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