K1: Brent Elwell, Steve Forin, Ken Gordon, Sean Green, Mark Nelson
OC1: Kenny DeCoster TC
For 10 days, I watched the NH river gauges and several weather forecasts wondering how I was going to pull off paddling in the White Mountains. Fortunately, warm weather and some rain arrived in time and the Saco and EB Pemi gauges rose. I was surprised the smaller streams were, for the most part, too low to paddle. The EBP was “practically” threatening to flood Lincoln, NH, so the six of us checked the Swift’s painted gauge in Cabin Gorge which was 1.75. We decided to start at Rocky Gorge and let the water level fall some before getting to the lower section.
I don’t know if I’ve run Rocky Gorge that high before. We had a good Class III warm up before the big drop with the big hole. One kayak rolled, while the TC had a short swim after he got washed into the hole slightly sideways. Otherwise, everyone had good runs down to the falls. While the rest of us portaged, Sean scouted the various lines down the falls- there was quite a bit of water creating significant holes. Steve led Sean down the right sneak route with great success while the rest of us soaked in the warm sunshine.
On the Blackberry section, you are normally bumping down a rocky slope, but today, we had water and waves. We took out at the covered bridge and rechecked the gauge which had dropped to 1.5. We ate lunch and continued down the lower section. At Cabin Gorge, the kayaks all successfully ran the main middle drop, while I got stuck in a little slot sneaking along the right shore. I also bypassed the Staircase on the far left channel while everybody else ran the ledges. The river was very fluid and I appreciated fewer rocks and pushier water. The sun was glorious and kept us warm over the 7.5 miles of whitewater. The next morning, Sean googled “kayaking the Lower Swift” and found a short video of our group running the lower section shot from the shore by a visitor. I’m sure it will go viral.
The next day was 10 degrees cooler and the level had dropped to .8. We lost Mark, and Brent left to hike with Gary Cole, but Steve got two of his local friends, Jim and Pete, to join us. We put in above Cabin Gorge and all had good lines down the drops in the gorge. At Staircase, I boat scouted the right hand route through the pool drops but the boulders had moved over the winter and blocked any clear channel. I portaged while almost everyone else had good runs down the main channel. At this level, there are more rocks to miss but the rapids are so good, you don’t mind bumping into some of them. The NH Rivers weekend was an exhilarating time- the rapids are demanding and take all your focus. I got to share one of my favorite rivers with a bunch of great paddlers.