Some people said it was the last day of summer. Other people said it was the first day of fall. Either way, it was a great day to be on the water, and I spent it with Paul on the West River in Jamaica, VT at Westfest.
We got an early start and arrived at the Jamaica State Park at around 8:30. We were on the shuttle for our first run at around 9:00. As we got on the water at the footbridge at Cobb Brook, we joined Paul G. for our first run. With the recent rains, the level was a little higher than usual – between 1,800 and 1,900 on the Jamaica, VT gage. At this level, the rocks were buried and there were lots of long wave trains.
We ended up doing four runs on the day. On the last run Paul and Dave D carried their boats up to the Ball Mountain Dam to run the most difficult rapid on the river – Initiation. Initiation is a half-mile rapid with continuous 3-foot waves, big rocks and nasty pour-overs. A misstate here usually leads to a long swim, so I decided to skip this rapid and take some pictures instead.
From my perch on a rock about halfway down the rapid I saw Dave and Paul catch an eddy above a large pour-over upstream. From there they pealed-out, ferried around the pour-over, and bobbed down the waves though the rest of the rapid – nicely done. We ran the rest of the river and were on our way home around 4:00 after another great day on the water.
Hey Guys, New Member and Rookie WW Kayaker. Just purchased my first Creek Boat and first time out last week in Bristol, NH. Love to get some pointers from you guys and meet up!
