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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.

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Apr 27, 2024: Kennebago River at 7.05 feet

TC:  Gary Cole

K-1:  Gary Cole, Suzanne Cole, Jake Bourdeau, Jeff Bickford, Kevin McKenzie, Sean Green, Greg Winston, Casey Clark, Rachel Hovel, Ryan Reed,  Jessa Solis, Chip Wallingford, & Devon Carter

OC-1:  Kyle Duckworth, Ryan Galway, Justin Schlawin, & Will Jeffries

Inflatables:  Clyde Mitchell & Paul Sarli

Slice:  Bryan & Aylan Wolf

We had a cool beautiful start and the day warmed up to everyone’s satisfaction.  The river level at 7.05 feet according to the gauge just downstream from the put in.   This puts the river flow on the medium to low side.  This river flows through a beautiful area and the only sounds to be heard were birds and the river itself.

The first part of the river is pretty mellow, but does have a number of surfing spots that were taken advantage of by the group.  At one of the rapids, a kayaker flipped and almost rolled but didn’t make it.  However, Ryan was in the right place and gave the paddler his bow and a swim was averted.  At the lunch spot, Clyde and Jessa decided to take off the river as Jessa was cold.  They walked to the road and managed to hitchhike a ride to the takeout where they met us later in the day.

To everyone’s pleasure, the rapids pick up below the lunch spot.  In a rapid above Bump ’em, Kyle managed to get caught in a hole that seems to like canoes.  He managed to get out of the hole with style and get to shore.  The next rapid on the right hand corner is what we call Bump ’em.  It is always exciting and did not disappoint.  This section has plenty of rocks and some holes and most everyone got through in good shape.  There was a minor swim here, but it occurred near the bottom of the rapid, so it was a short swim.  Kyle pulled in the paddler and boat with a throw bag while Greg got the paddle.  From here the river eases up a bit and everyone had good runs down to the surfing waves above the takeout.

Bryan and Aylan, in the Slice, were getting some good rides at both surfing spots.  All the boaters who wanted to got good rides.  One kayaker flipped and hit their head in the upper wave and had a short swim, but otherwise everyone had a good time at the waves.  From there, it is short float to the takeout at the bridge.  All in all it was a very good day to be on the river with such a good group of paddlers.