Tag: piscataquag

Participants Mark Nelson k-1,  Paul Laclerc k-1,  Andrea Riesing k-1,  Ryan Galway OC-1

We had two additional boaters Nick and Geoff who paddled with us but,  they weren’t members at the time and I am unsure of the last names.

We were fortunate to have a mostly sunny day in the low 60’s.  The water had a noticeable chill to it and most had switched to drysuits at this point in the season.  Since we have been in drought conditions for most of the late summer/fall I was not surprised to find the release was lower than past years,  but all were happy to have whitewater to paddle at this point in the season.  This creek tends to collect wood throughout the year,  but a crew from NH and MA had done a good job clearing all but one log we ended up walking around.  This small creek has 5 major class 3+ drops that range from tight turns to steep ledge drops and slides.  Everyone had success and stayed in their boats.  Paul hit a nice roll at the bottom of the first major drop called Slab City which is a steep 10 ft drop over a ledge/old dam site.  Other than that the only other rolls were surfing at a fun ender spot called turn over ledge.  Andrea,  Geoff and I all made our best attempts to ender in the rapid with some success by Andrea and I.  Geoff had some nice attempts but the length of his boat seemed to prevent him from doing the perfect one he was looking for.  All in all it was a great day with great people.  Special thanks to Mark for joining us for the fall drawdown trip for the first time.  Great to be able to introduce someone to a new river.

Participants-  Ryan Galway & Krea Galway OC-2,  Mason Galway C-1,  Evan Eichorn OC-1,  Ron Chase K-1,  Ken Gordon K-1,  Bill Stafford K-1,  Paul Bicknell K-1,  Paul Leclerc K-1,  Eric Kingsley K-1.

We had a decent weather day for this trip with temps in the high 50s and low 60s and some filtered sun.  The day began with an entertaining seal launch by Mason down the grassy bank to the water which no one chose to repeat.  We had a couple of first timers on this trip and I am always a little nervous in making sure they know the lines on this shallow creaky run to avoid any injury’s.  The first test is a rapid called Slab City which is a 6 foot drop at the site of an old dam.  The preferred line is river left.  Most of the boats did quite well but even the ones that were a little off line made it through upright.  We continued down river encountering some wood obstructions which is typical on this narrow low volume run,  but we were able to get over or around them without too much trouble.  The rest of the larger drops were all run successfully with a little bit of trouble by some boaters at Buzzels rapid which is one of the more challenging drops but still everyone remained in their boats.  Down river we saw some nice enders by Mason at a rapid called turnover.  The run wasn’t complete without a couple minor swims in the lower rapids,  none of which were of any consequence.