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Written by Tony Shaw

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 02 October 2010

Hits: 52

Organizer(s): Tony Shaw

Date: 2010-10-01

Kayakers (K1): Paul Carlile

Canoers (OC1): Tony Shaw

Predominantly: Intermediate WW

Water Level: High

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: 04290335 ALLEN BROOK AT VT 2A

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Flow (cfs), e.g. '797': 150

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Height (ft), e.g. '2.96': 3.50

Mill Brook was too high for open boating (and for most sane kayakers probably too). Everything was that way October 1st, it seems. So Paul and I drove up to Underhill and ran the upper Browns, putting in below the culvert on Stevensville Rd. in Underhill Center and taking out at Mills River Park in Underhill Flats. There was a lot of water, obliterating all of the cobbly islands that characterize the upper Browns, but it was clearly on the way down by ~5pm when we put in.

It has only one constriction 1/2 way down beneath a farm bridge that produced a pretty massive hole/wave, and the rest is a riffling class I-II in medium/high water. But the high water made the upper 1/2 of the run a strong II with just a few of strainers and one ~log jam to keep it interesting. The high water actually made the strainers easier to get around, but a beginner could easily have gotten into trouble here. There are a couple of barbed wire fences to be watching for, too.

It took 1 1/4 hours or less, with things moving along at a good clip when not strategizing how to skirt the log jam. Lots of locals seemed to be impressed by our intrepidness on a day when flash flood warnings were all over the airwaves.

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Written by Dave Packie

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 06 August 2010

Hits: 47

Organizer(s): Mother Nature

Date: 2010-08-03

Kayakers (K1): Jason, Chris, AJ, Jamie, Simone, Clay, Scott, Gerard, Marshall, Nick...

Predominantly: Int-adv WW

Water Level: Medium high

Painted Gauge Height (ft) e.g. '3.3': 2

Estimated Flow (cfs), e.g. '600': 500

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: Johnson

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Flow (cfs), e.g. '797': 4000

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Height (ft), e.g. '2.96': 449.00

Most Summers it happens. The Jet Stream puts us in the slot for everything coming east to train over the Green Mtns for some period of time. Reminicent of the summer of 2006, multiple smaller systems pushed thru this last week and rail-roaded northern VT's higher terrain. Rain totals from Waterbury North were impressive. 2-3 day totals near 6 inches in spots with widespread areas getting over 2 inches of rain resulted in some huge levels, but the stability of the jet kept things tight and most of Vermont stayed dryish. "Head North!" my labor-stricken commrads e mailed...and working outdoors this summer, I was rained out for Tuesday. Jamie's teaching gig lets him out to play on summer days. Tanner is visiting from Utah, getting married next week and has been working on the family farm so his schedual is open as well. AJ is just a slacker and bailed in his life obligations to come boat, and I got to show 3 newbies down the Gihon at the perfect level. When I got out to scout the dam, the bank was only a few inches above the water level. A thick green slab bent over the weir boards, but the hole looked manageable. I slid back in to the tepid water and led the three lemmings over the lip blind, for their first dam run, as is Gihon tradition. One capsize with a quick roll found us all grinning in our repective eddies. We rambled down to the boof above Balls to the wall. A well-lube hummock of rock practiaclly auto-boofed all 4 of us with little effort and much joy. The sound of pancake-flat landing boomed above the din of "Balls" just down stream. Feeling the group would follow me off niagra at this point, and for the sake of the rythem of the run, we ran Balls with no scout. AJ showed off his side stoke in the eddy below, and one other checked for trout in the runout but decided to stay with the plan and paddle into the eddy. We ran the next 2 ledges left, avoiding bad wood in the right slot just above the scout for Mustang. The level was really great for this big 5. The first sneak was somewhat fluid, the slide was easy to get to and the hole at the bottom was surging and churning, but pushing thru hard. I decided to give it a go. Tanner is so solid, I knew he was in and with 2 more for a live bait set up above the crux, I was feeling well prepared for this rapid that I haven't run in a coupla few years. It went without consequence...I don't think Tanner got his head wet. After the flat water I showed everyone the line at Bed Head, which had some punch at this level, unfortunately I showed everyone the wrong line. 2 feet too far right. Squirted right after the first boof, into the corner, off the pillow, out via a quick side-surf in the bottom hole put Tanner and I in the bottom eddy. Jamie was not so lucky. A quick beatdown in the top hole, a timely roll just above the second drop, and another out of the bottom hole found him in the eddy. AJ watched all this and carried right, the more difficult line for sure. There is bad wood in the left side of the next rapid which makes this sequence pretty legit. We ran down the rest of the run to Powerhouse at a great level. At Powerhouse, Jamie decided to see why the runout is called "cheese grater" and demonstrated amazing patience while boating inverted and donated some flesh for his efforts. Great run at what I think is the perfect level. At the takeout, everyone who actually has real jobs showed up and as we left, they made haste towrads NBL which was at 2.5. They got poured on during that run and the area got hammered again overnight. Both rivers flooded the next morning, but by the time we got over there at 5, they had dropped to runnable levels. We did a NBL gorge run, scouted the ledges and found them gnarly. Attempting to hook up with Scott who went to Joe's without telling anyone except Gerard left us without shuttle, a theme for VT boaters that night. After hitching the shuttle we got to the lower gihon and it was still on the high side of medium. After the portage of the Bed Head/El Dorado sequence, we ran the rest of the lower in the dark. Even a better level for these rapids then the day before. At the top of the chute for Powerhouse the toung was black as oil and the pillow popped in the light coming out the covered bridge window. Stellar moment I won't soon forget. Reports from Joe's were a medium level, with wood still in the big slide. Most of the boating up there was done in the dark and the short shuttle back to Green Banks Hollow was also done on foot....making for a very late night for the local jonsers. Summer boating rules.....Great runs on great rivers at great levels in great temps with great crews...only 1 swim, and light carnage. Until next time.

DVT

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Written by Jim Poulin

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 09 September 2010

Hits: 1171

Organizer(s): Jim Poulin

Date: 2010-09-04

Kayakers (K1): PaulC, JohnA, GraysonK, MattS, JimP

Canoers (OC1): BrockR

Predominantly: Intermediate WW

Water Level: Medium low

Painted Gauge Height (ft) e.g. '3.3': -2.75

The Bet: Even before we start packing for the weekend the trash talking begins! This comes from a discussion with Brock and Jim on which way is the best route to the river. Jim maintains sucking it up and drive right through Montreal at rush hour. Brock wanted to experiment with the northern New York route slipping by lakes and casinos. Jim and Brock formulate a bet that whichever vehicle arrives last, the loser will fetch beers for the winner for the entire weekend. As it was, Jim and Paul did arrive after Brock and John. But after much arguing, negotiating and a few beers, it was determined that both routes took five and a half hours. Stay tuned for a rematch.

Weather: The weekend was not your usual hot and sunny Ottawa weekends. It was generally cool and rainy. The temps during the day struggled to 60 unless the sun popped out for more than a few minutes (not a common occurrence). Night temperatures were right around 50. The rain came and went all weekend. On a positive note, the weather gods did allow for periods of non-rainy dryness for breakfast, cocktail hour, dinner and evening festivities focusing the rain on sleeping and river time.

Where are my friggin' tent poles: Upon arrival Paul realizes he has a tent. And tent poles. Nice. The only problem they were not a matching set. Not so nice. After some pondering (and another beer or two), the engineering skills of this group came out. Up went the folding canopy (the ones used to protect picnic tables). Then came a whole bunch of rope. The pole-less tent was hung from the bottom of the canopy and was good to go. The canopy even doubled as a fly! The only thing that could have made this better (or more of a kludge) would have been to use a throw rope. See visual evidence in the Paddle Pix section.

River levels: All three days had the gauge at -2.75. This is a fun level but could have been a bit higher to make Baby Face and Garburator reach their full potential. Otherwise all river features and rapids were full on fun!

Day 1: As a warm up the group ran the Middle channel on our first day. Of course this also includes running (or not) McCoys. To give scale, only in Canada do the rapids have so many named features within the rapid! McCoys rapid contains Phils Hole, Sattlers, Corner Wave, Horseshoe (two of 'em) and of course, Baby Face. Extra points goes to paddlers that manage to hit all of them in a single run! After some time on Baby Face our trusty group headed down the Middle. Sucessful runs of Iron Ring, S-Turn, Butterfly, a walk around Garvins, Upper No Name, Lower No Name and Black Velvet. (see John, it does have a name!)

Day 1B: Not joining us for the daytime fun, Grayson and Matt roll into town late in the day. A quick set up of camp and they were off to park & play at McCoys/Baby Face. They come back tired, hungry and happy well after dark.

Day 2: Up and at 'em early today! At the put in before 8am (yup, you read that right). We went straight to Baby Face and surfed until we puked (OK, just shy of that ugly mark). At about 9:30 the rafts and paddlers started showing up in force so we headed back to camp for a nice leisurely brunch! After a good feeding and relaxing session we headed back to the put in for a full run of the Main channel. This run included less time on Baby Face but more on Garburator, Push Button and Brain Douche. We scouted most of the big stuff so that everyone knew what they were getting into. Everybody ran everything with various degrees of success. There were a few swims, but none of consequence and everyone had a grand time.

King of Clubs: This year the second annual battle of the Ontario paddling clubs was happening while we were there. We camped right in the middle of these clubs so had a firsthand view of the goings on. While we missed most of the on river events (McCoy Relay, Cardboard Boat Race, Boater Cross and Tug of War) we had a front row seat for the land events (Boat Toss, Zed Drag and Rope Throw) plus a friendly water balloon war. Of course then it kicked into a campfire party with most of the 125 participants ringing the fire. We met many good Ontario friends. They were strongly encouraging us to field a Vermont team next year (we are considering it). One particularly notable character was our buddy Clive. He had a wonderful weekend. While Clive did not once dip his paddle in the Ottawa whitewater, he did manage to consume a creek boat's volume worth of fine Canadian suds!

Day 3: Split up day. Matt and Grayson decided on a park & play at Pushbutton and heading back early. Brock ran through McCoys and then headed back to his truck to start his journey to Kansas (I did not check MapQuest but I did not realize the fastest way to Kansas from Vermont was through the Ottawa whitewater region). Paul, John and Jim took on another trip down the Middle channel. Since we were all veterans of this run, there was no scouting, just running. There was one side trip to scramble around the rocks that form Little Trickle. At these levels it is dry but comes into play at higher spring levels.

Ottawa Biathlon: The astute VPC trip report reader will remember that last year's trip included a Triathlon for Brock - Run, Walk & Swim. This year Brock upgraded to a Biathlon - Run and Swim. He did not walk any rapids this year on the Middle or the Main. Way to go Brock!

Best(?) Swim: Ottawa rapids are big and a swim usually ends up in the large flat water pools at the end of the rapid. For Brock's run through McCoys we set up safety mid way. He was pulled in right after a Phil's Hole swim, repackaged in his boat and sent downstream only to get munched by Horseshoe. Two swims in one Ottawa rapid, now that's a feat!

Wildlife Sightings: A Bald Eagle, a few deer and countless fish viewings! And this list does not include the crazy Canadians around the campfire on Sunday night.

Vitamin I: The person who invented Ibuprofen should get a Nobel prize in medicine.

Where's John gonna fit: With Brock off to Kansas it was up to Paul and Jim to find room for John and his gear for the ride back to Vermont. After seriously considering tying John on the roof rack we found ways to stuff as much gear as possible into our boats and make a small bit of room for John in the back of the Magnum. He didn't complain too loudly. (or at least we didn't hear him over the road noise)

%$#@ Sunday drivers: After three days of paddling the last thing one wants to encounter on the ride home is a 90 minute traffic jam! But so it was from pretty much the time we turned east on 17 until we cleared Arnprior.

Home again: As always these three day weekends go too fast and there are too many memories to put into these few words. Why don't you consider joining us next year? Same time (Labor Day Weekend), same channel (River Run on the Ottawa River). We'll save ya a camping spot...

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Written by A J Seibel

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 28 July 2010

Hits: 47

Organizer(s): AJ Seibel

Date: 2010-07-25

Kayakers (K1): Gerard Ganey, Travis (Charly) Keller, Brandon Alling, Jamie S, AJ Seibel

Predominantly: Int-adv WW

Water Level: Medium

Estimated Flow (cfs), e.g. '600': 1800

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Flow (cfs), e.g. '797': 1800

A Great day on a remote Maine river...

The adventure began with a 1 hour and 45 minute wait while Travis and Brandon set shuttle, got lost, got lost, got lost, took a wrong turn, and eventually found their way back to the put-in. It continued with some class II flatwater across the 1.5 miles of Pond in the River, with whitecaps and a strong headwind.

Finally, the current began and things started to look more like a river. Some fun surfing was had in the warm-up class II rapids and then it was game on. First, Second, and Third pitch are big rapids at the 1800cfs level, and all had a great time eddy hopping, ferrying and surfing the big waves in the first few rapids.

Next up: Smooth Ledge. If you like surfing or playboating at all, you NEED to get to this playspot. It started out as a nice 2-3 foot wave with a retentive foam pile, but a non-retentive green tongue between the two holes. As the levels dropped, the hole became more of a hole, and we were all able to get a little play time in, a few spins, and lots of rolls. Spectating was as fun as the play this day as there were a good number of talented boaters at the playspot throwing down, and cheering everyone else on. The place has a magical summer vibe to it!

After that we headed on down through S-turn, finding it to be surpisingly easier in practice than most guidebooks would lead you to believe. Then came some great play in Devil's Hopyard with some great waves and holes to play in, and generally easy and fun class III followed by the darned flatwater. Another half to three-quarters of a mile out brought us to the hidden take-out on Lake Umbagog. To top off the day, you get to go back through all the logging roads to fetch your car and tempt the tire-flattening gods one last time before the commute home...

All in all, a pretty freakin' excellent day on the river!