Here is a much belated account of my travels for competitions and riding in the Northeast.  I began Friday, July 25th and met Patrick for a run on the Deerfield to get familiar. 

The next day, me, Jamie, Rob, Todd, and one other local boater who wanted to give it a go, raced from Dunbar Brook rapid through the bottom of Dragon's Tooth.  Jamie gave me an early challenge before I pulled away for the win, with him taking second and Rob coming in third.  

After competing in a race on the Deerfield and attending the AW festival there that night, I turned my attention first to New York to find some rivers to run during the week between races on the Deerfield and Kennebec rivers.  

I heard the Moose river was running at a low level and went to check it out with the hope that someone would be there to run shuttle for the middle section of river.  However, it was a Monday, so the weekend warrior boaters were back at work.  I did get to check out Fowlersville Falls which was nasty and is at the end of the middle section and the beginning of the Bottom Moose (which would require a few portages on a riverboard). 

All I can say is that at the level I saw it at, I'd rather run a vertical falls from the same height than to run this slide.  Next I went for the Independence river which was short enough for a walk and run, but it was too low.  

Moving on, I headed towards the Black river in Watertown, NY.  I had read that there was a wave there called Inner City Strife that at levels above 10,000 cfs could rival play waves such as Lachine and the New River Dries.  The only problem is that the online gauge was only giving a reading from 1:00 am the night before, so there was no way of knowing if the river would continue to rise above 6,000. 

I got there and sure enough, it had held and not risen, so Inner City Strife wasn't in play.  There was a monsterous looking rapid called Knife Edge that looked fun from the highway.  The drawback was that since the river runs through an urban area the only access is at the put in and take out; and with a hydro dam halfway down the run that wasn't releasing that day the only way I could have ran the river was to solo it, then walk for miles in ankle deep water for the rest of the run.  I couldn't wait until Wednesday for a recreational release because I wanted to be in Vermont and New Hampshire to run some things there.  Thus I had to give up on the Black river too. 

(Kevin's note:  I later found out that if you do the upper section of the Black and get to the dam to portage that the dam operators might turn on the water for you to finish the run.  If that's the case then that is a super cool hydro company and would have been great information to have, but you can't read every single sentence in the guide book and drive at the same time).  

After going 0 for 3 on Monday, I drove through the Adirondacks  so I could camp within striking distance of the Hudson river headwaters.  The put-in for the Hudson gorge is actually on a tributary, a little below a dam on the Indian river.

As I didn't want to do a 17 mile stretch of river just to get class III, I wanted to do the Otter Slide rapid which is just above the put-in.  It had rained the night before and water levels were high for this narrow slide. 

There was a monster hole at the bottom, but one break in it where one could shoot through.  The only catch was that there was a tree limb blocking my path in the entrance.  I was pissed about it being there and thought about trying to go around it and still hit the line, but I always assume that wood you can see above the water is like the tip of the iceberg and that there might be more under water. 

Once again, I had to pass on a great rapid.  Maybe I should start carrying a hand saw in the car so I can do myself and everyone else a favor and cut out the wood. 

I headed east towards Vermont and stopped at the Metcalf river in NY near the border, but found it too low.  Wow, this wasn't going so great.  Between lack of people to board with, wood, and low water levels, I had gone 0 for 5.  I was burning up a lot of gas chasing after water and was coming up short.  I needed to strike gold soon. 

I drove over the Quiche river in Vermont and glanced at it from the bridge, but didn't have time to hike into the gorge.  There is a rapid called Well Enough, because most boaters have chosen to “leave Well Enough alone”  From up high it looked like a crap shoot and could be the fastest, most intense run of one's life, or a very bad hole beating. 

It's hard to describe, but it's basically a narrow canyon with a broken shelf shaped like a backwards L.  I would encourage someone in the area to walk down into the gorge to scout, and consider running if you have the skills, courage, and safety in place, or at least tell me your impression of it from river level.    

I got to the Wells river area in Vermont and set camp to run it in the morning.  I put on hoping it would be high enough, and found out it wasn't.  Thankfully it's only four drops with flat water between each one, so you can float up close to the edge to scout. 

There was only enough water to allow me to run 1 of the 4 drops and even it was a bony slide not anywhere near the glory I've seen it at in pictures.  I ferried across the river and jumped in halfway down the rapid for a little slide on the left, but at least I finally got to run something this week.  This one is a monster at higher water and usually run down the right.    

Tantra at low water. Wells River, VT.