digddeguash?

[kyle]

I'm looking for some info on a little river called the digddeguash (not spelled right but close i think). the river starts south of mckadam and ends not far from st. George. it crosses the #3 highway just before the turnoff to st. Andrews and this is a probable put in. i have a topo for this river and it dosn't look to bad but i would like to find somebody that has run this river or knows someone who has. I know of two small falls that would have to be carried around but some first hand info would be appreciated

[Ken Corbett]

I once drove up to the Barber Dam, that's up a side road just east of Lawrence Station and it goes about five miles or so to the old dam site. That might be a good put-in. I know there are carries just past the school house at Lawrence Station, and falls near the mouth. There is also a long section called the Stillwater that sounds flat (duh). That's all I can tell you, though.

[robl]

First and foremost, the following descriptions are meant as a rough guide and does not eleminate the need for paddling skill and safety on the river. Rivers can kill.

There are basically four sections of note -

Section 1 - Rapids Class 3-4 just below the bridge by Wyman Mills (Below Lawrence Station). Unsure what is below this rapid until you get to the Sorrel Ridge Road above Rollingdam.

Section 2 - From the bailey bridge on the Sorrel Ridge Road you will see the first drop, straight forward Class 2+, easy to scout. From there it is mostly moving water and easy grade 1 until you get to the 'S' turn rapids (for lack of a better name). This rapid is also fairly straight forward class 2/3 around a s-bend. Good eddies on both sides at the bottom, tiny surf inbetween. From here you can see the next rapid down river. This is the biggest rapid on this section. Run river centre with a powerful move river left of center just past a past a huge boulder on your left as there is a large double ledge system coming off the river right bank, at high water this can be a pretty big hole. From here paddle down to the covered bridge on Route 770. This last drop can be scouted from the road on your shuttle by a private driveway with large scary dogs in the driveway. You can run the culvert under the highway at high water just below the covered bridge, stupid paddle tricks.

Section 3 - From the covered bridge to the next covered bridge near Elmsville is flat running water (so I hear). And from that covered bridge in Elmsville to the bailey bridge (used to be covered) in Stillwater is again fast flat water. The last section is the meat.

Section 4 - The last section before the river dumps into the Bay has three rapids - the first is class 2/3, not too bad. The second is a class 4 double drop. DO NOT go river left, unrunnable. River right is a 3 foot drop into a recirculating hole with about 10 feet of boily stuff before you launch off a 10-15 foot drop. This can be scouted from the road by a small overgrown driveway between the Bay and the Bailey bridge. From there you have some grade 1-2 stuff until the last drop which takes you into the Bay and you can see this one from the road, most likely class 5+, unsure if it has ever been run. Looks kinda scary to me although if you timed it with high tide you reduce the drop.

I would not recomend this last section for open boaters. Not a wide river, tricky eddies, and big drops with some consequence. Let me know if you are going to run the river, maybe I can tag along.

Rob from St. Andrews

[kyle]

wow! sounds awsome. I think some more scouting is needed along the more questionable areas. I have a canoeing friend that lives near there and I'm sure that I can talk into doing some more scouting down there (it was his idea to check it out anyway). Definetely do not want to run the last drop, just want to make certain there is nothing similar around a bend upriver. If we do decide to run (rain permiting) I will post here first.

[kyle]

got a chance to run part of the digddeguash this holliday monday. river addict (from this board) and myself run a 28 km. section from the bailey bridge to the bridge at elmsville. what an awsome river! there were some excelent rapids class 2+ to 3.
just a heads up, in rob's post on section 3 there were 2 more significant rapids that did require scouting, the most notable being at the entrance of falls brook.we scouted every rapid we could not see around and it proved very wise to do so. if you choose to run this river do not take it litely if we didn't scout the rapids there definitely would have been some swimming and possibly some damaged boats, there were a few areas wer you did not want to miss your line. if you put in above this area you should be aware that there is a class 3+ to 4 at watt junction that would make for a nasty surprise, possibly other bad spots as well. near the take out in elmsville there was a gauge painted on a rock it was running at 4+ when we ran the river. it would probably be no problem to run at 2-3feet lower, the gauge is in what looks to be a campsite area on river left, there appears to be road going into there i will check this out next time im in the area.