Post by esspeegee on Apr 28, 2013 7:32:25 GMT -5
There was still a bit of snow in the woods and ice in the shady ponds ... but we knew it was going to be a warm and sunny spring day. We decided to try the upper stretch of the Keswick.
We put-in at the bridge on Valley Forest Road at around 9:30am and we took out at around 5:30 at the bridge on the 104 in Burtt's Corner. It was a leisurely eight hours later on river with lots of mini-breaks and a long lunch-stop.
Water levels on the gauge at Narrows Mountain on the Nashwaak was reading somewhere between 5.55 and 5.6. We had plenty of water to run every rapid, usually with more than one choice for lines. Gravel bars were obvious and there was no dragging or scraping (as long as we avoided the sneaky rocks).
During the first hour, we encountered a LOT of blowdowns and needed to portage. There is a an amazing set of rapids in this first section where the river really drops fast and has lots of interesting twists. Unfortunately, there is a treacherous sweeper guarding the top of this rapid (about 1/3 of the way down). Proceed with caution! There was also one beaver d**n that seems to have been in place for a couple seasons and it resulted in a few wet feet trying to find an 'easy' portage route.
The rapids in the upper stretch of the Keswick are truly fantastic for us "novice" white water boaters with open boats. My bow-woman is a nervous paddler but she absolutely loved all of these tricky rips. All the rapids are safe and do-able ... but still a tonne of fun.
We went for a little swim on a drop that's on a bend in the river. The water splits around a rock in the middle ... the route on river left has an aggressive "curl" and the route on river right has a significant "drop" followed by a change in current-direction. We took the route on the right and as soon as the bow dropped into the rapid, my bow-woman decided to eject. She did a "super man" jump out of the boat! :-) :-) I don't know if this rapid has a name but we're now going to call it "Superman Rips".
After emptying the boat, I hauled back to the top of the rapid (two more times) and restored my ego by verifying that both the left and right routes are "do-able". :-)
I've now paddled the East (main?) Branch and West Branch of the upper Keswick. Both are awesome ... but the main branch was a lot more open and really comes close to being a perfect river trip.
A day like this, on a river like this, with these friends, is what makes NB such a fantastic place to be.
We put-in at the bridge on Valley Forest Road at around 9:30am and we took out at around 5:30 at the bridge on the 104 in Burtt's Corner. It was a leisurely eight hours later on river with lots of mini-breaks and a long lunch-stop.
Water levels on the gauge at Narrows Mountain on the Nashwaak was reading somewhere between 5.55 and 5.6. We had plenty of water to run every rapid, usually with more than one choice for lines. Gravel bars were obvious and there was no dragging or scraping (as long as we avoided the sneaky rocks).
During the first hour, we encountered a LOT of blowdowns and needed to portage. There is a an amazing set of rapids in this first section where the river really drops fast and has lots of interesting twists. Unfortunately, there is a treacherous sweeper guarding the top of this rapid (about 1/3 of the way down). Proceed with caution! There was also one beaver d**n that seems to have been in place for a couple seasons and it resulted in a few wet feet trying to find an 'easy' portage route.
The rapids in the upper stretch of the Keswick are truly fantastic for us "novice" white water boaters with open boats. My bow-woman is a nervous paddler but she absolutely loved all of these tricky rips. All the rapids are safe and do-able ... but still a tonne of fun.
We went for a little swim on a drop that's on a bend in the river. The water splits around a rock in the middle ... the route on river left has an aggressive "curl" and the route on river right has a significant "drop" followed by a change in current-direction. We took the route on the right and as soon as the bow dropped into the rapid, my bow-woman decided to eject. She did a "super man" jump out of the boat! :-) :-) I don't know if this rapid has a name but we're now going to call it "Superman Rips".
After emptying the boat, I hauled back to the top of the rapid (two more times) and restored my ego by verifying that both the left and right routes are "do-able". :-)
I've now paddled the East (main?) Branch and West Branch of the upper Keswick. Both are awesome ... but the main branch was a lot more open and really comes close to being a perfect river trip.
A day like this, on a river like this, with these friends, is what makes NB such a fantastic place to be.