Trip Reports

Kayakers: TC’s Suzanne and Gary Cole, Jeff Sweet, Ken Gordon, Paul LeClerc, Pat Cavanagh, Peter Hockmeyer, Matt Porter, and in a tandem duckie: Clyde Mitchell and Jessa Solis.

Clear blue skies and warming temperatures greeted us on the day after the storm. Once again, we made our way down the river surfing and squirting where we could. We had some rolls below Big Mama and in Magic but it all worked out well. Jessa and Clyde continued down while the rest of us took out at Carry Brook. There was a group of Connecticut boaters on the river and it was nice to see more than the usual number of kayakers enjoying a day on the Kennebec. We even saw Peggy Dwyer with a raft full of friends – that was a blast from the past. 

Kayakers: TC’s Suzanne and Gary Cole, Ken Gordon, Clyde Mitchell, Devon Carter, Pat Cavanagh, Paul LeClerc, Jeff Bickford, Jeff Swett, and in a Shredder: Bud Gilbert, and Scott Gee.

Hurricane Lee was looming large, but after carefully checking the weather, we decided we could probably get a day in on the river before the winds and rain hit. As it turned out, we had a couple of strong gusts and maybe some light rain, but the real rain held off until we were off the river. With nine kayaks and one shredder, we had an early start and as a result were off the river by 2:30. We made our way down stream, surfing our favorite spots and enjoying a more relaxed river than at 5500. Since we were early, we waited to have lunch below Elephant Rapid at Poison Ivy Beach (poison ivy easily avoidable). Braces and rolls were working well until the second half of Lower Poplar where we had two swimmers. It was not an easy place to get boats and bodies to shore, but we managed and no one was worse for wear.

There is currently no Webb’s shuttle, so we ran our own. Three of us hung out in a car at the public takeout, while another car took the drivers back to the put-in to get theirs. Addie Webb said she would be running Webb’s Shuttle next summer. We really hope she does!