We had exceptional weather, ideal water levels, and an absence of blackflies for our almost annual Machias River Trip. Four Machias veterans participated: Rick Farnsworth and Morgan Baxter in solo canoes and Ken Gordon and Ron Chase in expedition kayaks. Due to multiple road closures, we decided on a four-day trip from about a mile above Carrick Rips to the Village of Machias. Morgan shortened his trip by a day taking out at Smith Landing. This was truly an exceptional expedition; great company, exceptional weather, perfect water levels and outstanding cooking by Rick and Morgan. We styled all of the difficult rapids.
K-1: Gary Cole, Suzanne Cole, Jake Bourdeau, Jeff Bickford, Kevin McKenzie, Sean Green, Greg Winston, Casey Clark, Rachel Hovel, Ryan Reed, Jessa Solis, Chip Wallingford, & Devon Carter
OC-1: Kyle Duckworth, Ryan Galway, Justin Schlawin, & Will Jeffries
Inflatables: Clyde Mitchell & Paul Sarli
Slice: Bryan & Aylan Wolf
We had a cool beautiful start and the day warmed up to everyone’s satisfaction. The river level at 7.05 feet according to the gauge just downstream from the put in. This puts the river flow on the medium to low side. This river flows through a beautiful area and the only sounds to be heard were birds and the river itself.
The first part of the river is pretty mellow, but does have a number of surfing spots that were taken advantage of by the group. At one of the rapids, a kayaker flipped and almost rolled but didn’t make it. However, Ryan was in the right place and gave the paddler his bow and a swim was averted. At the lunch spot, Clyde and Jessa decided to take off the river as Jessa was cold. They walked to the road and managed to hitchhike a ride to the takeout where they met us later in the day.
To everyone’s pleasure, the rapids pick up below the lunch spot. In a rapid above Bump ’em, Kyle managed to get caught in a hole that seems to like canoes. He managed to get out of the hole with style and get to shore. The next rapid on the right hand corner is what we call Bump ’em. It is always exciting and did not disappoint. This section has plenty of rocks and some holes and most everyone got through in good shape. There was a minor swim here, but it occurred near the bottom of the rapid, so it was a short swim. Kyle pulled in the paddler and boat with a throw bag while Greg got the paddle. From here the river eases up a bit and everyone had good runs down to the surfing waves above the takeout.
Bryan and Aylan, in the Slice, were getting some good rides at both surfing spots. All the boaters who wanted to got good rides. One kayaker flipped and hit their head in the upper wave and had a short swim, but otherwise everyone had a good time at the waves. From there, it is short float to the takeout at the bridge. All in all it was a very good day to be on the river with such a good group of paddlers.
We had high water on the St. George River. The Sheepscot was running a beefy 1800 which is the gauge I use to judge the George. During the race the day before, 42 of 96 entrants DNF, so we were expecting a little more excitement than normal. At the takeout, a Game Warden warned us to watch for pinned boats and lost gear. He wasn’t exaggerating. We must have passed a dozen badly damaged canoes and kayaks wrapped around debris and pinned in near impossible predicaments. Ryan and Shweta paddled a raft so we collected gear along the way and they carried a racing kayak from the bottom of the last rapid to the takeout. Oh, by the way, the river was great fun with moderate waves and a strong pushy current. We stayed in our boats.
Participants: Ryan & Shweta Galway (Raft), Paul Plumer (Canoe), Ken Gordon (Kayak) and Elderly TC Ron Chase (Kayak).
K1: Ken Gordon, Jake Bourdeau, Eric Kingsley and TCs Pat Cavanagh & Paul Leclerc
OC1: Kenny DeCoster, Ryan Galway, Mason Galway
The weather was favorable, and the cold and showers held off for the Upper portion of the double header beginning in South Royalston, MA. Mason elected to start above the dam and run it straight through. Something not done at lower flows. The release was higher than usual this year and many of the rapids and features on the Upper were subdued, but nonetheless fun. No problems going through the seven miles, aside from myself colliding into Mason as he turned to surf a two foot wave. Although the higher release may not be favorable for the Upper, it it has the opposite effect on the Lower. The wave trains were longer and higher and the Funnel, the class IV gem, was raging. We all got out to scout it and analyze our lines of choice, except for Mason. Using his laser guided river reading vision, he went straight through the middle, dodging huge, furious holes and monster recirculations, threading the perfect line. Ah, to be young.
One by one we entered the formidable rapid. All got away clean. Somewhat. Relieved to have run the Funnel upright, I relaxed and let my guard down only to get reminded that the rapid continued on into the very end of a wave train, where I flipped and rolled. Kenny was the last down. He and Pat eddied out river right to scout the holes from another angle. Although it makes reentry a bit more difficult in getting away from the holes, Kenny managed just fine, until the last one, where he edged it and got sucked in for a refreshing swim. He and his his boat were quickly pushed to shore. By the end, the weather was colder and windier, but you can’t beat that fuzzy feeling coming off the river with good people and warm memories.
K1: Jake Bourdeau, Ken Gordon, Sean Green, Mac Henry, Bill Stafford
OC1: Ryan Galway, Kenny DeCoster, TCs
Shuttle Bunny: Mason Galway
After paddling the two sections of Millers Creek on Saturday, Ryan, Mason, Jake, Ken, and I met 3 more chowderheads at the Otter Creek take out. We quickly decided that the Otter was probably scratchy and low and the upper Ashuelot was cranking. Saturday the gauge read 1260 cfs, Sunday 850 cfs, and Monday it was down to 450 cfs. After we had taken off the Ash, I talked to a local kayaker who said Saturday would’ve been too much water, and I know that today, Monday, would have been less interesting. We made the right decision.
After some driving back and forth to find the put ins, the three newest members put on upstream from Surprise Rapid, THE Class IV rapid, in this section of river. They all had great lines down the left side of the 3 ledge drops and avoided the monster hole at the bottom taking up most of the river. Ryan and the three old fogies put on below and we all launched into a substantial class III drop. I got worried as the rapids tapered off briefly as the river flatten out, but the gradient picked up again and we were constantly dodging holes and dealing with diagonal waves. Ken Gordon made a good comparison to the busy sections of the NH Swift. Bill Stafford had run the Ash most recently and led us around to the left of the broken-down weir. On the last big drop, we hurtled downhill around a right turn dodging holes on all sides. It capped off a great set of rapids. Bill made sure to herd us to the take out so we wouldn’t get flushed into the Gilsum gorge.
After we had shuttled and said goodbyes. Mac and Sean headed off to paddle the Contoocook at a gauge level of 10.5. Ken and I hiked the gorge’s scouting trail and discovered strainers on both sides of the big drop with the critical class IV maneuver. We marveled that the kayak group ahead of us were nervy enough to run the gorge.
Ryan, Ron Chase, and I ran the Upper Ash at 830 cfs in April 2017. Ever since then I’ve been dying to run it again. It’s tough to catch it with enough water on a weekend. I’m glad that we got to share it, and I can’t wait to come back.
