The Vermont Paddlers Club

If there is one big story in Northeast paddling from the past few years, it's that Vermont is now a dam-release state.  And one of the most important ones is the Missisquoi.  Granted, it's not the best run in Vermont (it has really solid competition), but it's really fun, holds water pretty well and you can get a release on weekends when nothing else is running.

Surprisingly, it's been difficult to get folks interested in this run, so much so that I like to joke that it's "my personal dam release" since every time people paddle it it's almost always with me.  And usually there are only a half dozen or more people on the river.  Like the first weekend of this May:  The weather was beautiful, the water level pleasant and the only other option was lowish-level lower Mad (which saw a lot of traffic that day, I am told).  Meanwhile 7 of us were up on the Missisquoi running great class IV in the sunshine and just enjoying the hell out of the day.  But really.... there should have been more people up there. 

Sometimes I wonder if the reason the run doesn't see more traffic is because people just don't really know the deal.  So here's a good description to get people started.

Water Level and Difficulty

The dam sucks about 3000 cfs out of the river, and anything in excess spills over.  To get the flow, multiply the East Berkshire gauge by 1.5, then subtract 3000.  You can also look at the Swanton gauge to get an idea of whether the river is rising or falling.  With a big watershed, this section runs on spillover pretty frequently and is a great alternative to low-water New Haven Ledges.  Also, the VPC can arrange releases, and frequently does in Spring and Fall weekends.  The key for releases is that there needs to be enough water in the river anyways, since there's no reservoir... and often times there is except when we have a drought like we have now...dammit.

The general consensus is that 1000 cfs over the dam is a good low level.  You can run it lower, but it gets rocky, and a look at the riverbed at fish flows shows that at really low water the whole thing just seives out.  So 1000 is low but still fun.  Call it technical, straightfoward class IV- at that level.... a step up from, but similar to, the Dryway.  If you're one of those people that wishes there were more rapids like Dragon's Tooth and Labyrinth on the Dryway, you'll like this run.

Likewise, it can go really high.  My guess is 10,000+ cfs when it will be huge but awesome.  30,000 cfs is two feet up in the trees though.  I've caught it around 4,000 on natural spillover and it's great, exciting bigwater, but it's over fast.  Solid IV+ at that level.

I think "in-between" levels are the best, say from 1500 up to around 2500.  It's juicy, fun and well filled in but still has texture and still has defined rapids.  Interestingly, right around 2000 the river changes character and goes from a juicy boofy technical feel to a boily big-water feel, though the features still aren't that big... just dynamic.  I can't say which is better, other than that I like to get a nice variety over the course of the season.  I'd call it fun, interesting class IV at these levels, though there are some sneak lines and hero lines if you so desire.

Rapids

There are only a half-dozen rapids or so, but still plenty to do.

Right below the put-in is a quick ledge with a few fun lines depending on levels.  Then a little moving water and you head right through a fun S-turn, or go left to sneak the next set.

Below this is "Big Schott", the biggest rapid on the run.  It's a steep, turbulent boulder garden with a couple holes scattered around.  You can run a funny tongue in the middle, a boof on the right or punch a few holes on the left, but ultimately you want to go right or left around the big middle hole at the bottom... or try and punch it.

A little more quick water and then "Straight Shot" which is a long, classic S-Turn.  There are a few fun optional boofs or tricky eddies in here as well.

Below this is Ryan's Rapid (my name for it), named after a certain notable VT local paddler who swam under the big undercut boulder on the left.  This pushes right into the last rapid which is a wide boulder garden with many different routes and a variety of slots, holes, waves, rocks, tongues, eddies and routes you can aim for or avoid.  Then a little boogie with a few fun surf waves and you're at the power plant where you'll load up for another lap.  Short but sweet... or "bite sized" as I like to say.  But you'll be hard-pressed to find a better short class IV training run anywhere, especially in May in New England.

Enel

The powerplant is owned by Enel Green Power NA, and they've been really helpful so far.  The dam operators are friendly and I get the sense that Enel (unlike a lot of Hydroelectric Companies) has seen the writing on the well about recreational releases and genuinely wants people to enjoy the river.  In fact, they own the powerplant on the Gauley and actually sponsor the annual downriver race there.  Interestingly, their predecessor company owned the Vajont Dam in Italy when the disaster struck there in 1963 (an important Engineering Ethics case study), though I would say they do good nowadays.

In Summary

It's fun, I hope to see more people up there.