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Mar 22, 2025: Sou Class III+ and Marsh Class III-IV

K1: Mark Berry, Jake Bourdeau, Devon Carter, Mike Eastman, Mac Henry, Kevin McKenzie, Greg Winston,  TC: Charlie Berliant.

OC1: Reid Anderson, Ryan Galway, Matthew Kellett, TC: Kenny DeCoster

12’ Raft: Sean and Jade Kluttz

The river gods were smiling upon us. I couldn’t believe the Saturday’s weather forecast held up all week promising 50 degrees and sunshine. It was in stark contrast to last year’s weather that morphed into overcast skies and sleet cancelling the trip. But the Marsh trip’s weather on Sunday looked worse with wind chills in the 20s. Charlie was on the ball and moved his trip to Saturday afternoon which created one fine day of paddling on two rivers.

14 paddlers jammed the Manning Mills bridge as gear was deposited by the side of the road. New members and a couple of newer members hadn’t ever paddled the Sou or Marsh. It was fun to turn them on to great whitewater. With the gauge reading 1.5+, we had plenty of water. I didn’t miss the rocks I normally scraped over. 

The first river wide wave provided great surfing opportunities for everyone, while the downstream smooth wave had disappeared. The Emerson waves proved to be a bit more challenging to ride. Everybody seemed to find the far-left line on Crawford rapid. I hugged the shore and found the green tongue that led to the ledge drop instead of getting nailed by the nasty guardian hole just to my right. 1/3 of the paddlers had the common sense to portage Grand Falls, everyone else ran the falls and stayed upright. The next challenge was right around the corner where it was wise to miss the monster hole river center blocking the approach to the alleyway. We all rendezvoused at Papermill beach. Nobody had swam and there were just one or two rolls. Ryan and Devon continued to the waste treatment plant, the rafters said goodbye, and the rest of us moved on to the Marsh.

Vehicles were left at the take out and we met at the RR bridge put in. Charlie got his wish- the gauge read 3- and we paddled a bigger river with bigger water. The single bladed paddlers got washed downstream while kayakers fought strong eddy lines to climb onto waves. I had never seen so much water flowing over Flat Rock. Mark and Greg managed to drive into the far-right channel and skirt the hydrologic turmoil in the middle and make it to the bottom smiling. Charlie took the right hand sporting route. One adjusting stroke dropped him into the huge hole. He stayed upright surfing the froth for what seemed like hours. He flipped just as he was leaving the hole and rolled up before the final drop. An unbelievable performance- caught on camera.

Charlie Surfs Flat Rock… Click the image for the full video!

We hung out at the take out soaking up the sun and celebrating our good fortune of spending a fantastic day on the water.

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Jul 21: 2024: Kennebc River at Fish Flow

Participants: Reid Anderson (TC), Carolyn Atwood, Troad, Carol Futrell, Mike Timberlake, Paul, Paul, Ken, Brent

After a bit of discussion at the dam about shuttles and plans, our group solidified and headed off downstream. A few folks had been on the river (some in different craft) at higher water, and some had never been on the Kennebec at all. As such, I sort of fell into a defacto TC position. Despite the discussion at the dam, we managed to put on quite early and were able to make it to Magic before any of the “ramp up” flow caught up to us (I believe we were at Magic when the first step up in flow was scheduled to begin). It was easily the lowest I had seen Magic, which was not a upsetting as we all agreed we would prefer that than the other way around! Our run to the Stairs was completely uneventful and very enjoyable (I find those two often go together), playing around with eddies here and there, having conversation, and being able to enjoy the scenic beauty deep in the gorge. The only downside to our run being so early and so smooth was that we waited at the Stairs for longer than we would have liked, which left a few getting a bit chilly and having to find the spots of sun to stand in or shove off for the far side to wait in the sun closer to Northern’s lunch site. With the trickier stuff out of the way, we set off for the lower portion, taking our time enjoying the wave trains and slower waters on our float out to the ball field, arriving at the leading edge of the bubble before any commercial trips. Many thanks to Allan for his shuttle service and the engaging discussions that came along with it!

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Jul 6, 2024: Canada Falls – Class IV

K1: Artem Aleksashenko, Jeff Bickford, Jake Bordeau, Charlie Berliant, Devon Carter, Suzanne Cole, Gary Cole, Sean Green, Mark Nelson, Scott Nelson, Greg Winston, PPCS wannabe: Matt Parker
Shredder: Patti and Tom Rutka
OC1: John Brower, TC: Kenny DeCoste

With the threat of afternoon thunderstorms, 16 paddlers showed up for the first Canada Falls release of the summer season. While the temperature hovered around 80, the overcast skies kept the sun off our backs and made for a great day of paddling. The 500 cfs release is quite a bit less than the 750 cfs I’m used to. The first drops through the mini gorge were bonier than usual and made it challenging for the shredder to avoid the rocks. Everyone had good runs on all the drops, minus a capsize and 2 portages on the Slide. The TC finally managed to stay out of “Kenny’s corner”- the frothy pool below the drop on split decision on river left- and succeeded to redeem himself on this run. A few other boats circulated through the “corner” without mishap. On the second to last drop where most of us skirt the river-wide hole by a zig zag route on the far left shore, the skies opened up and rain poured down in buckets. No lightening but water ran down the front of my hydroskin which finally chilled me. While we retrieved the vehicles at the put in, the sun returned to dry us out. Everyone was a very capable paddler which made my job very easy as TC. 5 paddlers headed home and 11 of us returned to Roll Dam for an afternoon run.

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Aug 11, 2024: Dead River at 1800cfs

K1: Ron Chase, Brent Elwell, Clyde Mitchell, Matt Nathaniel, Jessa Solis
OC1: John Brower, Kenny DeCoster TC

Shredders: Don Skolfield and friend, Chris and son, Skip Morris and Brian Perver
After all the rain on Thursday and Friday and a great many emails, many decided against paddling the high water. Still on Saturday, about 20 people paddled the Dead at 4000+ and resulted in a little bit of carnage. By Sunday, Spencer dropped from 1650 cfs to 750 cfs and all the feeder streams were lower. 10 paddlers put in at Spencer with about 2500 cfs and ended the day with 3000+ cfs on the lower Dead. This was not the “beginner”/ 1800 cfs/ Throwback Cruise level that I advertised, but a mid-level run that our experienced group enjoyed.

Temperatures in the 70s and partly cloudy skies greeted us on the river. Skip and Brian joined the group at the gravel pit to retrieve the canoe that was lost on Saturday. We had an uneventful ride down the river riding wave trains and surfing waves until Mile-long Rapid. 1/3 of the way down, a kayaker flipped and tried to roll. Another kayaker paddled up to the overturned boat, grabbed both sides, and righted the boat and paddler in midstream. I had never seen anything like it before. A long nasty swim was probably averted. The rescuer’s paddle was picked up and returned so he could stop paddling with his hands.
Further on down the rapid, Brent was already on the rock with the broached canoe that had disappeared underwater the day before. Overnight the canoe had broken free from being submerged to broaching higher up on a rock further downstream so it was actually accessible. I paddled over to join him. I steadied the boats balanced on the rock and tied in the retrieved gear bags as Brent wrestled the canoe off the rock and sent it down lower Mile-long. It broached again in a quieter stretch of river and Skip and Brian took over installing an airbag and towing the boat to the Upper Poplar Portage, where it was paddling out on Monday at low water.

The rest of us made it out to the public take out without further incident. One thing about paddling the Dead is that it’s often an adventure that generates stories to be told around a campfire.

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Sep 15, 2024: Kennebec Gorge at 5000cfs

Suzanne and Gary Cole TC, Greg Winston, TJ Farnum, Peter Hockmeyer

Another gorgeous day for mid September. We had the pleasure of showing TJ, who had done the river once before, our favorite surf waves and the lines we run through the rapids. We lingered here and there, enjoying the river, the day and each other’s company.