Oct 19, 2019: Farmington River, New Boston Section, 4.4ft

Participants: TC Jean Miller, Tom and Patti Rutka, John Brower, Al Perrie, Ed Quierolo

You normally want to bring your oldest gear on the New Boston whitewater release weekend. It is rocky. Paddling this section is much like playing a game of pinball with your boat. But the river gods were kind and gave us a great rain storm on Thursday so we had a nice level. In addition, we had sunny skies, beautiful fall colors and a great group. There are 3 sections of river to run on release weekend. The upper (Class 2), the middle (class 3-4), the bottom (class 2). We ran them all. The top section was great for admiring the beauty of the day. We passed through the race course on our way to the middle and saw a fleeting glimpse of Clay Cole.

Things heat up in the next section, the pinball game begins. There is a relatively new line through the Decoration Rock section. The old line on river right has a large strainer on it marked with a blue rectangle hanging from a tree. Everyone styled their way through the left side. The next feature to be reckoned with was Washing Machine, or Corkscrew, no one knows the real name. It wasn’t always pretty, but everyone got their line done. The last big feature is The Bears Den section. It needed a scout to find a way through the maze. Someone got bitten by the bear here, but no worries, it ended ok. Great trip!!