After being "iced out" last Friday the 10th
, we did the Tay yesterday evening and it was nice
, but low.
Real low... like- 2 inches over the footing low... like- I don't wanta look at the bottom of my boat low
.
Enjoyable run all the same. Yie Haw Enjoyable. Air temperatures started warmer and stayed warmer.
Looked like a sweeper on River Right at one Island but River Left was clear.
The culprits were Paul M. and Beth R. in a Swift Demoine and me solo in the OT Cascade.
We left town by 3:15 and by 4:30 pm we were "in the River and reeeaadddyyyyy to rumble. (See section of note on logistics for the magic on that trick.)
We were at the take out by 7:15 and snow made it real easy to slide the boats up to the road.
The GPS says we did 17.3 K and the barometric altimiter in the GPS says we dropped 90 m, while the lines of elevation say from 150 m down to 50 m.
We didn't do much playing, and only had a short lunch... thanks Beth or the subs.
Things were boney at the top, a few ledges were thin, scraped on one, and ground a rock or two. I was blaming it in the bad light at that time of day.
Paul, who has done this River a ship load of times, thinks it was "... as low as I have ever run it.." and at the lower limit of an enjoyable run.
The lower water levels made the falls on the Bible Camp road look more menacing than usual. They were easy to get over sans scrape, or grind, or swim, provided we stayed on River Left.
All in all, a great swim free evening.
If we get more rain than predicted, maybe it will still be good on Saturday.
If you are going... pls let me know.
HEADS UPs
At the bridge footing there are new and improved rusted off pieces of rebar that are thinned to a fine point by the River. If you are lucky you will only gouge your boat, if unlucky you will drive it through the bottom of your foot.
As noted, looked like a sweeper on River Right at one island but River Left was clear and the gravel bar was deep enough down.
LOGISTICS
We were able to do it in "after work", albeit a day that ended before 3pm, only because the evening before we dumped the '84 Oldsmobile Omega Brougham, aka "Pimp Daddy Paddle Mobile (PDPM)
", aka "RUV - Redneck Utility Vehicle" at the take out on the bible camp road. Thanks to Mike G. for the help there.
This saved a pile of time as it is 40 minutes one way from the "put in" to the "take out" so that is 1h 20 minutes to position a vehicle going from the take out. The PDPM's extra wide roof rack let us get our two boats out in one trip.
Cheers to all,
Dino
www.MaliseetTrail.com