The Vermont Paddlers Club

Beaverfest is Labor Day Weekend, and you don't miss it.  You just don't.  I always warn friends and relatives that if they die in early September and their funeral is on Labor Day weekend, I won't be there, because there's paddling to be done.

You get four fairly good sections of whitewater in three days - the great Stone Valley section of Raquette, the very rare Moshier section of the Beaver, a sort of waterpark at Eagle Falls on the Beaver, and the perfect stepping-up-to-creeking-from-intermediate-rivers section of Taylorville.  The Hudson Gorge and Black River are convenient options to add in there if you want as well.  You're friends will probably be there.  You can also camp out by the river, drink more beer than you should and maybe cause a little bit of harmless mayhem if you really want to. 

There's not much over there if you're looking for gnar, mostly just class III-IV type stuff with a little IV+ or V- if you want.  I remember my first time here: I hadn't done much of anything beyond the standard class II-III stuff... Lower Lamoille, Lower Mad, Otter Creek.  I think my most adventurous run had been a low-water Lower New Haven lap.  Then I went to Beaverfest and learned that slides, waterfalls and boulder gardens are runnable and fun.  I also camped wherever I felt like, ate greasy campfire food, came home sunburned and filthy and generally felt like a real kayaker.  Combined with an Ottawa trip two weeks before, it changed the way I looked at the sport, and probably at life.

So I guess none of this is truly world-class whitewater, but class III boaters can try out some class IV, and class IV boaters can try out some class V, and I can sit in an eddy drinking beer and watching the resulting river festival chaos.  Beyond that I'm not sure what else to point out, other than that no matter how dry a summer is, you can always look forward to Beaverfest.