Troad Richmond (K1); Connor Marland, Kenny DeCoster, and TC Helen Hess (OC1).
Even though the release level was a scanty 430cfs, several of us decided to make the drive to paddle at Roll Dams at the beginning of the fall supper weekend. Kenny and Helen arrived early enough for a Friday afternoon run in glorious weather. Troad and Connor arrived that evening and we had the campsite to ourselves after the fishermen went elsewhere for the night. We made ourselves comfy and spread out across much of the west end of the camping area.
Later on that evening as we enjoyed our campfire, a large kayaking party from Bowdoin arrived and the 30 of them cheerfully squeezed into the other half of the campsite. Troad was happy that a more typical kayak-to-canoe ratio was restored. For our Saturday run, Helen and Kenny swapped boats for a little change up. Another glorious run, including lots of surfing. Kenny looked great in Helen’s Ocoee. Even though our lunch break was quick, we didn’t have enough time to do justice to another full run before we had to drive over to The Forks for the fall supper festivities. So the three canoeists decided for some side-surfing at the bottom of Z-turn and rolling practice, two activities that naturally go together. Kenny used his longer Zephyr for this outing, so he paddled a different boat for each of his three runs. After having all the fun we could, it was time to pack up and head to The Forks. Hiking and the Kennebec gorge were on the agenda for the next day, but someone else will be providing those trip reports!