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Aug 16, 2025: Magalloway River, 1200cfs

Trip Coordinator: Brent Elwell

Participant: Greg Winston

The Magalloway River was flowing at 1200 cfs which is a very good level.  I was afraid the drought conditions would impact the release, but that was not the case.  Greg was the only participant.  We had beautiful weather with sunny skies and temperatures in the 80’s.  We took a couple runs and each took a turn biking the shuttle.  The river seems to be less busy than previous years.  We saw only a few other boaters: mostly kayakers and one raft.  An interesting thing at the takeout is there is a portable toilet, but it is located a couple hundred yards down the dirt road from the takeout.  Judging by the number of signs posted at the takeout warning not to use the land as a toilet, it would be good to look for the portable toilet.

 

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Jul 12, 2025: Magalloway River, 1200cfs

Participants-  Ryan Galway OC-1,  Suzanne Cole K-1,  Gary Cole K-1,  Sean Green K-1,  Brent Elwell K-1,  Mark Nelson K-1,  Bryan and Alyssa Wolf 2 person inflatable/K-1,  Bob and Jan Radowicz 2 person inflatable,  TJ Farnum K-1

The day started out in Southern Maine as overcast and foggy.  After making the trek up through the mountain pass in Graftons notch to the small town of Wilsons Mills I was welcomed with sunshine and favorable temperatures for this western Maine classic.

For those who aren’t familiar the Magalloway is a short run.  Probably no more than 3 miles from the class III start to finish of this run.  For what this river lacks in distance it makes up for in excitement.  The put in literally launches you into a class III+ rapid that you can not see down stream of from the launch point.  This can make for a challenging start,  and I have seen many a class IV boater be humbled by this first rapid.  Thankfully everyone in our group aced this challenging rapid as well as the rest of the run.  We had no swimmers for the day and  only a couple of well executed rolls.  We had a few first timers ( Sean,  TJ,  and Bob and Jan) all had solid runs with no issues other than a lost paddle at the put in.

After the first run. Bob and Jan bid us farewell after helping with a shuttle for the second.  We took a brief  lunch after run 2 and the numbers dwindled further.  We had 4 total boats for the third and final run,  as Bryan transitioned to his kayak.  It was fairly quick,  but well appreciated as it was probably the best mix of air and water temps possible.  It really was a perfect weather day on the water!

 

 

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Jun 16, 2025: Kennebec River – Sidney to Augusta

Paddled Kennebec River from Sidney to Augusta.  Allan Fuller and Carol Young – 18′ C2 Royal-X.  It was windy with strong head winds over 25 mph.  We turned around just upstream of 7 Mile Island.  There were many eagles (over 20) and many sturgeons jumping.  There was at least one sturgeon jumping every 5 minutes.  Some sturgeon were at least 5 feet long and clearing the water by 2 feet.    The wind was so strong that we did not have to paddle back to the put in except the last 1/4 mile.  The winds got stronger as the paddle went on.

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May 11, 2025: Sebasticook River – Clinton’s Mill Park to Kennebec River

Sebasticook River from Clinton’s Old Mill Park to Benton Fall Dam.  We had 4 canoes, 1  white water kayak, 2 sea kayaks, one ducky totally 12 paddlers.  Water level was near the top of the first granite step.  The rapids had big waves and no rocks.  We saw one great blue heron, one osprey, one red tail hawk and Canada geese and ducks.  We did not see any eagles on this 4.5 miles of the river.

Carried river right.  Continued from Benton Falls Dam to Fort Halifax and took out just before we reached the Kennebec River.

Scott Nelson, Lynn Hempen, Laura Wittmann, Michael Wittmann, David Roberts, Elise Moody-Roberts, Deb Harris, Carol Young, Alan Fuller, and 2 other paddlers

We immediately came upon 20 to 30 plus eagles in the trees and flying between the trees on either bank around the first bend in the river.  They were all over the place.  We probably came across 100 eagles from below the dam to Halifax Part/Kennebec.  They are there to feed of the herring migrating up the Sebasticook River.  Last year the count of alewives going up the first lift over 6 million.  The water is pretty high and early right now to see the alewifes swimming in the river at the dam or downstream.

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May 3, 2025: Kennebago River at 7.55 feet

K-1:  Jeff Bickford, Devon Carter, Kevin McKenzie, Clyde Mitchell, Sean Green, Jacob Bourdeau, Suzanne Cole, Gary Cole – Trip Coordinator

OC-1:  Kenny DeCoster, Connor Marland

OC-2:  Krea & Ryan Galway

Raft:  Sean & Jade Kluttx

Raft:  Troad Richmond, Martha & Anna-Spring Doerfler

We had a weather window and took advantage of it.  It was overcast when we put on the river and our plan was to have fun and get off before the rain really came down.  We surfed a bit at the usual spots near the beginning of the river.  There were some good rides by a number of the boaters.  We moved down the river fairly quickly toward the lunch spot. We had a quick lunch and got back on the river.  From here down the river picks up and really gets your attention.  Everyone had good lines in the rapid with the hole and through Bump ‘Em.  The tree that was around the corner at the bottom of Bump ‘Em is gone.  In fact, there were only 3 or 4 trees in the river and none of them were in a place that would have caused problems.  About two rapids after Bump ‘Em, we had a swimmer.  It took awhile to get the boat to shore.  However, having the rafts made getting the boat and paddler back together easy. We quickly continued on down the river to the nice wave before the takeout.  A number of the paddlers had some good rides on this wave, especially the OC-2.  We did not linger as it was beginning to sprinkle and we wanted to beat the rain.  We got the shuttle done and were headed out when the rain came down in earnest.   We had five paddlers who had not paddled the Kennebago before and they really enjoyed it.