of an issue. There were a few smaller play spots that got some love.

We made it to the Huntington Gorge without incident and everyone made the “must make” eddy before the Gorge. It was at this point that Tina and Sue decided they had enough. (or conversely, starting thinking about the waiting hot tub at the take out!)

Part III — Huntington Gorge to Three Buckets

So the remaining group of fifteen shouldered our boats and portaged around the Huntington Gorge. Not exactly easy but we made our way down to rejoin the river about 100 yards below the Gorge. This section of river is a very short stretch, maybe one half mile. But it contains a nice stretch of whitewater. With the sun shining brightly overhead, the water was glistening white and everyone navigated down to the next portage from hell.

Part IV — Three Buckets to Jonesville Takeout

All the boaters trudged up the steep unimproved bank to Dugway road. There was sweating, swearing and heavy breathing all about. OK, that was just me and it wasn’t pretty! Once on Dugway Road we needed to repeat the process working our way back down to the river. This was done via a path maintained by the Richmond Land Trust and much easier than the ascent. We put in right at the end of the Three Buckets. There is a tricky wall shot immediately after launching. This move gobbled up three of our group. Once safely repackaged in their crafts we ventured downstream only to be greeted by a river broaching log in the next rapid.

We set safety as the portage included a “must make” eddy on river left right before the log. With JimF standing in the shallow eddy snagging boats and JimP strategically sitting mid-river on the log itself, we managed to get all boaters, save one, into the eddy. That one lucky boater got to see what it is like to float into a river wide strainer and gave Jim (and the rest of our group) a bit of a panic attack! But it all worked out OK and soon we were headed downstream again.

There were a few more rapids that were highlighted by limited visibility of the whole rapid and the white froth of sunlit whitewater. Fun, bouncy, class II stuff. After the last rapid we were greeted by the non paddlers that had walked up to a popular swimming hole just to greet us.

After a few hellos, the paddlers hit the watery trail and the non paddlers hit the dusty trail for the remaining half mile of the trip.

Part V — BBQ

Once the paddlers were out of their gear and the shuttles run, we settled down for the second eating event of the day! Some paddlers delayed the food event so they could warm their core temps in the hot tub. Others dug into the feast like they hadn’t eaten in five hours! There was good food and drink and many an exaggerated story. You woulda though we just finished some class V death run, not the tame old Huntington!

But all in all it was a great day with a great group of people — both paddlers and non. We all agreed this was an event that should make its appearance on the trip calendar every year. So we renamed it the First Annual Huntington River Paddle/Eat Fest.

Eat to Paddle, Paddle to Eat

jimp

Details

Written by Alden Bird

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 17 April 2013

Hits: 123

Organizer(s): Alden Bird

Date: 2013-04-17

Kayakers (K1): Jamie Dolan, Justin Crannell, Mike Mainer, Connor, Rogan Brown

Deck Canoers (C1): Alden Bird

Predominantly: Advanced WW

Water Level: Medium low

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: Brooksville, VT

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Flow (cfs), e.g. '797': 500

April 17th began early as and continued through its length being a truly beautiful spring day. Warm temperatures and blue skies beckoned even at 6 am, as I drove to work through the Winooski Valley to Montpelier. It was only then that I realized I had forgotten my boat and would have to return home after work before driving back over the mountains.

The scheduled trip of the day was the Lower New Haven River, an intermediate trip through the town of Bristol, Vermont. After driving home from Montpelier to Randolph, I picked up my boat and sped over the mountains toward Bristol. With Roxbury Gap muddy and Lincoln Gap closed, the drive took me over the Bethel Mountain Pass and then over the Middlebury Gap -- a roundabout route, but on this day a beautiful one. The rivers on the east side of the mountains had more water. On this day the Middlebury River appeared to be running at a medium water level.

The only other scheduled participant I found in Bristol was Jamie Dolan, though we met the usual cast of characters already on lap four or six of the Ledges upstream. With a quick look at the river, Jamie and I decided to join the crowd and leave the lower section for a higher water day.

We put on at Eagle Park and found the river at a nice level. There is always something fun to me about running the first slot at the top of the first boulder field on the New Haven. I still remember my first run through this slot on a February day eleven years ago when the both sides of the slot were fresh with ice. Here the river takes off downhill in a way that is striking for newer paddlers.

Secret Compartment, the third rapid, changed again this winter. The pin rock became more prominent and now the pin danger is greater. At this level the rapid was nice and fluid. A boater-tall wave curls off the "compartment" boulder and curls boaters into the river right eddy at the drop's base. The New Haven Race, coming this weekend, was on all of our minds as we ran this drop, which comprises the crux of the race course. Avoiding the eddy at the base of the drop and remaining in the river's main flow separates the competitive racers from the non.

The s-turns below here were sweet and full of water. The Slides below are another site of choice and separation for racers. Several lines present themselves here, as well as through the next rapid, Oh, By the Way. Hydraulics frustrate the entrance to this rapid and a well timed stroke is required to move right and avoid sinking down the Schott Slot on the left: roughly akin to being flushed down a ten foot wide toilet.

The Roostertail Rapid was impressive as always, post-Irene, and landings off both Toaster Falls and the All-American Boof were softer for the canoeist on this trip than on recent trips.

All that was left at the take out was to hope for snowmelt and rainfall and swift lines for the race this weekend.