| Summary | |
| Owner | MITOC Gallery Administrator |
| Creation Date | 2004-10-18 21:33:08 UTC-0400 |
| Description |
Fall Paddle down the Baker River Date: October 16, 2004 Location: put in between Warren and Rumney, take out in Plymouth, NH Participants: Greg Wallace, Chris Glazner, William Chen, Paula Popescu, Pamela Matheron, Jessica Matheron, Renaud Heitz, Antoine Pellion, Jessie Kneeland, Marcus Williams, Mike Whitson, Author/Photgrapher: Chris Glazner After a big breakfast at Camelot, we hit the road around 10AM. Greg, out fearless leader, eyeballed a put in on the map. We went to the intersection of 25 and 118, and then went north on a dirt road until we reached the water. There was a farmhouse near the water, so Greg asked for permission to put in. The people there were very friendly, and let us go ahead. The put in was a very steep bank, so we lowered the canoes down by rope, and then scrambled down after them. After the drivers were shuttled back in, we hopped in our canoes and were on our way around 11 am. The water level was a little low for our tastes--there were a few times we scraped bottom, with was suprising seeing how much rain we had the previous day. Regardless, we were able to make it through everything. One the first half of the river, there were many small swiftwater rapids that were a lot of fun to run. Mike and Pamela were the first to capsize when their boat hit a rock and flipped. Chris and Paula then proceeded down the same section, only to capsize on the NEXT rock down. Lesson #1: it's all about getting the balance right when pinned! We continued to make out way down the river towards Rumney. On the last swiftwater section, Chris and Paula flipped again when they ran headfirst into a submerged rock that rolled them into the cold water. Lesson #2: Cotton gets very, very cold when wet: Don't wear it! We had a gorgeous scene in front of us as we came around the first bend to see the climbing crag at Rumney: In the midst of all the foliage, there was a lone climber in red in the middle of a larger cliff. It was quite pretty. We pulled in at the Swimming Hole near the crag for lunch. As it turned out, the MITOC climers were climbing right above us, so we went over and said hi. After getting a little rest and some food in us, we made it on our way. The river below Rumney was much more tame and slow moving, so we had to paddle a bit. Greg and Chris underestimated the distance to the take out, so there ended up being a good paddle to go in front of us "What? We're only to the Polar Caves?" We paddled ahead, and eventually made out way to a beautiful takeout: the Smith Bridge, a newly rebuilt New England covered bridge with a nice parking area for launching canoes and kayaks. There was also rope swing there that Renaud and Antoine used to swing perilously close to the cold water. We were off the water by about 4. |