The Vermont Paddlers Club

MWL once again put out notice there would be a  "one tube" release. Having missed the previous one, I was real keen to get on this one.  Unfortunately, it was scheduled for Friday making the eligible particpants a bit more limited then a weekend release.  And one tube is a low volume run though definitely passable (well as the story progresses you may decide otherwise for yourself). 

I was able to hook up with Tom Cronin who works from home and has some flexibility in his schedule. Our plan was to meet at 10:30. Earlier is often better with MWL as the flow sometimes stops a bit before the scheduled time.  

When we arrived at the used car dealer at the Green's confluence with the Lamoille, we found no other cars there. (Tom had checked in to request permission for parking.) A little surprising as there hasn't been much local boating lately, but then again it was a Friday. Off we went to the put in where the day was becoming sunnier and warmer.  

The river at the put in was at a pleasant fluid level.Neither Tom or I had run the river much and did not really know the rapids well. And there were reports of wood in various places, so we committed to scouting as necessary. 

After the opening boogie water we quickly came to Moonshine.  Neither Tom or I had ever run it. But we thought we'd take a look.  With the low flow, it seemed it would be relatively easy to get well placed for the 10 ft(?) drop/boof. And that turned out to be the case. I came off the right side of the falls while Tom was a bit more center. He did manage to miss the rock pile just a bit further over to the left.  Avoiding the undercut rock  at double squeeze was straight up  as the flow was not very pushy.

From there to Young Buck there was not a whole lot of excitement due to the water level. All class III drops were pretty straight forward. We didn't scout as the upstream visuals gave us enough comfort regarding any potential wood.  We did need to portage in the flat area to avoid two river wide trees and we did scooch (technical term, look it up if you need to) over a few others without incident.

Young Buck now has some impassable wood in it. Well at least at this level. And the main log shifted so a branch is sticking down where one might pass under it. Not that this mattered to Tom or me. It's not like we would run it.

Now Tom hadn't been out white water kayaking since October of last year. His first drop, in close to a year, is Moonshine. When we get to Humble Pie, he asks if we should scout or run it blind. He's never done this rapid either (though he has looked a tit plenty). Given the lower water flow I figured the recirc wouldn't be too bad. So off we go. Both of us had great lines going center left. Tom, it turns out, is a pretty good boater.  The next section was a little thin but you you could get through without too much plastic loss. We took a look back at Humble Pie mid way through the next rapid. That is one of the most gorgeous sights on the river, especially when its high 60's and sunny(ish).

When we got to lumber yard we did get out and scout. No wood, but the water was barely coming over the flake rock.  I decided to try it and while it wasn't a s*** show, it wasn't pretty. I was surprised when Tom decided to follow. And he aced it. He got over the flake rock with just enough oomph and completed the rapid without issue.  

The rest was bump and run. The final rapid before Pition had a tree in the left side line. I almost missed getting over right but was able to with a bit more work then I wanted. I took the hard, hard, hard right side at Piton and had no issue getting into the eddy there.  Tom followed but only went hard right, much to his dismay.  He found Piton! and broached in it. We got him out, while he stayed in his  boat, with a rope pull. As he was still in his boat (though not really upright entirely), I said to stay in it and I would right him.it He said, "Uh, no, the boat's cracked." He wasn't kidding. There was a crack in the nose that ran under the boat for about 1 1/2 feet.  The nose was litterally separating from the rest of the boat. Crazy. He amazingly was of good spirits regarding the whole situation. He said, "Well, a fitting end for the boat. And hey, this is the first time I have to walk off a river but have dry hair!".  

As you may have concluded, there was no second lap for us.