Paul and I arrived around 8:30 and had some time to kill before the 10:00 shuttle, so we stopped to check out the Westfield River Wildwater Race http://www.westfieldriverraces.com. According to the website, this is the oldest consecutively run canoe races in the US. It was nice to see so many canoes, even if many of them were paddled with double blades.
From there, we decided to check out the Knightville Dam and Reservoir http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/Knightville-Dam/. The dam is operated by the Army Corps of Engineers and includes 2,400 acres of undeveloped flood control land. After hiking down to the reservoir, we drove over to the dam itself, which gave us a great view of the river below.
At 9:30, we pulled into the picnic area below the dam to unload our boats and change in our paddling gear. A small group had started to gather as I headed out to run the shuttle. The Jim O'Brien Memorial Paddle is an annual trip in memory of a local boater who died seven years ago in a tragic whitewater accident https://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Accident/detail/accidentid/3294/. The river is mostly class II rock dodging until you enter the Gorge in the Gardner State Park.
There are two drops in the Gorge section. The first is an unnamed rapid that is about 25 yards long that is run to the right. The second is a 3-foot ledge known as the Gorge Drop. You run this to the right, and move left to catch the eddy, or at least avoid the big haystacks downstream.
From the Gorge Drop down to the take out there are some nice rock gardens and surf spots
Few more pictures here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eckilson/albums/72157694138292961
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