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Written by Michael Mainer

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 23 May 2016

Hits: 5569

Organizer(s): Carleton & Culley

Date: 2016-04-30

End Date: 2016-05-01

Kayakers (K1): Culley, Carleton, Matt, Will, Mike

Predominantly: Flatwater

Water Level: Medium

There's some good whitewater in the Laurentides north of Montreal.  For some reason a lot of folks think you have to go somewhere far away and exotic to find good whitewater - and promptly tell you about their $3000 trip to Norway or Chile.  Meanwhile us Vermonters scoff and then head an hour north to the border.  Why?  Because of the Quebec whitewaters.

The first river we did was the Doncaster.  I don't know exactly what the level was (there's some gauge rock somewhere), but if felt like a Quebec medium-low.  It's pretty similar to Joe's Brook in VT - long-ish slides and ledges, with easier boogie between - though it's shorter but a little steeper.  It even has a multi-part rapid halfway down you'll probably want to scout.  There were tons of Quebeckers around and of course they were all ridiculously friendly.  So friendly we just had to head up for another lap with about 20 of them.  It was crowded and a lot of French was spoken, but we did our best to blend in.  Will even roped a swimmer out.

The crowd sort of dissipated after that, but the two local A-teamers, Alex and Loic were game to hit the nearby Du Nord.  This is only about 20 minutes away, is a little harder and holds water a little better than the Doncaster.  Anyways, we got to the takeout bridge, looked at the poorly-conceived gauge and our two new friends called the level high.  Then they chattered in unintelligible French, pronounced the level medium and off we went to the put-in.

As soon as we left the put-in I noticed the amount of water in the riverbed and the way it boiled off ledges on the side.  By the time we made it past the massive holes in the first few rapids, I realized this was not un niveau moyenne (a medium level)... it was un niveau moyenne-sportif.  Nevertheless, our guides did a good job of running us through the half-dozen or so slides and ledges in the first half of the run (minus the waterfall, which our hosts ran, but not us) before we hopped out for a portage around a very marginal section that has everything wrong with it and could kill you in at least a dozen ways (yet apparently has been run).  Back on the water there were more rapids - another half-dozen or so primarily boulder gardens with fun juicy boofy moves.  This turned out to be a great run and 25 cms was a great solid medium level.  This runs a lot I'm told, and is sort of the Montreal version of the New Haven.

That evening we headed a little farther northeast to the Riviere Noire.  This area was surprisingly wild and it seemed like the vast semi-boreal spruce forest belonged up north of Quebec City, not 45 minutes outside of the second largest city in the northeast.  We found a great stealth campsite right at the Noire takeout and enjoyed a cold starry night's sleep.

The Noire the next morning was a lot of fun.  10 or 11 cms is a nice level - medium, maybe low side of medium.  It's only 2 or 3 miles long, I think, but there's a good-sized bedrock rapid every one or two tenths of a mile or so.  There was a pretty nice variety too - some ledges, small slides, a pinch with a bad hole we carried around, a big cascade we ran that probably broke my boat and some more good-sized ledges.  All of this was tough enough to be interesting but never that scary.  The last section was the best - the granite got really smooth (a rarity in Quebec) and a three great bedrock drops came back to back.

At the takeout there were yet more Quebec boaters - friendly as ever - wanting us to join them for our second lap.  Unfortunately we had to head home but that's not that far away.  From the Noire it was only 3 hours back to Burlington.

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Written by Jordan Vickers

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 09 May 2016

Hits: 121

Organizer(s): Jordan Vickers

Date: 2016-05-03

Kayakers (K1): J Vickers, J Beckwith, R Mooney, Pat

Predominantly: Advanced WW

Water Level: Low boatable

The day before the New Haven Ledges was at a medium flow which generally means the Middlebury Gorge will be good the next day.  We met at 4pm the following day for a typical low water Midd Gorge run.  We quickly loaded boats in Justin's truck and were at the put in in no time.  It was a beautiful spring day with warm temps and sunshine.  We scraped down from the regular put in and were able to get under two logs that are river wide just below the put in.  As you go deeper into the gorge things start getting more constricted and fluid.  Justin had cut a sneak around the first log portage and him and Mooney wheel chaired over the second one keeping it a no portage run.  Arriving at the entrance to the Birth Canal Ryan got out to take some photos and Justin and I were providing beta for Pat as it was his first time there.  I went first and had a less than good boof off fallopian but landed upright and waited for the rest of the group.  Pat came next and had no seperation, melting the falls.  He disappeared for a few seconds going very deep, finally resurfacing upside down toward the river left room.  He pulled his skirt and groaned in pain (shoulder).  I quickly paddled up to the room where he grabbed my boat getting him away from the undercut walls and safely downstream.  Justin and Ryan quickly were there to help assist Pat and get his gear still in the same spot he swam.  Amidst the rescue I managed to look upstream and catch a glimpse of Beckwith with an amazing boof off Fallopian (still not sure how).  After several minutes we were able to get Pat's shoulder back in place and Justin volunteered to walk him out of the Gorge on river right.  Meanwhile Ryan and I had to get both their boats and paddles to river left by Cunnilingus so they could easily get them later.  Catching a micro eddy mid Cunnilingus is not an easy task.  Ryan and I made quick work of getting the gear across the river and turned our focus back to getting downstream.  A quick scout at Rebirth for wood and were were on our way.  Racing down the river to get to the car we came across a couple in a "romantic situation" on a flat rock just upstream and out of sight of "Your Mom."  We gave a hoot and a holler and kept on charging.   We made it to the takeout in twelve minutes from exiting the Birth Canal.  I got in my car to go get Justin and Ryan and as I pulled out they rounded the corner.  Getting Pat to the car we cut his wrist gasket on his drytop and were able to get his gear off.  Ryan made a sling from some plastic (poncho maybe) and duct tape.  Having Pat comfortable I ran Ryan and Justin back up to get the boats we left upstream and I made my way home.  It was a very eventful day on the Middlebury.  I was impressed how quickly Justin and Pat made it up out of the gorge and down to the car.  We had quality gear transferring in the gorge.  Mooney made quite the sling and I am thankful my wife (Kristen) taught me how to reset shoulders.   

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Written by Jamie Dolan

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 16 May 2016

Hits: 6760

Organizer(s): Jamie Dolan

Date: 2016-05-15

Kayakers (K1): Chandler, George, Noah, Chad, Paul, Jamie

Predominantly: Int-adv WW

Water Level: Low boatable

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: Otter Creek USGS gauge at Rutland

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

It’s not often enough that I can get on the Mill River / Clarendon Gorge. With the buds coming out and limited rainfall, we were fortunate to be able to get on this gem, albeit at a low level. We were evenly divided between those that had done the river before and those for whom it was a first. The opening rapids only give a hint as to how steep and tight the coming gorges are. A couple of the guys were a little wide eyed, especially after the opening rapid caused a couple of rolls. Nothing like not having any warm up on a cool day to jump into IV. That was the only real excitement on the water for the day. A few of the rapids gave a little pause (particularly the next to last one). Overall fairly straight forward at this level. The covered Bridge rapid had me turned around a bit but without consequence. The others that ran it were much cleaner. Once again, the owners of the house at the covered bridge came out for some sharing . And we learned Chandler is apparently going to be a diplomat. Noah will hopefully write a short summary of the (overall positive) interaction and post it on the message board. The devil’s gorge rapid had most throwing in their boats and then following. Once again, Chandler was the man as he showed us all how to do a proper back flip. With a few scouts we managed to do the trip in a couple three hours at a very relaxed pace. Everyone managed to leave with a smile.

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Written by Jim Poulin

Category: Trip Reports

Published: 05 May 2016

Hits: 45

Organizer(s): Jim Poulin

Date: 2016-05-04

Kayakers (K1): PaulC, ChrisW, SarahC, JodyS, MikeB, TraceyB, JimP

Predominantly: Intermediate WW

Water Level: Low boatable

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Site: Mad River

Primary Realtime USGS Gauge Flow (cfs), e.g. '797': 330

Two sure signs of spring: 1. fisherpersons are now on the river and play boats are starting to make an appearance after a long winter's nap.

And so it was as we met on the lower Mad river on a cool and cloudy day in early May.  No sun to be had and temps lingered around 50.

We had some rain just as we were changing into our paddling gear, making sure that our "dry" clothes were really not that dry.  And then it rained again right as we took off so we needed to change into our semi-dry clothes, again in the rain.  Of course it did not rain while we were on the river and there was not enough rain to give us a juicier ride.

Once on the river we meandered downstream stopping for an occasional play wave or interesting eddy.  But in general at this level, there is not much going on other than dodging rocks. 

Everyone had a great time (measured in smiles) and stories were told in the flat water sections.  There were no interesting events at Horseshoe with clean lines all around.

There was one swim at the last rapid (Old Schoolers like me call it Commotion) but we quickly recovered from that and moved on to the takeout.

The takeout proved to be the most difficult thing we did all day.  In good weather the Winooski takeout is difficult.  Throw in a receding river that exposes some nice mud and a bit of rain to make it even more slick and you've got yourself some fun.  There were grunts and groans and some contortionist moves to get out of still floating boats.  And that was just me!  But no one ended up in the drink so I am claiming success!

Bottom line, a good group of folks running a familiar river in early May at low water.  Nothing to complain about here!  

jimp