The Vermont Paddlers Club

Sunny, warm temps and medium flows made for a perfect day to be on the Chasm. We put on around 11:30 spending time paddling up to Rainbow Falls to check out the view. Moving downstream we made quick work of horseshoe, second rapid and the diagonal slide all with clean lines. Everyone grabbed an eddie above Elephants most scouted from river left. As we approached the Diagonal Slide the Chasm Company employees were on us. They did nothing more than observe and seemed friendly enough but they were clearly there to make sure we did nothing more than move downstream. They seemed to have no problem with scouting and setting safety at river level. Scott set safety below the long rapid walking up a bit which seemed fine with them as well. Everyone ran Elephant's on the far river right. Scott ran first followed by Mainer, Paul, Justin, Kristen and I in the duo then Caleb. When the Duo dropped off the right side of Elephants Kristen disappeared. She resurfaced and we finished out the long rapid which was quite pushy at this level. The river left side (sneak) of Elephants seemed rather manky although with some effort you can portage river left. We swirled in the eddy on river right waiting for Caleb as a random solo boater in a yellow habitat came down, did not say a word and paddled away. Caleb finished up the rapid and we made our way down to Mike's Hole. The line was start river left, move right around a rock at the entrance then make your way back left to finish boofing the hole toward river left. Again Scott Gilbert (possibly most runs of the Chasm ever) ran first and the rest of the group followed. Everyone made it through and we were done with the major whitewater. Their was some rebar on river left below Mike's Hole by 100ft or so but is easily avoidable in your boat. We enjoyed the narrow vertical walls of the chasm, playing around in some of the remaining rapids and having an extended surf session at the waves below. Motivation seemed high for a second lap but as usual the scrape out taking 30 minutes changed thoughts and we ended up at the takeout satisfied with our one lap. Some made their way to find a milkshake at Stewarts (and possibly some cheap adult beverages) while Kristen and I made our way north to Clare and Carls Michigan dogs in Plattsburgh to cap off the day. Since the destruction of Irene the Chasm Company has put in some ropes courses and climbing apparatus's over some parts of the Chasm around the Long Rapid and Mikes Hole. They did not seem to give us much trouble as long as we were scouting and made some effort to move downstream. The run at this level had a medium feel with most rapids being class IV and right side elephants class IV+. Caleb had his personal first decent and I believe Kristen and myself had the first decent in a K2. This runs is high quality both in scenery and rapids, the paddle out is somewhat long so get their early if you plan on doing multiple laps. Warm weather creeking is a pretty nice appeal in the Northeast.