Tag: magalloway

Trip Coordinator: Brent Elwell

Participant: Greg Winston

The Magalloway River was flowing at 1200 cfs which is a very good level.  I was afraid the drought conditions would impact the release, but that was not the case.  Greg was the only participant.  We had beautiful weather with sunny skies and temperatures in the 80’s.  We took a couple runs and each took a turn biking the shuttle.  The river seems to be less busy than previous years.  We saw only a few other boaters: mostly kayakers and one raft.  An interesting thing at the takeout is there is a portable toilet, but it is located a couple hundred yards down the dirt road from the takeout.  Judging by the number of signs posted at the takeout warning not to use the land as a toilet, it would be good to look for the portable toilet.

 

Participants-  Ryan Galway OC-1,  Suzanne Cole K-1,  Gary Cole K-1,  Sean Green K-1,  Brent Elwell K-1,  Mark Nelson K-1,  Bryan and Alyssa Wolf 2 person inflatable/K-1,  Bob and Jan Radowicz 2 person inflatable,  TJ Farnum K-1

The day started out in Southern Maine as overcast and foggy.  After making the trek up through the mountain pass in Graftons notch to the small town of Wilsons Mills I was welcomed with sunshine and favorable temperatures for this western Maine classic.

For those who aren’t familiar the Magalloway is a short run.  Probably no more than 3 miles from the class III start to finish of this run.  For what this river lacks in distance it makes up for in excitement.  The put in literally launches you into a class III+ rapid that you can not see down stream of from the launch point.  This can make for a challenging start,  and I have seen many a class IV boater be humbled by this first rapid.  Thankfully everyone in our group aced this challenging rapid as well as the rest of the run.  We had no swimmers for the day and  only a couple of well executed rolls.  We had a few first timers ( Sean,  TJ,  and Bob and Jan) all had solid runs with no issues other than a lost paddle at the put in.

After the first run. Bob and Jan bid us farewell after helping with a shuttle for the second.  We took a brief  lunch after run 2 and the numbers dwindled further.  We had 4 total boats for the third and final run,  as Bryan transitioned to his kayak.  It was fairly quick,  but well appreciated as it was probably the best mix of air and water temps possible.  It really was a perfect weather day on the water!

 

 

Bryan and Alyssa Wolf, Jake Bourdeau and Jean Miller (TC)

We had two fine runs of 1200 cfs on the Magalloway River.   A beautiful scenic river that starts with a bang.   This was the first time for Alyssa and Bryan, and the first time in a long time for Jake. No swims just smiles.  We all agreed it was a perfect day.

Brent Elwell Trip Coordinator, K-1

Participants: Jean Miller K-1, John Brower OC-1, Connor Marland OC-1,  Chicago Man K-1

The group took a couple of runs on the Magalloway.  We were joined by a man from Chicago who was on a paddle tour of the Northeast.   He did fine, but I was surprised when he seal launched at the start with only hand paddles which served him fine.  The river was not crowded.  There were some great front surfing waves at this level.  To top the day off, we saw an eagle and osprey.

This trip was the first time of the season at 1200 cfs.  I had paddled the prior two Saturdays at 900 cfs.  Paddling it three Saturdays in a row was due to the drought conditions that Maine has endured this year.  Nonetheless, this river has an incredible amount of play and one of the best shuttles of any river in Maine.  The first run of the season subjected us to an incredible number of trees in the river.  The start of the river had the most trees that I have ever seen and most were not in very good places.  However, most of these were removed before this trip started.  Another feature to be aware of are the number of fishermen on the river (the fishing is very good on this river!)  The weather was outstanding and bugs few. Surprisingly, there were few other boaters and we had the river pretty much to ourselves.   We had knocked ourselves out surfing and called it good after a couple runs.

Participants: TC Brent Elwell, Mark Nelson, Randy Berube, Julia Richmond and Kenny Decoster