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.