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I'm not much of a racer, but there is one race in CT that I have done several times - the Scantic Spring Splash downriver race. Its a 5-mile race - mostly quickwater with 4 class II+ (maybe III) rapids in the second half. I've done it many times in my solo boat, so this year decided to try it...

We had a lot of rain around here this week, so I got out to do some whitewater paddling on the Upper Millers. It a 7-mile class II/III run with a lot of rocks to dodge and eddies to catch. We had a big group – 4 canoes and 10 kayaks. Few pictures here...

If you are looking for whitewater in RI, the Clear/Branch is pretty much it. It's a 7-mile run with 3 easy class II rapids. My local club (RICKA) ran a race on this river on the 3rd Saturday in March from 1980 until 2005. It was discontinued when insurance became to expensive and river access...

After a long cold snap, the forecast was for warming weather on Sunday. We put-out the word, and got a group together for a trip down the Wood-Pawcatuck in RI – three boats, four paddlers, all canoes. It was like “river church”. It was a short run – only 5-miles. The river was at a nice level...

2024 was a pretty good paddling year of me – 54 trips with a good split between flatwater (19), whitewater (15) and sea kayak (18). What I didn’t get to do much of was camping – only 2 overnight trips. For 2025, I want to keep doing what I’m doing, but also get out on a couple of longer camping...

Not exactly sure where to put this, but it was winter and we were camping, so I’ll put it here. Last year I got together with some other members of our local club (RICKA) to do a year-end, overnight camping trip the last weekend in December. We had five campers on that trip and had a great...

You’re probably not going to believe this, but its true. I saw Santa Claus, and he was not in a sleigh being pulled by reindeer. He was in a canoe - a red canoe. Here’s what happened. It was Christmas Eve a couple of years ago. I had finished all my shopping, so I decided to take my canoe out...

I don’t get out poling as much as I’d like to, but I was able to get out for a (day early) Winter Solstice Poling Cruise on the Nashua River. We did the section on the North Branch of the Nashua River from Leominster to Lancaster (MA). The river was about 2.5 feet on the Leominster gage - a...

A lot of posts here with folks looking for advice on composite boats – especially solo river runners. My first thought on seeing these posts is to recommend looking for a used Royalex boat, but I know they are hard to find. When I started paddling back in 2004 there was a nice group of solo...

Back in September I ran the class III section of the West River below the Ball Mountain Dam during the fall release. The first rapid just below the dam is called Initiation. It’s one of those rapids that is relatively easy if you take the right line, but usually ends in disaster if you don’t –...

For 21-years, the MVP and NHAMC have been sponsoring the year-end Drawdown and BBQ on the class II section of the Piscataquog River below the Gregg’s Falls Dam in NH. Jonathan and I were planning to do a tandem run, so we rounded up a few other tandem boaters to join us – a tandem boat posse...

You don't see this very often - a tripping canoe running the class III section below the Ball Mountain Dam on the West River in VT. This (father/son?) team made it look easy. They took the far right line through some pretty big waves - that's the way the raft guides go. Kid in the bow does...

This one is definitely on my list - down the backside of the Ball Mountain Dam on the West River in VT. It is not particularly long (little over half a mile), but the rocky path zig-zags 247-feet down to the river - that's about 22 stories. I used my cart to get my canoe to the bottom...

A friend has been bringing one on trips, and I am becoming a convert. Doesn't take up to much room, will cook a ton of food, and is easy to clean. Here was breakfast yesterday - a dozen eggs, home fries and bacon. I'm not big on runny eggs, so I had him flip mine - tasted great. This was...

I had my third swim of the year yesterday at the Bradford Fish Weirs on the Pawcatuck River in RI. At least around here, fish weirs have become a popular alternative to dam removal at sites where there is a desire to keep the wetland behind the dam, or where the cost of removing pollution from...

One of the local AMC chapters does Thursday night runs on the Tville section of the Farmington River. I finally made it to a run last night. Tville is a short run with lots of play spots, but the best known in the main play hole. I've seen plenty of kayakers play boating in that hole, but this...

Don’t know how many of you folks are in the northeast, but if you are you have probably been to a dam release on the Deerfield River. You can do the big stuff on the Dryway, or easier stuff below the Fife Brook Dam. We went Saturday and did the run from the Fife Brook Dam down to the Shunpike...

I was back with the kayakers yesterday for a run on the Pemi in Woodstock, NH. The Pemigewasset arises in the White Mountains near Franconia Notch and flows south for 65-miles to Franklin where it joins the Winnipesaukee River to form the Merrimack River. There are several sections of the Pemi...

I don’t know if this post should go in the Poling section, the Solo section, or the Tandem section, so I’ll put it here. We had nine canoes (1 tandem, 3 solos and 5 polers) running the 11-mile section of the White River from Stockbridge to Bethel in VT. The river was a little low for the...

I was back with the kayakers yesterday to paddle a short, fun river in north central CT – the Scantic. The Scantic arises near Springfield, MA and flows southwest into CT to join the Connecticut River. We would be running the 5-mile section from Somers to Hazardville that is the site of the...