The Beast of Kennebec

The beast of Kennebec Gorge is released every morning at around 10 am. The Harris Station dam that cages this beast of water, dumps about 4800 cubic feet per second of it. This mass of water begins it's journey down the gorge picking up pace as the gorge narrows and the elevation drops. As it snakes through the narrow gorge, the beast begins to hiss and roar into massive waves and formidable but flushy holes.

Half a mile from the dam, gorge narrows further, and the beast then begins to struggle, trying to beat down the gorge walls, but falling not so graciously back into the riverbed, in reflective waves. I have been told, this place is similar in it’s nature to the Grand Canyon.

Biggest wave of them all, Big Mama, stands at eight to twelve feet high depending on the water level. There is little you can see beyond this wave, and once u are on top of the wave, momentarily you are on top of the beast. But then there is a large possibility that the beast will try to throw u off balance, flip you, envelope you not so lovingly, beat you down, and try to keep you in its turbulent folds. But then with the skill of your roll, you will roll back up and continue on your way along the Alleyway.

Alleyway is turbulent part of this beast, having not humbled you with it's biggest punch, the Big Mama, it will use this part of the river to cut you down. Alleyway's eddies are anything but eddies in the conventional sense. They are turbulent class I & II water parading as eddies. As the beast pummels u with wave after wave, cross currents and hidden holes, you will be thrown off balance if you get close to the walls or misread the water. The holes are not keeper holes in this section at the release level mentioned. If you don't punch through them, they will window shade you a couple of times, but let go off you from their grasp. This beat down will continue until you see the massive cathedral eddy to your left.

If you wonder as to why the eddy is called so, one looking at the massive break in the gorge will say it all. It looks like a massive cathedral. The eddy line itself is so thick that while it is easier to enter it, getting out can be a challenge for a lesser skilled paddler. Warned sufficiently about this eddy, and not feeling too brave after the having the ridden the beast through the gorge for the first time, I opted for eddy on the right, which was much calmer.

This break comes as a great relief for the first timer. Most intermediate paddlers who have entered this calm section for the first time will notice sprain in their wrists from having gripped the paddles really tight.

After the eddy, river turns to the left creating a class II/III feature called Z-turn. There’s a nice little wave and a good squirt line. The squirt line is a good class II+ or II line.

Then the river widens, and further down about two hundred yards the horizon of the river narrows and drops off with scattering of foam piles. That is the last of the mighty punches this beast will throw at you. Called the Magic Falls, they are anything but falls. This is an elevation drop of about 20 feet or so in less than 200 yards.

Magic Falls rapid extends to the length of a football field, littered with a minefield of holes, biggest two being Magic hole and Maytag, and multiple waves. But at the bottom of this rapid, is the end of the big fury of the Kennebec beast. But how do u get across this last hurdle? Single biggest challenge is to avoid the Maytag hole at any cost. This hole has a reputation that precedes it. Known to hold large rafts for days together, a dip in the hole in a kayak might not be a good idea. Swimming into it might not be such a good idea either. For this reason alone, the Magic Falls is sometimes rated Class IV plus, but that rating might be a stretch.

Good news is that you can scout this rapid from the river left. River left is also the favorite spot for photographers. Good news is also that the Maytag hole can be completely avoided based on couple of good lines.

Here’s a list of possible routes.

As you approach the Magic falls, the main bulk of the water flows through the center of the rapid forming a big tongue called Highway. To the immediate left at the top of the falls is Magic hole - turbulent but non-sticky hole. Maytag is located about 30-40 feet down this rapid in the center, with more room to it’s left than it’s right.

Option one, if you take the Highway it will lead you into the Maytag, unless you veer to the left or far right. To be on the Highway, more than your skills, you can’t be faint hearted, else u are headed right into the Maytag. Besides considering available options, for a first timer and a conservative paddler, Highway can be completely avoided. But this is not about bragging rights, even the big rafts, stay away from the Highway.

Second possibility, considered the sneak route. If you try sneaking from the far right of the highway and skirting the Maytag to it’s far right, that’s a possibility. There are no holes or waves in the path, but the water is fast, and you have to stick to a line that has limited margin for error. Else you will find yourself getting recirculated in the Maytag hole.

Third and probably a better route is to the left, either by punching the Magic hole or by skirting the Magic hole on the right, and to the left of the Highway. As you descend the Highway, on it’s left edge, you will hit a big wave/hole that sits at the bottom right edge of the Magic hole. This unnamed hole will lift your kayak by its bow and initiate you into involuntary 360-degree loop or somersault. If you lean forward this can be avoided.


(Image of the hole just below the Magic Hole. While not as turbulent as the Magic hole itself, it has the ability to flip you rather quickly. My getting aerial in the image might look cool, but it was preamble to being upside down. Ideally, if I had leaned forward, I would have punched through this wave/hole.)

In either case of you punching the Magic hole or skirting it to it’s right, will put you out of the path of the Maytag. Whether you run straight up in your kayak or upside down, you will be relatively safer. But once you have crossed this part of the Magic falls, you have crossed only 1/5th of the entire falls. Still more waves, cross currents, (now) minor class III holes will keep you engaged until u reach the end of this rapid.

But once you have descended the Magic falls, relax, the fury of the beast has been spent. It will show's it's fangs occasionally but with less viciousness than before. Some stretch of calm water and a bit of class III waves later, the takeout will appear to the left. The eddy that leads to the takeout is a large pool.

Exiting the beast, the gorge decides to claim some of your attention by providing for a steep takeout that will wind you down. These wooden steps seem unending, but after equivalent of a three or four-storey climb, and another hundred yards or so of walk, you will reach the parking lot. As some folks quip, this is a class IV takeout for a class IV River. Class V takeout would be climbing out of the sheer gorge, in the middle of the river.

Welcome to the Kennebec Gorge.

Late Summer Rains - CT

Pretty heavy rains in the northeast, especially in CT. The guage in my backyard filled to 4 inches and overflowed as did my joy. But river levels have been disappointing so far.

Went out yesterday to Satan's Kingdom section of Farmington. A very short paddle, but it was very scratchy at about 3.8 feet on the guage posted on Americanwater.org.

There were three sections of scratchy class II- rapids. And seemingly long sections of flatwater (exarcebated by the rocks). Never again Satan's Kingdom. Presented with this amount of water, paddling community will disappear.

But then there are other rivers close by Natchaug (couldn't find anyone to lead me down here), Bull's Bridge (still low), Tariffville (am I tired of running this section), and a few others, and I had to chose Satan's Kingdom, a wasted evening.

Dryway Aug 26th

Quick post so as not to lose out on the steam, and make this another of those abandoned blogs...

Aug 26th, was back on Dryway/Monroe Bridge section of the Deerfield river. It's a class III-IV river, which I had paddled once before. Usual releases on this river are either 900, 1000 or 1100 cfs (cubic feet per second, a cubic feet is about 7.5 gallons or 28.4 liters). On this Saturday, it was more like 1200 cfs or more as a result of the rain the previous night. That's about 34,000 liters of water rushing past you per second.

In the context of larger rivers, that might be a trifle of water. But Dryway is a respectable river. The class IIIs are on the tougher side of the scale, and class IVs are probably on the easier side of the scale depending on the water levels. (Analysis of the rating system sometime soon...)

Back to my experience. Last time I had paddled Dryway at 1100 cfs, I had rolled just once as a result of inability to stay upright, at Labyrinth (Cl IV). While on this occasion, the additional 100 or so cfs of water made the river a bit more pushy. And I rolled through False Tooth (cl III+), Dragon's Tooth (cl IV), and Labyrinth (cl IV).

Suppose, based on the rolls, I am not yet a class IV kayaker, but a class III one who can do class IVs on good days. I don't like the rating game, but it helps me be motivated, and attempt the harder stuff.

Confessions

I am a kayaking addict. I also refer to my plastic sub as my mistress.

My indiscreet affair with whitewater Kayaking began one winter night in Jan 2005 at an CT-AMC sponsored pool session. The term 'rolling' took on an entirely new meaning in my life. I was trying to kick my nicotine addiction and instead of losing one, I added on a new one.

At the pool session, I barely learnt to execute an eskimo roll, but that got me hooked to kayaking.

Come March, and I was rearing to be on the river. I equipped myself with the necessary gear (no I wasn't interested in renting out or trying out gear, I bought the gear outright!)

After much cajoling and begging, I convinced folks to take me on the river. By July 2005, I had my roll nailed, and I had attempted the first of class III runs. I also took many swims in the interim. But was I deterred - not one bit.

The bug had bitten me hard. Countless others before me have been bit by the kayaking bug. Most times individuals get the bug and to their surprise realize the same doesn't hold any interest amongst their old friends or family. In my case it was similar. My wife didn't want to do anything with whitewater kayaking. Kayaking, yes. Whitewater rafting, yes. Whitewater kayaking, she thought I was out to eliminate her in favor of my new found mistress (sigh - trust...) To my friends, kayaking was a one-time thingy one needs to check of their things-to-do list, but a lifestyle pursuit didn't make much sense.

So equipped with my new found addiction, I had to go find my support group. That wasn't that hard. Even if the addicts are few, their comraderie is legendary. What was hard though is to find experienced leaders to teach me the ropes. Cheapskate that I was (besides I had invested a ton in my gear), I didn't see value in instructionals, atleast in the beginning.

By end of 2005 season, I had been on the water about 40-50 paddling days, run a few class IIIs, one class IV (which I swam), my river running skills were somewhere close to lower intermediate level, my roll was solid, and had been through a River Rescue and Safety course wit Bruce Lessels.

By the Jan of 2006, I didn't want to spend any more time in the pool sessions. I was paddling once every two weeks in the cold waters of the North eastern rivers. Mostly class II-III stuff though. Come spring and summer, I underwent an intermediate kayaking course with the Boston AMC folks, and my skills progressed rather quickly to a solid intermediate level. I am now beginning to run with confidence and control Class IV rivers (well Dryway for one now:) and working on my playboating skills.

So going forward, this blog is going to roll into my diary/journal/trip report/escape when I am not Kayaking or keeping up with my other roles in life.