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Jun 6, 2021: Dead River

This was my first shuttle with Webb’s Shuttle since the pandemic.  It is still a great deal as no one gets very excited about driving in for vehicles after a long day on the river.  We were fortunate to have a contingent of New Hampshire based boaters join the trip.  They included Mike Russell, Derek Ahl, Brian McCormack and Emma Erler. Another new member Matthew Briere also joined this trip.

We had very nice weather on this trip.  In fact, I think a couple trip members remarked it was a near perfect paddle day.  Other pluses included: few biting insects, low river traffic and plenty of surfing opportunities.  It looked like everyone enjoyed the day on the river.

Participants: TC Brent Elwell K-1, Derek Ahl K-1, Michael Russell K-1, Connor Marland OC-1, Brian McCormack K-1, Julia Richmond K-1, Ron Chase K-1, Tom Sawyer OC-1, Emma Erler K-1, Matthew Briere OC-1, Ryan Galloway OC-1

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Jun 5, 2021: Dead River (4000cfs)

Participants: Kayaks – TC’s Suzanne and Gary Cole, Emma Erler, Charlie Berliant, Jean Miller, Bill Stafford, Paul Bicknell, Tom Rutka, Jeff Swett, Troad Richmond, Jeff Bickford, Loren Starcher, Jamie Dolan, Jordan Schlitzer, Devon Carter, Pat Cavanagh, Paul LeClerc, Randy Berube; OC1 – Patti Rutka; Shredder – Paul Peters, Connor Marland; Raft – Deb Harris, Wayne Adams.

This level was a step up for some of our participants and a revisit to the “old 3500” for others. In recent years, the 3500 release shrank from what we were use to because of more accurately measured releases. So, in order to get back to the “old 3500”, they now release 4000 cfs. Some of the rapids seemed big to us old timers; we aren’t sure if it is because we had grown accustomed to the recent years levels or if it is in fact bigger than the old 3500. 

Clouds and warm weather ushered us down the river. With such a large group, we created subgroups to look out for and keep track of each other. There was good surfing at all the usual spots and those who were not as familiar with the river followed us old timers. We had a bit of excitement with four swimmers. Many thanks to the people who helped out with the swimmers towing boats and boaters to shore. 

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Sept 19, 2020: Dead River 3500cfs

We had a large group of 22 for this “last hoorah” trip on the Dead. Several new members joined us and we divided into two groups. We had a “fast” group and a “slow” group on this bright fall day. We were all dressed for the weather and enjoyed the foliage. Many thanks to those who helped with or ran shuttle at the end of the day.

The fast group consisted of John Brower – OC, Clyde Mitchell and Catie Meehan – tandem ducky, Kenny DeCoster – OC, Frank Yulling and Paul Peters – shredder, Ryan and Mason Galway – tandem OC, Ron Chase – K1. The fast group headed down the river, but lost one participant at the Gravel Pit due to hip pain. The others continued down stream although we heard there was a swim or two.

The slow group consisted of TC’s Suzanne and Gary Cole – K1, Nick Beaudoin – K1, Emma Erler – K1, Hal Earle – K1, Elaine Madrid – K1, Ken Gordon – K1, Jean Miller – K1, Katie Brady – K1, Randy Berube -K1, Charlie Berliant – K1, Patti and Tom Rutka – shredder. The two main themes of the day for this group were surfing and guiding those unfamiliar with the river through the major rapids. We had fun doing both; lots of great surfs and successful runs of rapids. 

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Sept 14, 2019: Dead River 3500cfs

Participants: Ron Chase, Randy Berube, Charlie Berliant, Clyde Mitchell, Troad Richmond, Brent Elwell, Mike Fask, Andrea Reising, Tom Rutka, TC Suzanne Cole, TC Gary Cole (kayaks) John Brower, Norm Reins, Patti Rutka (canoes) Don Skolfield & Paul Peters (shredder)

Report: For a crummy forecast, we really lucked out. It rained a bit on the shuttle in, but once on the river, we only had clouds on this cool day.  The good news is that there is not much to report, everyone had good runs, many surfed a bit, and we all enjoyed each other’s company. It was fun to see two eagles tussled over a fish as we left Quatro. However, the most exciting part of the trip was getting on the shuttle. Kim had pleaded with PPCS members, and I repeated her plea, to sign up early for the shuttle because they were going away and had to arrange it ahead of time. I think a slight snag in this plan was that not everyone gets the listserve emails. However, most of us signed up early, but those who did not had to wait and see if there would be room. With a few cancelations, we all made it. A handful even had a lovely fresh air experience in the bed of the pickup truck.