River Report: Shepaug

River: Shepaug River
Discharge: 250 CFS
Gage height: 3.42 feet
Class: II-III

The Shepaug River water level rises and falls quickly after rain. The river is normally only at a good runnable level during the wetter seasons of Spring and Fall. We were lucky then, to be able to run it in June which is an unusual event. The chart below shows how quickly the level rises and falls.

The rain we got on Friday (the 17th) meant Saturday was a rare event. We were up at 8am this morning to check the gauge before racing to the river to get on the water before the level dropped out of range.

We met a couple of other kayakers at the take-out and then made our way to the put-in, 6 miles or so upstream. Not long after we got our boats on the water, I knew this was going to be one of our favorite runs.

The river is narrow. As it runs through the woods, trees overhang the river, with branches occasionally dangling into the the water. It's more like a creek than a river. It winds back and forth through the woods with a continuous foray of rocks and drops that make the whitewater interesting to navigate.

The 4 of us were the only ones on the river. We stopped at a couple of features to practice surfing waves before reaching the takeout. It was a very satisfying run and an unexpected pleasure to be on the river at this time of year.

River Report: Crystal

River: Farmington River
Section: Crystal
Discharge: 1200 CFS
Gage height: 6.75 feet
Class: II

The section of the Farmington River known as Crystal lives up to the guide book descriptions: it's a 2.5 mile section of class II rapids separated by areas of slow moving flat water. The separation between rapids becomes less towards the end of the run, finishing with two solid class II sections.

View River Run: Crystal in a larger map

It's a fun run with plenty of rocks, making it a great place to work the river and practice catching eddies, ferrying, and surfing. We ran it with a group of other kayakers, and then ran it a again at our own speed. It was a great day on the river, and now our arms are tired!

River Report: Satan's Kingdom

River: Farmington River
Section: Satan's Kingdom
Discharge: 350 CFS
Gage height: 4.4 feet
Class: I-III

Our first river report of 2011. After several weeks practicing our rolls on the lake it was time to move on to the next level. Based on some research and flow rates, we chose to run Satan's Kingdom on the Farmington River. This is a short stretch of moving water rated as class I-III by American Whitewater.

Our put-in was at the Satan's Kingdom State Recreation Area, which happens to also be the site of the Farmington River Tubing company. They conveniently allowed us purchase a ride on their shuttle bus which helped us position our car a few miles downstream at the take-out.


View Satan's Kingdom River Run in a larger map

Once on the water we practiced some ferries and rolls in the current to get a feel for the water (it was cold) before heading down stream. There was a small riffle under the route 44 bridge which leads into the gorge where the river narrows and you will find the most difficult rapid in this section. From a distance we saw some tubers drop out of sight as they went over the top of the drop. We approached cautiously and ran the short rapid as a read-and-run before eddying out on river left. Some large rocks in the middle of the river make the white water feature and make for some interesting lines from top to bottom. We got out of our boats and carried them over the rocks back to the top of the rapid so we could run it again. We stopped to take a closer look at what we'd just run and from the river bank it looked larger than it had felt. We chose a different line and ran it again without incident. Fun stuff!

Further down stream we found another small riffle with a small wave that allowed us to practice a surf/ferry across the river into a midstream eddy. This was also a good place to practice our rolls in slightly stronger current, so while surfing the wave we purposefully flipped and rolled several times without incident.

The next rapid was on a bend and had a drop on river right followed by some waves center left. The river was wider here and there were several clean lines, however the waves were the biggest yet. I tried a couple of times to between these waves without success, but I did get to try out my roll again in some even more turbulent water.

The remainder of this section was relatively flat so we made the most of it by catching eddys behind rocks and practicing a few more rolls.

It was a very enjoyable run and I look forward to doing it again soon.