Not Middlebury, and New Haven 10-29-07

So I was going to run the Middlebury Gorge yesterday with Justin Crannell, but due to my taking a wrong turn on the way we didn't have time and headed to the New Haven instead. Unfortunately, on the way, I was hit by an old lady. I was happy to just let the damage go and not call the cops, even though the damage to my car was significantly worse than to her's (although not major in either case):

Her car:



She insisted on calling the cops, so Justin went on and ran the New Haven without me while I sat there and dealt with the police. After the cop left (over an hour later, I'd guess) I bombed up to the New Haven and caught Justin just after he'd de-geared. Thankfully, he geared up again and we sped down the New Haven in about 15 minutes. It seems like a fun run. I didn't get any pictures of us, although Justin's friend got some video, and I took a picture of Toaster:

Big Branch, 10-28-07

Ran the Big Branch at around 3 feet today with Jeff Sharpe, Justin Crannell, and Eric Nies. Justin and I ran everything but an unrunnable section (b/c of wood and mankiness) below Cave Drop. The Pentax Optio W30 waterproof camera definitely works much better when it's not raining and dark out:

Jeff and Justin scouting Cave Drop


Jeff boofing


Justin droppping off the first boof in Boof Left Twice


Jeff and Eric on the last slot-boof on the run

Halls Brook, 10/27/07

Ran Halls Brook twice today with Nate Lesch-Huie, Greg Hanlon, and Brad. First run was at 8'1", pretty bony, second was around 8'5" and rising -- tons of fun. Tough to get pictures when it's dark and raining, especially when we stopped in maybe 4 eddies on the whole run, but I did what I could:

Upper Mascoma and Downtown, 10/25/07

Ran the Upper Mascoma with the intermediate PE class at Dartmouth (one student, with Eric Klem and I instructing):



Then went and did two runs on the Downtown section with Jeff Sharpe:



This one's a little blurry, but still cool:

Upper Baker, 10/20/07

On the way back to Hanover from Hubbard Brook (NH), we stopped and ran the Upper Baker, putting on around 5. This run is fun, and easy to bomb down quickly. At the level we ran it the boogie water was mostly bouncing down rocks but the channeled granite drops were awesome. I gather most New Hampshire creeking has those granite channels / mini-gorges, so I can't wait to do more paddling there. The last drop is definitely the best, a small boof into a narrow granite channel that keeps dropping for a little ways. Fun, class III/IV run (I think AW is quite wrong calling it a V).

Hubbard Brook, NH 10/20/07

This creek has only been run a few times, but is one of the best (and most intense) runs in the area if not in the entire northeast. The first few miles (probably three or so) are class IV-V boogie water, with one drop you'll want to scout.

That drop follows not too long after what's pretty much the only pool on the run, with fast moving water on river left and a (relatively) big eddy on river right with a nice flat shore area. In the actual drop, the river splits around a mid-stream boulder and the river right side plows into what looks to be a big undercut rock, pillowing really nastily (you'd probably be crushed if you hit it straight on). The river left side (the side people run) is a five or six foot boof straight towards a rock wall (maybe two feet out from the bottom of the ledge). You boof with a little bit of right angle and end up on a rock or in the eddy right under the drop before peeling out under part of the flow coming from the river right side and heading downstream. The lead-in to the boof is a bit tricky (most of our group screwed it up and pitoned) -- just above the lip, the right half of the lead-in is a fairly exposed rock. However, if you approach from too far left you'll really just get pushed right (and have to scramble left over this rock to avoid falling down the river right side) which screws up your boof line completely, causing a piton into the wall at the bottom (which didn't result in a pin for anyone in our group but looked like it could).

There are two gorges in the run, one of which begins with a mandatory portage due mostly to wood. You can either portage on the right over a huge cliff and skip the whole gorge or ferry to a one boat eddy on river left and get out and haul boats up and across a very steep slope to an eddy below the first drop. Ropes are recommended if not necessary, as a slip could easily mean death (falling a fairly long distance onto rocks in an already unrunnable drop). The second drop in the gorge is probably about 12' and runnable on far river right. Put in in the eddy river left below the first drop, ferry above a partially submerged rock to an eddy in the middle below a large boulder at the bottom of the first drop, and peel out and across. Ride the right wall, maybe with a little bit of left angle and it's pretty straightforward. You can also easily walk around this drop.

The next drop is an easy lead-in to a far river left boof (that looks really shallow from above). Following this as the river starts to bend right again is a really manky drop that you want to start off near the middle of and bounce down to a pillowing rock which you fade off the left side of. This is pretty much the end of the first gorge.

Not too much further is the second gorge, which begins with a big pool above a tree that spans maybe 85% of the river. All the drops here are runnable, but walking is recommended because a nasty sieve (more than one really, but one that's significantly in play). Scouting can be done on both sides, but portaging is easiest on river right, as is scouting although it might not be a bad idea to get a look from both sides. Maybe the third drop in the sequence is a narrow notch-pillow move on the river right wall (the river left side sieves out) followed by a manky turn back to the left which comes out with two options separated by two boulders in the middle of the river. The river right slot is an angled boof and the river left slot is a straightforward but slightly manky ledge. The boulders that separate the river, though, form a very nasty sieve that one of our group was pinned in (underwater) for twenty seconds before swimming through the sieve. His boat had to be pulled free with a ropes. Going for the right slot here is incredibly dangerous -- if you mess it up you could easily piton, lose speed, and wash right into the sieve. Going for the left slot isn't as bad because you should have speed going in that direction (directly above the sieve) but is still dangerous. After the pin the rest of our group walked this drop (although beforehand three people had made it safely).

After that drop, the run is fairly straightforward. Another mile or two (probably) of class IV-V boogie, and then one 10' or so river wide ledge that is best run about 8 feet off the river left wall going right (there's a boof there). From there it's mostly class II-III boogie until you cross under a highway and there's a nice 8' slide that can probably be run anywhere but seemed to be cleanest if you go through the right hand tunnel under the highway. Then it's flatwater to the takeout (a couple hundred yards downstream).


As best I can remember there were two brief log portages, one during the first few miles of boogie water and one after the second gorge and before the big riverwide ledge.

This is a fantastic run even without the gorges (which are awesome but quite dangerous, especially the sieve drop) and with a bit of chainsaw effort at low water, the first drop of the first gorge could probably go down the far right side making the extremely sketchy portage unnecessary. I wouldn't take anyone who isn't an experienced class V creeker down this run.

Moosefest '07

First time at Moosefest.