The Vermont Paddlers Club

Ticking of the hits list here...  I hadn't been on Stony since early 2014 when there were still ice bridges hanging on.  This day the water was up at a meaty flow and we had warm temps.

Justin and Chan were itching to get on the water...as was I.  Skating out of work early we made a mad dash for Northfield.  We put a vehicle at Gillespies Fuels and jammed up to the put in.  Of note, the old class V take out has long since been removed.  The house that used to house 2 highly aggressive pitbulls was bought by Gillespies and demolished.  The stress level instantly diminished the day that happened.  WHEW!

The put in is a great spot.  An seasonal home has a funky covered bridge in the side yard off of Chamberlain Road.  We put in at the Covered bridge.  This upper section is a blast and somewhat of a bobsled run.  The drops gorge up and you are looking for green water and boof options.  There are a couple of strainers in here that are passable, but you still need to be on your toes.  The strainer of concern is directly at the bottom of the old mill dam.  It makes this rapid (With its awesome lead in) a no go.  So know where it's at and know where to get out of the river to portage it.  Below the mill the river picks up some more flow and things get hoppin'.  The next rapid of note is after you cross under Stony Brook Road. It is a funky bouldery thing that has a ledge drop into a pool where you can eddy out behind an island and then you need to stay on the green between two massive undercuts.  The exit is guarded by another boulder that you skirt on either side.... Its a great test piece!  Below is a low hanging pedestrian bridge, watch your paddle here. 

Now we are into it.  The ledges start coming at you regularly.  Justin and Chan were totally digging this run...  This section is Boof Central.  There is a lot of high-speed rapids in here too.  2-3 strainers that require you to portage as well.  Justin and I were sucked into a pretty fast channel at one of these rapids and luckily the strainer we came up on was duckable.

Below the Gauge rock (second bridge under Stony Brook Road).  The ledges get considerably bigger and the horizon lines more intimidating.  One such ledge, drops you into the back water of a dam.  Combined, the ledge/dam combo is around 18 feet.  The Dam has a great rolling lip that you can yank a huge boof off of.  Moving down river we new of one more major strainer to deal with.  We had planned to portage it on river left until a massive dog was there barking and yaping away.  There was a crazyman there too....  Yes he lives in a camper down by the river.  He was whooping and hollering at us.  The river was too loud to hear him, but he sure was excited to see us.  We were losing daylight and need to get to the last and largest rapid before things closed out in the dark.

Working our way down to the last rapid, Junior's House, I was not confident we would be able to fire it up with light.  Crazy man was there waiting for us and excited as hell to see us run this 20'+ drop.  Its a fun drop with several tiers ending in two good boofs.  I ran first and cleaned the line, Chan was next with a less than clean line, but ended up a-ok, and Justin was all good as well.  One more good boof and then the take out in the dark.

Crazy guy was there with beers for us!  Gotta luv crazy guys from down by the river in Northfield......