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Jun 5, 2021: Dead River (4000cfs)

Participants: Kayaks – TC’s Suzanne and Gary Cole, Emma Erler, Charlie Berliant, Jean Miller, Bill Stafford, Paul Bicknell, Tom Rutka, Jeff Swett, Troad Richmond, Jeff Bickford, Loren Starcher, Jamie Dolan, Jordan Schlitzer, Devon Carter, Pat Cavanagh, Paul LeClerc, Randy Berube; OC1 – Patti Rutka; Shredder – Paul Peters, Connor Marland; Raft – Deb Harris, Wayne Adams.

This level was a step up for some of our participants and a revisit to the “old 3500” for others. In recent years, the 3500 release shrank from what we were use to because of more accurately measured releases. So, in order to get back to the “old 3500”, they now release 4000 cfs. Some of the rapids seemed big to us old timers; we aren’t sure if it is because we had grown accustomed to the recent years levels or if it is in fact bigger than the old 3500. 

Clouds and warm weather ushered us down the river. With such a large group, we created subgroups to look out for and keep track of each other. There was good surfing at all the usual spots and those who were not as familiar with the river followed us old timers. We had a bit of excitement with four swimmers. Many thanks to the people who helped out with the swimmers towing boats and boaters to shore. 

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May 1, 2021: Lower and Middle NH Swift

Participants:  Brent Elwell, Kevin Rogers, Kenny DeCoster, Kirk Ross, Hal Earle and TC

River levels this Spring have caused several trips to be canceled and my NH Rivers trip was in danger until heavy rains on April 30 saved the day and provided us with great paddling in the North Conway area.  After a brief discussion at the meeting area, we reached consensus on the Middle and Lower NH Swift.  We don’t usually paddle the Middle Swift, but the water was high enough that we were in hopes that it would come down a bit on the Lower if we did a warm up paddle up higher.  This plan worked out well as the Middle, between Rocky Gorge and Lower Falls, was very fluid and provided us with a good warm up and more time on one of the most beautiful rivers in New England.  Gusty winds did provide challenges for our open boat crew, as the gusts had a tendency to change the canoe’s direction at the worst possible time on occasions resulting in a pinned canoe and a chance to practice swiftwater river rescues.

We portaged Lower Falls and immediately noted that the water was still higher than the gauge in Cabin Gorge was indicating.  A good part of the discussions on the trip involved how and why the gauge level seemed inaccurate.  No good answers, but the river from Lower Falls to Cabin Gorge was quickly paddled.  After a quick scout of the Cabin Gorge rapid, we all had good runs and were pleased to have one of the “Big Two”, the other being Staircase, behind us.  The rest of the trip was an extremely enjoyable run down one of the most sought after whitewater rivers in New England.  It’s difficult to beat the combination of bright sun, warm weather and an excellent level on the Lower Swift, and the post trip confab at the take out was an enthusiastic recount of the day’s action. 

Photo of Kirk Ross running Staircase on the Lower Swift

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Apr 26, 2021: Narraguagus (500cfs)

Paddlers: Andrew Carey, Bud Gilbert, Carlisle Landel, Maggie Heherington in kayaks. Helen Hess (TC) in canoe.
This Monday trip was a reschedule of the advertised Sou trip for Sunday which was way too low for anything more than a wet hike. Low water levels have kept us searching for running streams this month, and downeast Maine had some options. The Narraguagus is a beautiful little stream, and at 500 cfs it had just enough water to get us down the river, with a wee bit of scraping in a couple places, but no dragging. There were even a few microsurfing spots, but the main challenge was picking a route among the many exposed rocks and boulders as well as the odd strainer. The wildlife highlight was an osprey flying overhead with a fish in its grip. Andrew drove up from southern Maine for this trip, and his truck got all the people and their boats to the put-in. Even though there was room in the cab, Bud preferred his perch in the truck bed and enjoyed the fresh air but perhaps not the bumpy road down to the put in. Lucky he’s rugged. While Andrew had a long drive, Carlisle and Maggie traveled even further; they came from Santa Cruz, California to boat this gem in downeast Maine.

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Apr 18, 2021: Contoocook River, NH

For days, forecasters promised that the rains would come, and we would be joyful paddling New Hampshire and Western Maine Rivers Class III-IV. But Saturday’s scattered showers barely bumped up the river gauges and paddlable rivers were in short supply. Bill Stafford and I headed west to New Hampshire and joined Ryan to escort Mason Galway on his first run on the Contoocook. The gauge had risen overnight to 7.7, a medium level. There were nice surfing waves and fewer rocks than the 6.9 gauge level trip in March. With warm temperatures, it was a beautiful (sunnier than Maine) day on the river.

The Contoocook rapids are progressive starting with class II and building up to the Class III+ finale. As you can imagine, Mason in the Galway tradition didn’t need any warming up or escorting. He sailed down S-turn and Freight Train like an old pro. Only the TC got into trouble by investigating the bony river right line on an early rapid. He was lucky that the river gravel didn’t shave off his beard. We’re looking forward to a rainy season to flood us with paddling opportunities.

TC: Kenny DeCoster

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Apr 3, 2021: Cathance Stream

Cathance Stream is a true gem of a class 4 creek as it is located entirely within the town limits of Topsham – no need to travel to the mountain for this run.  Ron Chase, Kenny DeCoster and I had a mid day start, having waited for temps to rise before meeting. The gage was at 2.5, which Ron described as being medium low, but all of the drops were fluid and we had plenty of water.  Although I was the TC for the trip, Ron did all of scouting as he is very familiar with all of the rapids and Kenny and I had not been on the river for several years.  Similar to previous trips this season on the Webb and Souadabscook there was a considerable amount of wood in the water and we scouted all of the blind drops to make sure that they were clean and safe to run.  One river wide strainer forced a portage but it was easily visible from upstream.  Everyone had good runs and enjoyed the first CL 4 trip of the season on this unique and challenging lowland creek.