overcast, rainy and chilly. It really doesn't get much better than that. We took off on saturday morning with a little confusion and sort of just started driving. Larry called from up in skowhegan and thought some creeks would be going off so we decided to head that direction. We didnt get on the river till late in that day, sometime after 12:00, but it was well worth it. Chris, who lives up in Skowhegan and apparently is a bit of a name around that state, took us over to Carrying Place stream. It was a great little creek the runs into Wyman lake, halfway between Skowhegan and The Forks. The first mile or so was pretty low and rocky, but towards the middle of the run things deepened a bit. The rapids were all pretty tight and required quite a bit of twisting and turning. Some highlights.... skip over a submerged log to get to a teeny slot on the river left, scramble back all the way to river right to run the next corner blind and see chris in an eddy hollering something (apparently center, boof), finally get shot out over a perfect 8 ft auto boof... also there was the 30 ft slide in the middle of the river that looked A LOT bigger from the cockpit than the shore. The last little bit was a sort of low and tight for my liking, and Anna actually had a solid, but quick pin and swim. All in all its was a beautiful river, pretty close to home, and on the way to the Kennebec and Dead. If they ever put the play park in Skowhegan that area will make for some good summer trips.
Sunday morning we headed out early for NH and tried again to catch the Cold Brook. We got there and once agan the place was just flooding. Greg Hanlons book lists 7 inches on the abutment a "high but fun" level, and Miah, who pulled up while we were getting dressed said his ride at 8 inches was "very exciting." Well after a lot of scouting, a lot of deliberation, and a lot of frustration from driving all that way Mark and I fired it up at a meaty 10+ inches. From the put-in down to the bottom of Particle Accelerator took all of about 15 seconds, even with the few eddies along the way. In retrospect it was definitely at the edge of control and I dont suspect any of us will ride that thing again so high. We both got back endered in entrance exam and had soem solid downtime at the base of backbreaker. Mark got caught just shy of straight on in the hole at the bottom of particle accelerator. A few nasty window shades and rock bumps later he lost his paddle and swam. I fished him out, and we all cruised down stream to find his boat pinned in a rock pile below NO2 chute. The recovery was pretty easy and everyone was okay, but Mark is now short a all black carbon werner... paddles should all be bright neon orange and lime green.
Dane opted out of running it after watching Mark, and all the better because I was not very exited about getting back in the water for another go. Instead we trekked over to Beede falls, close to Sandwich, and found some nice big slides. After a quick scout Dane didnt waste any time and dropped the big one at the top. Mark and I followed, and it was so much fun we all took a second round.
Heres a quick little vid we took of Dane and I running the top slide.
http://photos.imageevent.com/aquaticevolution/video/beede%20falls4.mov
Give it a look. Someday soon Ill actually purchase a DV camera and take some quality video footage. Just need to hit the lottery first.
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