It was time for another Fife Brook run this past weekend, the main objective being to run the Gap clean in my boat.
I got there late because of a slow start and because I stopped en route because I was sleepy. I got there 20 minutes late, but Bryan, the trip leader, was 20 minutes late. As a result, we had a really late start and had to hurry so as not to run out of water.
At Hangover Helper, I ran the boof into the midriver eddy at the bottom of the drop near the big river left eddy. I practiced my new ferrying technique and didn't flip on any.
I got my best rides of the year at the first playspot, using techniques I learned at the course to catch the microeddy and then the wave.
I missed the big catch-on-the-fly wave at the start of Freight Train. We didn't spend much time under the bridge, opting for lunch at a less rocky place near the Bridge to Nowhere. I did do a couple good squirts here and got some more good surfing on the small waves below the bridge.
After lunch, we went through the rock garden fast, which made me happy, and we didn't even stop at Miami Beach. Before I knew it, we were at the Gap. Bryan, Tony and I ran the Gap. Bryan took a very complicated, difficult and technical route, and I convinced Tony to run the left side with me, boofing into the first eddy.
I got through with no trouble, but blew a ferry in the wave train below the Gap, resulting in a swim. I was unhappy about this, so I decided to continue down to the picnic area to practice some rolls in the flatwater. I hit the first two but then I swam again. I don't know what happened to my roll at the end of the day. I hope I was just tired from rushing down Fife Brook. I might do some extra flatwater practice if I get a chance.
7/10/2006
7/03/2006
Intermediate Course Day 2--Dead @ 1300 cfs
I had a difficult time falling asleep on Friday night on account of some snoring in one of the neighboring tents, so the first thing I did Saturday morning was drive up to Webb's General Store to buy some Red Bull. After two and a nap on the commercial shuttle, I was ready for 17 miles of wilderness paddling on the Dead River at the low, technical release of 1300 cfs.
The first rapid was not technical at all. The river narrowed to about 75 feet, with a rock wall on river right. A short drop led into a wave train and there were eddies on both sides--a perfect place for more ferrying practice. We did a lot of ferries and there was a bit of a jet ferry wave too. I flipped a few times and swam twice, hopefully because the Red Bulls hadn't kicked in yet and I was still tired.
We finally headed on down through a fairly quiet, but moving section. We went through a couple of easy class II's before pulling off for lunch. At lunch, we were reminded that the rapids would get progressively harder the rest of the way down, starting soon.
Elephant Rock was the first of the major rapids. There was a choice of running the middle, where there were a bunch of waves or "the slot" a narrow chute on river right between the shore and a big pourover. I was going to run the slot, but I decided the big waves would be too fun to pass up. When I eddied out behind the pourover, and watched the others go through the slot, I regretted my decision. It looked like a really fun chute with good gradient and no major consequences.
Pretty soon we approached Mile-Long Rapid, which seemed much shorter than it was. There were lots of waves, rocks, pourovers and holes. I was able to get around most of the things that needed to be avoided by catching eddies and looking for hazards. At one point, I flipped over right before a big rock though. I rolled up quick and saw the rock right in front of my face, so I grabbed it before I hit it and pulled myself up and pushed around it. I got partially stuck on two rocks a short while later but again was able to push myself free with my hands.
We eddied out on river left before the final series of significant rapids, Upper and Lower Poplar Hill Falls. I have no idea why it's called a falls; it's just a steep rapid, but nothing close to a waterfall. Andy told us we were on our own for finding a route down, meaning we wouldn't have to follow him if we didn't want to. It looked really steep, so I decided to follow him, but I missed an eddy he caught right away, so I was on my own. I moved from river left to river right to run a fairly big ledge. What looked to me like a soft spot in the ledge was actually about a ten inch drop onto a flat rock with very little water going over it. I ran this spot and ended up stopped on this rock, which was very surprising and strange. How do you stop in the middle of a rapid without catching an eddy? I waved to the others going passed me and laughed. I wiggled off the rock and went on down. Lower Poplar was awesome, with fast water, big waves and holes, and rocks and pourovers to eddy out behind. Andy caught up to me at the bottom and said he liked the way I had run the whole thing.
This was the end of the significant whitewater. The rest of the way was class I, maybe II- in a couple spots. I wanted to relax, and give my crunched feet a chance to be free, so I pulled my skirt and put my knees above the cockpit. I knew that without a skirt, I was committed to swimming if I flipped, but I did not think I would since the water was so easy. What I failed to take into account was the amount of water that would get into the boat. Eventually, enough water got in that the bow was really diving and the whole boat was getting spun and pulled under whenever I hit one of the small waves. After a bunch of close calls, I finally flipped over and swam. I was content to swim all the way to the takeout, which was in sight about half a mile down, but I was convinced it would be safer to go to shore and get back in the boat. I tediously got it emptied on the rocks, got back in and paddled to the takeout with Sohan, who had nicely waited for me.
So, after 8 hours on the river, the course was over. (There were far too many rapids for me to remember and describe, so I have only included the major ones here). Sohan and I were the only ones not staying over, so we made a quick getaway so as not to get home too late. We left the campground at 9:10 and got home about 1:45, which was pretty good.
I became a much better ferryer and scouter as a result of this course. I feel I can run harder rapids now by finding easier routes. The last few rapids on the Dead were really great and it is my favorite river so far.
The first rapid was not technical at all. The river narrowed to about 75 feet, with a rock wall on river right. A short drop led into a wave train and there were eddies on both sides--a perfect place for more ferrying practice. We did a lot of ferries and there was a bit of a jet ferry wave too. I flipped a few times and swam twice, hopefully because the Red Bulls hadn't kicked in yet and I was still tired.
We finally headed on down through a fairly quiet, but moving section. We went through a couple of easy class II's before pulling off for lunch. At lunch, we were reminded that the rapids would get progressively harder the rest of the way down, starting soon.
Elephant Rock was the first of the major rapids. There was a choice of running the middle, where there were a bunch of waves or "the slot" a narrow chute on river right between the shore and a big pourover. I was going to run the slot, but I decided the big waves would be too fun to pass up. When I eddied out behind the pourover, and watched the others go through the slot, I regretted my decision. It looked like a really fun chute with good gradient and no major consequences.
Pretty soon we approached Mile-Long Rapid, which seemed much shorter than it was. There were lots of waves, rocks, pourovers and holes. I was able to get around most of the things that needed to be avoided by catching eddies and looking for hazards. At one point, I flipped over right before a big rock though. I rolled up quick and saw the rock right in front of my face, so I grabbed it before I hit it and pulled myself up and pushed around it. I got partially stuck on two rocks a short while later but again was able to push myself free with my hands.
We eddied out on river left before the final series of significant rapids, Upper and Lower Poplar Hill Falls. I have no idea why it's called a falls; it's just a steep rapid, but nothing close to a waterfall. Andy told us we were on our own for finding a route down, meaning we wouldn't have to follow him if we didn't want to. It looked really steep, so I decided to follow him, but I missed an eddy he caught right away, so I was on my own. I moved from river left to river right to run a fairly big ledge. What looked to me like a soft spot in the ledge was actually about a ten inch drop onto a flat rock with very little water going over it. I ran this spot and ended up stopped on this rock, which was very surprising and strange. How do you stop in the middle of a rapid without catching an eddy? I waved to the others going passed me and laughed. I wiggled off the rock and went on down. Lower Poplar was awesome, with fast water, big waves and holes, and rocks and pourovers to eddy out behind. Andy caught up to me at the bottom and said he liked the way I had run the whole thing.
This was the end of the significant whitewater. The rest of the way was class I, maybe II- in a couple spots. I wanted to relax, and give my crunched feet a chance to be free, so I pulled my skirt and put my knees above the cockpit. I knew that without a skirt, I was committed to swimming if I flipped, but I did not think I would since the water was so easy. What I failed to take into account was the amount of water that would get into the boat. Eventually, enough water got in that the bow was really diving and the whole boat was getting spun and pulled under whenever I hit one of the small waves. After a bunch of close calls, I finally flipped over and swam. I was content to swim all the way to the takeout, which was in sight about half a mile down, but I was convinced it would be safer to go to shore and get back in the boat. I tediously got it emptied on the rocks, got back in and paddled to the takeout with Sohan, who had nicely waited for me.
So, after 8 hours on the river, the course was over. (There were far too many rapids for me to remember and describe, so I have only included the major ones here). Sohan and I were the only ones not staying over, so we made a quick getaway so as not to get home too late. We left the campground at 9:10 and got home about 1:45, which was pretty good.
I became a much better ferryer and scouter as a result of this course. I feel I can run harder rapids now by finding easier routes. The last few rapids on the Dead were really great and it is my favorite river so far.
Intermediate Course Day 1--East Outlet, Kennebec
After an arduous drive up to The Forks, ME, (2 hours and 15 minutes from Newton, MA to the NH state line) we arose early to drive to the put-in for the East Outlet of the Kennebec River on Moosehead Lake over a one-lane logging road. We saw a deer on the road, but no moose.
I was surprised by how wide the river was at the put-in. After the group ran shuttle in my mom's van, which I borrowed for the trip because I was riding with Sohan, another student in the course, the group was instructed by Andy Novick to start doing some ferries, which would be the theme of the day. We were instructed to commit to the ferry by looking where we wanted to end up by having our whole bodies facing the destination. This helped a lot with maintaining the angle and not flipping over.
After a bunch of ferries in the shallow class I rapid, we started paddling upstream to to a more significant rapid under a railroad bridge. We did some more ferries here and a few including me attempted to do a very difficult attainment that involved eddy hopping from river right to river left, back to the right and under the bridge into a midriver eddy on the right and out into a wave train back to the left. The wave train was about five waves long and we then tried to attain each wave from the one immediately downstream. I only got up two waves past the bottom.
We broke into two groups here and continued on down the river, ferrying back and forth and catching many eddies. A short distance down the river a thunderstorm blew over, making me nervous because we were not really in a gorge. As the storm drew closer, we finally got out and walked downstream to scout a bigger rapid that was coming up. I selected a line and noted the location of some pourovers near the bottom. When I ran it though, I could not locate any of the landmarks that marked my line. I ended up running it straight through, not catching any eddies, so I decided to carry up and run it again. I did get one eddy that time.
We played in the wave train at the base of this rapid for a long time and had lunch. There was a diagonal wave that you could jet ferry across here, which was fun. I did a couple of stern squirts on one of the eddy lines, and managed to get up and stay up on a couple. I did swim after one of them, but I got kudos for attempting seven rolls before bailing.
We eventually continued on down, through some smaller rapids, with lots of rock that you could run agrond on (unpleasant). There were a few surfing waves, but I didn't really catch any of them.
There was one more big rapid before the trip ended with a two mile flatwater paddle on Indian Pond. We scouted again, and I ran a good line, catching some eddies on the way in to get a better view. We did some more ferries at the bottom and I swam again trying to peel out in the rapid to build momentum for the flatwater. I did some rolls on the flatwater to boost my confidence.
This was not one of my favorite rivers. All the shallow rocks and the flatwater paddling was too much of a price to pay for two nice rapids. I did think I improved my ferrying though.
I was surprised by how wide the river was at the put-in. After the group ran shuttle in my mom's van, which I borrowed for the trip because I was riding with Sohan, another student in the course, the group was instructed by Andy Novick to start doing some ferries, which would be the theme of the day. We were instructed to commit to the ferry by looking where we wanted to end up by having our whole bodies facing the destination. This helped a lot with maintaining the angle and not flipping over.
After a bunch of ferries in the shallow class I rapid, we started paddling upstream to to a more significant rapid under a railroad bridge. We did some more ferries here and a few including me attempted to do a very difficult attainment that involved eddy hopping from river right to river left, back to the right and under the bridge into a midriver eddy on the right and out into a wave train back to the left. The wave train was about five waves long and we then tried to attain each wave from the one immediately downstream. I only got up two waves past the bottom.
We broke into two groups here and continued on down the river, ferrying back and forth and catching many eddies. A short distance down the river a thunderstorm blew over, making me nervous because we were not really in a gorge. As the storm drew closer, we finally got out and walked downstream to scout a bigger rapid that was coming up. I selected a line and noted the location of some pourovers near the bottom. When I ran it though, I could not locate any of the landmarks that marked my line. I ended up running it straight through, not catching any eddies, so I decided to carry up and run it again. I did get one eddy that time.
We played in the wave train at the base of this rapid for a long time and had lunch. There was a diagonal wave that you could jet ferry across here, which was fun. I did a couple of stern squirts on one of the eddy lines, and managed to get up and stay up on a couple. I did swim after one of them, but I got kudos for attempting seven rolls before bailing.
We eventually continued on down, through some smaller rapids, with lots of rock that you could run agrond on (unpleasant). There were a few surfing waves, but I didn't really catch any of them.
There was one more big rapid before the trip ended with a two mile flatwater paddle on Indian Pond. We scouted again, and I ran a good line, catching some eddies on the way in to get a better view. We did some more ferries at the bottom and I swam again trying to peel out in the rapid to build momentum for the flatwater. I did some rolls on the flatwater to boost my confidence.
This was not one of my favorite rivers. All the shallow rocks and the flatwater paddling was too much of a price to pay for two nice rapids. I did think I improved my ferrying though.
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