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Written by Richard Larsen

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 18 May 2003

Hits: 22682

Organizer(s): Richard (the Magnificent) Larsen

Date: 2003-05-18

Kayakers (K1): David Hill,Bill Kallack

Canoers (OC1): Richard Larsen,Sheri Larsen,Len Carpenter

Predominantly: Intermediate WW

Water Level: Medium

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: North Creek

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Height (ft), e.g. '2.96': 4.9

This was a trip organized in short order because of expected great weather and water level - and all turned out to be true. It was a beautiful cloudless day, with a high in the mid-70s, and with the North Creek Gauge at 4.9 feet. All in all, it was a perfect Class 3 trip. We put in at North Creek at about 10:30AM, and paddled to the Glen Bridge, taking out around 3:30PM. We saw a fox walking along the shore, and Common Mergansers and Canada Geese on the river. The rapids were pushy, but none were overwhelming. We had lunch at the Riparius Bridge, which was under construction, so the area was somewhat disrupted. The Creemee stand at the train station was, however, open, so some were able to enhance the river food with another of the major food groups. What more could one want from a whitewater trip? We had good rapids, warm temperature, clear sky, and Creemees.

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Written by Tony Shaw

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 10 May 2003

Hits: 52

Organizer(s): Tony Shaw

Date: 2003-05-10

Kayakers (K1): Jamie Dolan, Matt Holmes, James Raboin, Simon Wiles

Canoers (OC1): Eric Bishop, Tony Shaw

Predominantly: Advanced WW

Water Level: Medium low

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Flow (cfs), e.g. '797': 275

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

The Mettawee below Granville NY was our backup for Joe's Brook, which based on GMP's dispatch report was going to be too low to be any fun. Like Joe's, the Mettawee provides advance boaters with a lot of excitement with a paltry 275 cfs.

We put in on a class I reach, 2 or 3 miles upstream of the first big drop on this warm and sunny morning. This gave us time to notice and appreciate what a lovely unspoiled valley the river inhabits. The first short class V drop is in Truthville, NY - more like "moment-of-truth-ville" if you ask me! Three of us managed to cleanly glance right off the bottom boof rock (the suggested route), two carried, and one finished on center-left (amazingly) unscathed.

Flatwater stretches and a few class II-III ledges separate the 3 remaining IV-V drops. The first and easiest of these is reminiscent of the Horseshoe Falls on Vermont's Mad River. The horizon line above the second so-called "Triple Drop" and the powerful recirculating hole at the end on river right had Eric carrying his canoe without ado (left bank). All four kayakers maintained a perfect line through Triple Drop, nailing this impressive three-ledge combination. But my OC-1 filled with water below ledge #2 and I flipped over halfway down ledge #3, ripping out my thigh strap anchor in the process. My canoe recirculated carelessly in that nasty hole for quite some time, while I clung desperately to the sheer rock wall a few feet away. The upstream current feeding the hungry hole was so strong that I would never have managed to swim downstream and out of my predicament were it not for Eric and his throw bag expertise. THANK YOU, ERIC!

Embarrassingly, our group missed altogether the final high class V falls/slide, as none of us had ever run the Mettawee before and I somehow managed to mistake a small parking area just upstream of it for the official take-out. Simon and photographer Patrick Rogers took some great digital pictures this day, which are featured in the VPC website slideshow.

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Written by Michael Fullerton

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 17 May 2003

Hits: 1941

Organizer(s): Michael Fullerton

Date: 2003-05-17

Kayakers (K1): Jamie Dolan, Scott Gilbert, Rod Wentworth

Canoers (OC1): Randy Allen, Mike Fullerton, Andy Meilleur

Predominantly: Intermediate WW

Water Level: Medium

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: North Creek

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Height (ft), e.g. '2.96': 5.5

A glorious day, warm and sunny with a light breeze. The Hudson was at 5.5' and falling. A couple of the open boats weren't in the right mood for big water so the trip split with the kayaks taking the Gorge and the open boats the lower Hudson. That continued a long club tradition of never pressuring anyone into running something he or she is not really up for.

Report from the K1 group sounds like a fine day with great water and no problems. The OC 1 section had a perfect run on the Lower. Remarkably, there were no other boaters on the river!! We surfed the rock island to death and then headed for the Schroon. Here we saw other boaters, but they were ahead of us and we never actually met. The river was at about 4.8', enough for lots of prime surf spots and low enough for some rocks to appear. We surfed our way down, providing action shots for a group of photographers at the first big drop. The leader even obliged them by not doing a proper high brace and demonstrating an open boat wet exit. It was followed by a textbook self rescue.

A great day, excellent water and no crowding on the river.

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Written by Tony Shaw

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 04 May 2003

Hits: 71

Organizer(s): Tony Shaw

Date: 2003-05-04

Kayakers (K1): John Barrows

Canoers (OC1): Lori Barg, Mike Fullerton, Ray Ingram, Rich Larsen, Sheri Larsen, Andy Meilleur, Tony Shaw, Mike Smorgans

Predominantly: Intermediate WW

Water Level: Medium low

Painted Gauge Height (ft) e.g. '3.3': 3

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: Bethlehem Jct.

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Height (ft), e.g. '2.96': 3

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge URL: 20

I had low expectations for this trip, and was tempted in fact to cancel it when Friday's rainfall failed to bring the Sunday level much above 3 feet. But I was pleasantly surprised at how sporty the "Ammo" can be for intermediate paddlers at this level. Lori, in fact, maintains that a pleasant albeit scratchy run can be had here at levels all the way down to 1.6 feet. My preference actually would be 3.5 to 4.5 feet, but on this day the sun shone, the water was sparkling clear, few swam, and the gang of (mostly) VPC old-timers was in good spirits.

The day's most comical (and pathetic) moment came when a native on his ATV decided to show off for our group and ford the river under power, only to sputter, gurgle, and stall out in the deepest part of the channel. These antics aside, it was easy to see why the Ammo is a perennial club favorite, especially among open boaters.