Details

Written by Ryan McCall

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 25 August 2017

Hits: 139

Organizer(s): Ryan

Date: 2017-04-24

Kayakers (K1): Ryan M, Jason M, Dan M

Predominantly: Advanced WW

Water Level: Low boatable

Painted Gauge Height (ft) e.g. '3.3': 0.0

It was the end of the 9th annual PA to VT creeking extravaganza.  Jason and Dan were on their way back home to PA so the standard is that I head south and snag a river with them on their way back.  A lot of rivers had dropped out so we figured that the Middlebury Gorge would be a good option with the levels being reasonable. 

We were right and once we got a look at the river we knew it was going to just be one of those amazing runs in an amazing place.  For me it was the first time back in the Gorge since 2009 on an adventure with Packie, Russ Kelly and Marshall Pahl (two of those three don't even paddle anymore).  The Sun was out, the temps were in the 70s and we had the river all to our selves.

We opted for the non-committal route by lowering our boats in below Rebirth and running the lower rapids.  They all went, but at this level we had some route finding to accomplish for clean passage.  With as low as the water was, Tester was the only one that was REALLY hard to run cleanly and all three of us came super close to smashing our faces off of the sloper on river right.  Your Mom was a mess and the lead in had a lot of FU rocks that would jostle your line, but it went as well.  The last rapid was fun and channelized and if you picked the correct channel, you were in like Flynn.

All and all it was a befitting end to the weekend of boating (Flint, Joes, Green and Midd) and the 9th annual PA to VT event.  Jason and Dan headed south and I did my best imatation of Steve McQueen up Route 100 to get back in time to coach the first soccer practice of the spring season...I was 5 minutes late!

Details

Written by Ryan McCall

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 24 August 2017

Hits: 146

Organizer(s): Ryan M

Date: 2017-02-25

Kayakers (K1): Ryan M, Dave P, Will S

Predominantly: Int-adv WW

Water Level: Medium high

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: Dog River

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

The snow is 4 feet deep and we should all be earning backcountry lines in the Mountains...  But then everything goes soggy and rivers start popping ice and at 70 degrees, you know that the rivers are just going to be fun.  What do you do....?  Get in a boat on a good warm up river and get after it. 

Dave Called and said he was ready to get in his boat to start the season properly.  However there was the caveat that he didn't want to do anything hard or serious because he hadn't creeked in close to 4 years.  I suggested Stony Brook but there was too many ice bridges.  So we aimed at a run we drive by regularly to get to other runs.  Cox brook has a nice collection of ledges and rapids and seems we always say so but are headed elsewhere.  So we centered on Cox and picked up Will Seegers while we were at it. 

Cox is one of the lower tributaries in the Dog River Drainage and for a good put in we thought just below the confluence with Devils Washbowl would make sense.  On the scout to the put in, we noticed that there were a few cows and a Bull at the farm midway through the run, but the Bull was tied up out front.  We also made sure to get an eye on the bridge that is usually slung across the brook at this farm.  It had been pulled for spring high water events.  All clear other than the barbed wire we couldn't confirm was up or down...

At the put in we all slid in to the brook off of 3-4' high snow banks.  The river was clear and flowing at a nice pace but not pushy (This would change by the end of the run).  The ledges drops in the upper section of this run are clean and straight forward.  You could usually drift up to the edge and then pick a line.  We came across one river wide strainer that requred a portage, but overall the brook was clean and fun up high and a good class II/III micro creek.

The last of the upper drops was slightly larger but dropped into the flatwater section that spanned the farm.  We could see pretty far down stream that it was clear of barbed wire and as early observed the bridge was pulled for spring flows.  As we were drifting through this section we all noticed a heard of cattle up next to the barn, but were chatting and enjoying the float.  At some point Dave stated that the cows were showing interest in us floating through their pasture and leading the charge was a very LARGE bull (ring in nose and snot flying) has he was trotting toward us.  Dave  stated "That bull is VERY interested in us" and we started to really paddle away with some urgency.  Dave then stated that I had better get a move on (even though I was in front) because I was in a red helmet, PFD and drysuit.  I started to really churn away from the Bull and Dave and Will, knowing that at any moment if that Bull was really interested in taking me down, his 1000 lbs frame would plow through the little creek with out a problem and he would have me stomped and gored in a second.  Luckily, I think the bull was young and was not interested in trifling with the creek.  He relented and we were floating away safely laughing nervously at each other.  It couldn't have been more than 2 seconds later and Dave screamed "Barbed Wire".  I didn't even have a moment to think, it was at my back and I instinctually flipped hoping that there wasn't an additional strand under water.  There wasn't and I rolled up with a brain freeze.  Sheesh - talking about turning a class II run into Class V.

Another 100 yards and one of the neighbors was on the bank yelling at us that there was a dangerous waterfall around the bend.  We knew there was a gorged in section of river below us, but none of us had ever seen it.  Dave got out to scout and gave hand directions to Will and I and we ran a really fun 6' ledge into the gorge.  It was clean just left of center and a blast. 

From there down it was more swift water to a friends house that has a deck overlooking the brook.  We got out and had some food and a beer.  Below Ben's home, the river picks up in action and holds it on down to the Cox brook falls (an old removed dam).  This section is pretty fun and has bigger drops than the upper section.  It is also stacked up a little more continuous.  Other than one strainer which we could get over, it was clean too.  The rapids directly in front of the old dam site looked like fun but they lead directly into a chocolate brown churning mess that dropped about 15 feet in stages and had numerous holes.  It didn't look like any of it would be retentive, but a flip would be highly abusive!  All three of us decided to walk the dam due to the increasing flow and manky looking rapid at the dam/falls.  We put in below hoping to run the rapid below the RR bridge.  Unluckily it had wood in both sides so we walked that too. 

We took out at the Falls General Store and had some beer.  Will realized he left his keys up in my truck so we didn't have a shuttle vehicle and I thumbed my way back up to the truck.

All in all it was a great season opener on a new creek.  If you are just beginning to creek, this is a solid starter run other than the barbed wire and ornery Bull!

Details

Written by Ryan McCall

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 25 August 2017

Hits: 120

Organizer(s): Ryan M

Date: 2017-04-29

Kayakers (K1): Ryan M, Chris I, Noah, Neal S

Predominantly: Advanced WW

Water Level: Medium low

Estimated Flow (cfs), e.g. '600': 250

Lots of snow was still left up high in the Whites and a sunny warm Saturday made a run to the Western slopes of the White Mountains a no brainer.  The Upper Pemi was said to be in good shape with and it had been a hell of a long time since I had been on it.  None of the other guys had ever been on it.  We met in North Woodstock, grabbed an extra coffee and headed up Route 3 to set shuttle and suit up in the Hiking trail parking lot.  Once we were up at the Basin the questions started from the tourists.  Are you going to run that?  What's it like down stream?  Can you roll? Is there enough water? 

All of us took some time looking at the move to get into the Basin.  I knew I was going to run it before looking at it, knowing it is deep and is a one trick pony.  Flop off with a huge sweep.  To attempt to stay upright....Flipping is almost guaranteed and a quick roll in the slack water is easy.  Of course that is exactly what happened to me and I was upright and paddling away.  Neal did the same thing.  Both Chris and Noah walked thinking it was looking a little too manky.

Next up was Mini Flume which required a look at the line.  It also went cleanly off of the lead in tongue.  Below that there was a few boulder rapids leading up to North Pole.  We all walked it due to how much water was actually flowing under the boulders and of course the wood lodged just below it.  Below the wood there is a fantastic slide that has a few entries that make it fun and mix up how you finish it.  All ran it cleanly. 

From there we had a lot of fun constricted bedrock rapids with potholes and ledges where you could really get into a rhythm.  About the time we were leapfrogging each other and really syncing up, the Sentinel Bridge came into view and we could tell the river was dropping off into oblivion.  I knew we had a few more progressions and then needed to eddy out on river right to avoid being sucked into "Wham Bam Thank you Mam".  Wham is a lethal sieve that claimed one of us in 2011.  That sieve was still present and as ugly as ever.  Putting in below the sieve is an option so you can run the rest of the rapid into the gorge below.  The portage is a royal PIA, but we all did it.  After we had put in below, we all said we should have just run the bottom of the rapid.

Below Sentinel, the river really picks up steam and is pretty much continuous to the take out with a ton of beautiful pink bedrock slides and ledges.  This may be the best stretch of whitewater in New England, aesthetically and quality.  We had one mis-hap that resulted in a head shot and a swim, but all turned out well and we were back on the river floating toward the take out and beers.

We capped the day with Beers at the Woodstock Inn and Brewery.  A great place to wrap up the day.

Details

Written by Michael Mainer

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 30 July 2017

Hits: 137

Organizer(s): Mike M

Date: 2017-04-11

Kayakers (K1): Scott, Mike

Predominantly: Advanced WW

Water Level: Medium

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: Ranch Brook

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Flow (cfs), e.g. '797': 180

The second week of April brought our first good round of true spring snowmelt.  On the afternoon of the 11th folks were planning to hit Ridley.  I wasn't too bitter about being stuck at work since I was pretty sure it'd be too high.  But that means Cobb would be good and Scott was game to meet me there for an evening run.  Of course this had me a little nervous - I think Cobb is sweet and all, but it's short - and Scott has run a lot of creeks in Vermont and had high standards.  So I hoped he'd think the drive was worth it and headed for the takeout.

You can drop into Cobb from up top on Trapp Road, but I usually hike up river left from the bottom.  The first few ledges you'll see aren't especially stacked but they look good, and Scott indicated he agreed.  Then the gradient really takes off and by then I think Scott was pretty much sold.  I think all total the creek drops around 200 feet in about a half mile.

I usually put in just a little ways below the primary confluence.  You can go higher up but it gets pretty small pretty quick and is fairly dechannelized up there.  Below the confluence, you get a few hundred feet of warm-up before the gradient really starts.  It's all steep bedrock, pretty clean and well channelized, with enough (but just barely enough) eddies.  

There is one marginal rapid here where you have to drive right across a shallow slide to avoid falling into a menacing crack.  It looks like you'd still go through if you missed the line, but let's just say the Republican health care plan wouldn't pay to have your arms screwed back onto your shoulders.

There are a few other big drops down here too - one big chunky ledge where I landed in a pothole sideways and Scott briefly disappeared into a boat-width bedrock trough, another one that has a flake that could be a piton or could be a boof (hint - it's a great boof), and one final double drop with a surprisingly strong hole for a creek this small.  Other than that there are a whole bunch of great small slides, ledge staircases and even one or two boulder gardens. Most of the drops aren't more than 5 feet tall, but most of them aren't more than 5 or 10 feet apart!

We hit the takeout right before it got too dark to paddle.  I love timing a run like that!