The Vermont Paddlers Club

If there aren't any pictures then it didn't happen, right?  Then this didn't happen.  But if it were to have happened, then this is how it may have gone down.....

Like most of my recent boating escapades of 2015, it starts with what seems like the same email title I've seen from the same group all year (because it is the same email).  "Looks like Rain", and what follows is the atmospheric babble that someone has mashed together about how the NWS has said the storm will be more intense in NVT or there will be a longer duration cycle in SVT or the storm is a wrap-a-round and we are going to NH.  Ultimately the New Haven runs and most folks stick to the usual suspects.  That is good, I wish I was closer to get on that run more often due to its high quality rapids.

Unfortunately I don't live that close to the Champlain Valley.  But in VT there are a lot of boaters out there in the woodwork and there are a few boaters over on this side of the Greens that have a similar bend for exploratory boating on brooks that may or may not give up the goods. 

So with a storm predicted for mid week, the email comes in and it is a mish-mash of responses of where folks are looking to go boating...  I have a busy day of work, but its been way too long since I had been on the water, so had planned to skate out of work by noon.  The rain had come down hard over night and things were popping around CVT.  In comes the text from what seems to be my go-to guy for 2015.  Justin Worth is up early and his his standard 3 word "you boating today" text comes through around 5:15 am.  "Yup" is my response.  So all morning we are back and forth on where and when.  Finally we agree to meet at my place back in Montpelier...  We can hit the NBW or head up to the Gihon or something else that way if our initial plan of chasing down some obscure Micro-creeks doesn't pan out.  Initial goal is something branch of something river in some vt drainage....  But we get distracted driving up Route 12 out of Montpelier (the center of the northern New England whitewater universe).  Looking at the painted gauge in Putnamville, it reads a level of runable for the NBW.  Hmmm what to do.

We head up 12 to Hancock brook road and I show Justin the last drop on Hancock Brook, I can see his eyes popping with excitement as he says it looks like it goes.  Its actually flowing at a decent level to make all sections marginally runable, or so it seems.  We head up the road getting a look at all of the drops up to Hampshire Hill Road.  I've been wanting to run Hancock for years from an old Mountain Cabin partially up Worcester Mountain.  Off we go, my truck in 4wd low, we crawl up an old double track to the cabin.  The flow is low, probably too low, but we are there and anxious to boat.  Its going to be bone-zoning from this high up today, but we need to see what its about up on the mountain. 

It took us an our to make it down to the Worcester Mountain Trail Head (about 1/2 mile in distance)  the river is braided and there are a fair amount of strainers in this section.  Not worth the abuse I put my truck through, boat through or Justin through.  We did get to see a stretch of river that isn't seen very often.  Once down on the brook to approximately where the Worcester Mountain Trail parking area is things got lively and much better.  It started off with a really cool boulder/bedrock rapid dog leg thing that led into three really sweet bedrock slides above the culvert that goes under Hampshire Hill Road.

Hampshire Hill Road Culvert sets you off down the rabbit hole in earnest with a rocking 4-5' boof.  into a very steep rapid that is severely undercut on the right.  Below this steep rapid, the river has been run in fits and starts.  In October of 2010, I was on this stretch during a high water event with Packie, Kelly and Guttridge.  Without a a doubt the fastest I've ever moved in a boat.  So at this low water level that Justin and I were running it, it was interesting to see what was creating the features that we were dodging and flying through in 2010.  Its a tight and substantial brook for sure....  one of the steepest in VT in excess of 300ft/mile.

Justin and I were running out of daylight and water fast so we shifted to turbo mode hoping we would get down to the bottom section of drops before darkness.  Below the 8' slide at the midway point, we thought we would be in a cobble strewn channel, however, se were pleased to find it was still giving way to quality bedrock rapids. 

We made it down to the top of the bottom section before it became fully dark.  That coupled with really low water and the brook being shrouded in a full hemlock forest, meant we needed to make a smart move and pull the plug on our mission. 

We unfortunately didn't get the bottom 6 drops on our run due to early darkness, but we definitely had a great run.  Those bottom drops run a lot more regularly than the rest of the river, so we'll be back for them, especially the bottom teacups.

Its always fun to try out a new run from time to time...  Running obscure micros though are a totally different animal.  Its along the same lines of poking at a new ski line you saw from the highway but aren't sure if it will go, an unknown MTB trail that you spotted veering off of the beaten single track, or a new slab of rock that may yield a new crag to climb.  Its exploratory, its exciting and if you are lucky you have a new run to add to your arsenal of go-tos.  If you aren't lucky, well then you had a great mission with your boating partner exploring something new. 

So - maybe the Hancock Brook top to bottom mission happened or maybe it didn't.  But if you ask Justin about it, look at his eyes when he starts to describe the rapids, the painful first 1/2 mile, the awesome bedrock, strainers, boofs and lack of daylight and water.  The truth will be there.....pictures or not.

Justin is moving to MO the end of this year and will be sorely missed around the VT boating scene.  I'll be looking for a mission go-to partner.  If you think you can handle some losers with the winners, give me a shout.  I've got a running list of obscure runs that I want to tick off.  You never know what you may find....  We found the Green that way, folks found Kennfield and the Basin that way, folks found Waterman that way....  There are more - and its always so much better to share that experience with a partner on the river than solo.  Because if there aren't any pictures it doesn't happen, unless its shared in the memories of the folks that ran it.

Until the next rabbit hole......