The Vermont Paddlers Club

The river was fairly low, and the weather was a little uncertain, but a good group of paddlers showed up for the White River trip. The temperature was mostly in the low 60s, but it seemed downright toasty when the sun was out, cool when it was cloudy, and frigid during a short, moderate rainfall. The water was very clear, and the level not as scratchy as I had feared. At the Stoney Brook bridge abutments, we were surprised to see that the rapid had changed significantly in the last year. A few years ago, the channel moved left of the main abutment, and the profile was a constant descent, with some steepening at the abutment. Now, there is a steep, short pitch at the start of the rapid, then a levelling, then the drop at the abutment. Many trees remain in the water along the left shore, dropped in when the bank collapsed, but they at least are now out of the main current. The drops at Gaysville were rumored to have been changed in high water this winter, but at this low level they seemed to be as they had been in the past. One of the boaters tried a little impromptu swimming just above the Gaysville bridge - probably just to spice up some photos that a guy on the bridge was taking - but otherwise there were no problems. We paddled about 9 river miles from the Tweed River put-in to the place on route 107 about 7.5 miles east of the 107-100 intersection. We spent about 3:45 from put-in to take-out, with probably 30 minutes of that being for lunch.