The river was running at 70, which I am told is good. The first half is quickwater with a couple of easy class I rapids. After a nasty portage up “Heart Attach Hill”, there are three major class II (+) rapids – Stokers, Chimney and Staircase.
Stokers is a ledge with a 3 foot drop and a rocky shoot 6 to 10 feet from the left bank. I lined up on the shoot, made it through the first big drop, only to hit a rock and take a swim a little downstream. The consensus of the group was that I didn’t have enough momentum going though the drop, so I portaged my boat back upstream to run it again – this time with more speed. Unfortunately, the result was the same. Rocks don't move no matter how hard you hit them. I didn’t try it a third time.
Chimney is an “S” turn rapid that starts off as a series of small ledges with a larger drop at the end. I made it through Chimney fine, although I did fill up my boat in the drop.
The final rapid is Staircase which is exactly what you’d expect - a series of ledges that looks like a staircase. The largest ledge at the bottom has a nice wide shoot on river left. We all made it through fine and decided to do some surfing. The run ended at the Powder Hill Barn on South Maple Street in Hazardville (Enfield).
Nice run – I’d do it again. Video from Ed here - you can see me running Chimney.
Branch River today – yee ha!
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