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.