Hi, I've been paddling the section of the Blackstone from the Skull Rock put-in to the Gorge (
RBF to Gorge Map - not the whole tour, mostly because of upstream strainers and high flow) and the rapids in Millville have been real nice this summer with all the rain. It'll probably be flowing around 1000 cu.ft./s tomorrow,
Blackstone River Gauges - the "RT 122 BRIDGE NEAR UXBRIDGE" is right at the Skull Rock put-in. I'm wondering if anyone would like to go sometime tomorrow, ideally you'd've paddled this before because the level is fairly high but not too bad. I went the other day at ~1600 that was a bit big. If you've done any class II you should be fine even if you've never been, it's not bad, just the one short section of rapids. At ~1000+ there is a pretty nice line toward the right of the left channel. I'd recommend some kind of spray deck to stay dryish but you should make it through without taking on too much water without one. If you're scared of the rapids we can go around the island on the right (more like class I) there may be rocks to avoid, maybe not at that level, I rarely go that way. Oh, you can get a good view from the Central st bridge to scout if you want to take a look before you go. If you are familiar with the area and you'd rather put in @ River rd that's fine, I find the Skull rock landing to be easier to use and it's really not very far upstream but either works for me. Overall just interested to see if there are any other paddlers who'd like to run this section.
TL;DR: Anyone want to paddle from Skull Rock to the Blackstone Gorge tomorrow?