The Vermont Paddlers Club

I warned pretty much everyone ahead of time there could rain showers, snow showers, and "low, good" water levels, and I wasn't wrong.

I was nervous, barely sleeping the night before, because I have this new (to me) short and sporty Blackfly Option OC1 and I had little confidence I could/would paddle it well my first time on Joe's in nearly a year. Not only the canoe, but at 66 I do sometimes feel stiff, weak... and let's be clear: old.

Fast forward to Sunday on the water, where the entire crew, 11 kayakers and myself, had really good runs and didn't seem fazed by the rain/snow/cold. We ran from the GMP powerhouse to the first bridge crossing after the lower gorge, something like 10 miles in something like 5 hours, averaging 75 feet/mile. The covered bridge section (1.8 miles) drops 180 feet/mile!

The young bucks including Jamie and Ryan ran the class IV (V) covered bridge rapid - no flips or swims there. Everyone ran the waterfall drop without incident and without scouting first.

There was only one spot right out of the gate where we wished we had scouted for strainers, but didn't. See " Wood", below.

If I invoke the 5 second rule I can honestly assert that there were no swims the entire day (the less said here, the better)! The open boat only filled with water up to the gunnels 2 or 3 times all day, but conveniently it has a battery operated pump (installed expertly by my OC1 provocateur and pal Mason Overstreet), which sucks the Option ~dry with the flip of a switch after punching any hole.

The young bucks, all new to Joe's, ran the serpentine take-out rapid, IV (V), not noticing our signals to stop/scout, followed by Ryan and Neal, and as Jamie put it: "While no carnage, one chose to run it in an unorthodox manner, as synchronized swimmers say, bottoms up!".

Long story short, ya gotta love Joe's Brook!

See Wayne Wheeler's YouTube video from our outing, if you have 30 minutes to spare.

Some other gauge correlations: The Joe's Pond height was 5.19' early Sunday, the dam was spilling, and GMP was generating a full load (125 cfs). The Wells peaked overnight around 3.5' (over 500 cfs). The Passumpsic R @ Passumpsic peaked overnight around 7.7' (3700 cfs). The E Br Passumpsic R peaked overnight around 5.5' (917 cfs).

* Wood: There were no river-wide obstructions from the power plant to the first takeout below the lower gorge Sunday 4/27/2025. HOWEVER, at the very first horizon line be sure to start right/stay right of the tree in the water that is out of sight (until it’s almost too late), a heinous strainer on river left. One other (obvious) tree trunk blocks the right channel at a small island in the section below the Greenbanks Hollow covered bridge. There, go left and live.

There are paddlers I’m sure who would relish the Hudson Gorge on a day when it’s cresting above 7 feet on the gauge and the mercury never reaches 50 degrees. I’m not one of them. I imagine we will get to the ADKs for some boating in the weeks ahead.

Meanwhile, today I lured 6 kayakers to join me for a delightful, sporty bog-down run on the NBL @ ~2.75’ on the Montgomery Rd. painted gauge. I adore the NBL above Belvidere when it goes, especially with a crew of solid boaters. The drizzle and light rain didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s spirits. All who ran the road-side cascade in Belvidere styled it, as well as the slide above the Back Rd. covered bridge, and the crux move in the lower gorge. Watching Wayne go completely (deliberately) straight up and over the big boulder below the crux was a highlight for me, the boulder that (most days) sticks up high out of the water.

All were sated by the time we reached the Montgomery Rd. take-out, leaving the final Waterville ledges section for another (warmer, sunnier, and lower) day.

For reference, the Lamoille@Johnson gauge rose from 800cfs to almost 2800cfs in the 24 hours ahead of our run; side streams and freshets everywhere were pumping. 

Paul's Garmin recorded the following: