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Written by A J Seibel

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 31 March 2009

Hits: 214

Organizer(s): AJ Seibel

Date: 2009-03-30

Kayakers (K1): Travis Keller, AJ Seibel

Predominantly: Intermediate WW

Water Level: Medium

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: Moose River @ Victory, VT

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

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Height (ft), e.g. '2.96': 6.70

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge URL: 10

Got a great early season run on the Moose yesterday, March 30th '09. PIcking up right where we left off in late november, the water may have been a few degrees cooler this time around. The beaver dam at the putin is long gone, but the evidence of their feasts still litters the shores.

Driving through Victory Bog I noticed that it was still quite frozen with many ice-jams upstream of the putin in the sharper bends, but the run itself was opened up with the exception of the pool at the USGS house, which still held on to winter with an iron (frosty?) grip.

During the windshield scout on the way to the putin, we noticed many of our favorite eddies were still locked in, so the run through the first three rapids was a rather quick one - a straight shot with no stopping, and no surfing (still a little cold for a flip). Ice lined the banks, sometimes towering overhead, but the channels were clear so long as you kept a good berth from the ice -- most of it is still severely undercut and a little disconcerting to float past, certainly not place either of us wanted to explore.

The mellow middle proved to be just that, and we made the best of it by playing a little game of eddy tag on our way through, having a great time cathing eddies and holes of all shapes and sizes, and dusting off our ferry skills for the great season to come.

When we arrived at the last bang (just above the take-out bridge then under the bridge and around the corner), things picked up for the last little stretch - we both had clean lines and some good water-in-the-face action as we blasted through the last few holes and waves, instantly getting an ice cream headache as the water cascaded over both man and boat. After a good brace and a nearly missed line, we rocked through the last right hand turn and just like that - it was over.

A great day on a great river, one that I'm fortunate enough to have in my own backyard. Can't wait til the next one (tomorrow?)

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Written by Ryan McCall

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 23 March 2009

Hits: 269

Organizer(s): Greg

Date: 2009-03-22

Kayakers (K1): AJ, Greg, Jamie, Ryan

Predominantly: Intermediate WW

Water Level: Medium low

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: Moretown

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Flow (cfs), e.g. '797': 419

A good day to get wet....

Cold windy and snowy were the choice du jour. Setting shuttle and sliding down the put in hill we all stretched and put on the river. It was a nice level to stay dry and afloat and work out the early season kinks. It was AJ's first trip down the Mad - more of a geographical thing.

Being the only guy in a play boat, Jamie surfed it up below the 100b bridge. Off to Horseshoe, Jami and I ran the center line to no fanfare. A quick combat roll and we were off through Washing Machine and the bottom gorge.

It was a good start to an early season.

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Written by Paul Savard

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 30 March 2009

Hits: 230

Organizer(s): paul,ryan

Date: 2009-03-27

Kayakers (K1): Jamie, Chris, Ryan, Paul

Predominantly: Intermediate WW

Water Level: Medium

Painted Gauge Height (ft) e.g. '3.3': 4

Estimated Flow (cfs), e.g. '600': 650

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: mad river

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Flow (cfs), e.g. '797': 650

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Height (ft), e.g. '2.96': 4

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge URL: 4

It was a nice evening, for Jamie and Ryan this was their second run of the year and for Chris and I ( Paul ) the season openner. We all practiced catching eddies as we went down.We got to horseshoe scouted,Jamie showed us the way with a clean run taking the center line right just skimming the whirlpool and boofing over horseshoe for a clean landing in his playboat. That being said I followed up with a clean run of my own in my creeker. Ryan also cleaned it as well. Chris was alittle more conserative and decided to walk around. However the story gets better! I ( Paul ) was feeling cocky and decided to hit washing machine center right hitting that big wave dead on!!! That turned out to be the wrong move, flipping my boat but also missing my roll. Consequently swimming to the next corner watching the guys rescueing my boat. The lesson to be learned is to do what is safe and do the sure thing!! Getting cocky isn't the right choice!!! Anyway we all had fun. Paul

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Written by A J Seibel

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 26 October 2008

Hits: 73

Organizer(s): Mike Baseler

Date: 2008-10-26

Kayakers (K1): Travis Keller, Scott Gilbert, Mike Baseler, A.J. Seibel

Predominantly: Int-adv WW

Water Level: Medium high

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: Visual

All week long we had been eyeing the forecast for some good rainfall potential, somewhere in the 0.5" to 1" range. It started raining steadily around 6:00pm in East Burke, and picked up as the night went on. At 6am I checked the rain gauge, and was shocked to see 1.8" smiling back at me. We loaded up and headed on over to Paul Stream, accessing from the Maidstone side, and arrived just shy of 10am. Upon arrival we realized that the lower section (normally III-IV, one at V) was running far too high for our tastes and decided to check out the upper section which we were informed was normally a III-III+ run. On the way up we road scouted, and saw no signs of strainers or any other significant hazards, so decided that we would head to the footbridge at the end of the bog to put in.

The smell of the bog filled the air, as well as anticipation of what lay in wait downstream. We set off and had just under a half mile of warmup, dropping over a beaver dam and through some class II before the first horizon line showed itself. Scott was in the lead and dropped in, the rest of us following the probe. Well, it turned out that horizon line was the only one. The entire run from there out descended at a steady rate of (my guess) around 150 feet per mile. The run was fast and relentless. I was most often in the back, following the leaders, dodging this way and that to navigate my way through a non-stop course of waves and holes - some strong, some not. I think in the first mile there were 2 eddies, which we all caught to catch a quick breath. After that, eddies were scarce unless you beached your boat. The gradient remained fairly consistent, sometimes becoming steeper for short stretches where the river constricted. All was going well, and we even had the opportunity to have some children cheer us on from a hunting camp perched just above the river. Cruising along at breakneck speeds we suddenly see and hear what we don't want to see or hear. SWIMMER! Bobbing along about 25 yards upstream is Travis, ten toes and his nose well exposed, clutching his boat and crashing down the steep, shallow river bed. He gets to shore a short distance later and his boat continues without him with Scott and Mike in pursuit. I pull to shore near Travis and get out, not wanting to run solo to catch the boat-chasers and ditch my boat in the woods to walk down to the take out with him, which is just under half a mile at this point. From what I'm told, Travis and I missed the best section (it got better!?) through a constricted area with some nice horizons and a few beefy holes with some fun moves to boot, and judging by the topo, the steepest section of this very continuous river. In Travis's defense, he didn't pull the trigger for his swim, his Skirt imploded after getting window-shaded in a hole and rolling up — suddenly realizing that his boat had become a bathtub he had no choice but to dive in and get a face level perspective of the river. Fortunately, other than some bruises and scrapes on his hand he pulled through all right.

Mike and Scott continued chase and finally the boat to shore at the takeout, where Granby Stream enters the Paul Stream - probably at least a half mile chase, more likely it was longer than that. By far the longest chase I've seen. At this level, it was agreed that this was a class IV run due to its continuous nature, and was likened to Ball Mountain Brook, but more continuous. And, by that I mean that you've got a solid 2 miles of rapids, no pools, few eddies, and plenty of action. Certainly a river that I would love to have the chance to run again, maybe at a lower level to enjoy the scenery a little more... If you do paddle it, expect fast action with split second decisions and a super fun run.

The day was capped off with a short scout and photo shoot at the last gorge drop on the Upper Moose in Victory, a nice III/IV section for about 100 yards with 2 1-2' drops in a tight riverbed finishing with a 4' slide with an auto-boof at the bottom into a bubbly amber pool. So far as we know, first descents by Scott and Mike. Maybe a good name will come soon...

All in all, Highly recommended. A great day on rivers that see little or no boater traffic. And, thanks to Ryan Moore for the beta on Paul Stream — hopefully he'll be able to join us next time.