The Vermont Paddlers Club

After a good soaking it seemed like things should be popping. And they were. Reports of 1 3/4" of rain in St Jay made me hope Joe's would go. Justin and Dan responded and off we went. The rivers going over were all different levels. Beaver Meadow was getting up there, the Mill Brook off of App Gap was low, the Mad was getting big, and the Winooski looked big.

The dam gauge was at 5.1 which is okay but...the turbines weren't cranking. The first half of the trip was a bit scratchy. Which was okay as there are some strainers and wood to be avoided. From the covered bridge on we had a very fluid run. Both Justin and Dan were on it for the first time. None of us ran the covered bridge though it definitely looked doable. When we got to the big slide we all ran right to center. There is a huge broken tree in the middle of the left side. Probably avoidable but why bother. Somewhere along the slide Dan realized he made a good choice in getting a full face helmet. It proved useful. And with that the fun kept on coming, We took a look at the waterfall. Justin boofed nicely and I took the left line. Everything after that was read and run, Or maybe just run . There were some ugly lines but if you don't want to get out you take what you get. The gorge was very easy at this level. It left us time to enjoy our surroundings.

We finished in sunshine with smiles. As usual Joe's did not disappoint.