It was certainly easier than pushing through the thick water chestnuts in the first quarter of the paddle and was open water as far as we went, but it was much too short. The water was about 18" below what we normally see with the dam at Rt 16 having more than a foot of exposed wall above the water level. We turned around after about another 45 min after you three turned back after encountering more unexpected obstacles. We encountered two recently fallen trees blocking the river, one we were able to reroute around in a smaller narrow channel, one we had to cut (THANKS Steve for having your handy saw), Then we encountered a beaver dam that has not been above water the past 3-4 years that we were to pull over. When we reached the beaver dam I anticipated encountering, the low water levels made it too difficult to get close to and too muddy to walk to. A challenging and interesting paddle overall but certainly not a lot of easy fun. This is one of my favorite paddles and it was a very disappointing trip as we were unable to get even half way to the dam. I would strongly recommend against paddling this section of the West River until the water level rises and the water chestnuts die back a bit in the cold. Even then, the well known beaver dam just upstream from the sharp right turn by the concrete bench through the narrow passage will be a formidable obstacle.