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We got on Shepard Brook as planned, and also on Mill Brook in Waitsfield (along Route 17). Both creeks were at solid medium flows, perhaps the low side of medium in the case of Mill Brook. The Mad was actually dropping this morning, bottoming out at 1,290 cfs, but subsequently rebounded to 1,850. It's now at 1,750 (as of 8:00 pm). (Shepard and Mill Brook are two of the Mad's major tributaries.)
It felt like March paddling, with a temperature of 41 F and hints of snow falling with the rain, but it was worth it. A trip report will be forthcoming.
Safety notes:
There is a new river-wide strainer on Shepard Brook, located just upstream of a sugar house on river left. (I think this Google Maps location is about right.) It's a bad one, consisting of 5 trunks coming out of the same root ball that fell across the river at the same time, apparently within the last 2 days. One of the trunks was mostly submerged today, with the other 4 staggered above and maybe a bit downstream of it. The individual trunks could be cut with a large hand saw, but the overall project really calls for a chain saw.
On Mill Brook, there are two successive strainers in the first 3/4 miles of the run (from German Flats Road) that can be passed on far river right, but must treated with considerable caution. I believe they can be cut back towards the left bank pretty easily with a hand saw once the level comes down.
