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Huntington River
Sunday April 27th, 2003Organizer: Tony Shaw
Predominantly: novice WW
Water Level: medium
Author: Tony Shaw
Kayakers (K1): Nick Beahan, Emily Shaw
Canoers (OC1): Ed Amidon, Peter Herman, Louise McCarren
Canoers (OC2): Tony and Emily Shaw
A heavy rain had washed out the lower Browns River north of Westford, where this outing was originally scheduled. Having once done that section of the Browns when it was "in the trees" (and wishing I hadn't), I made a flurry of Sunday a.m. phone calls and we all met at 11 a.m. at Huntington Gorge. Peter paddled his inflatable kayak, and was the envy of Nick, who had one too many swims in his rigid kayak.
For novice boaters, the class II Huntington is a definite step up from the Mad River triathlon route, by virtue of its steadier, steeper gradient, the prevalence of strainers one must avoid, and an occasional boulder or ledge outcropping in the main current. Ten-year-old Emily switched to her K1 below the Audubon section, having renewed her confidence and river reading skills from the bow seat of our borrowed OC-2 for the first couple of hours on the river.
Adjacent to Dugway Rd. we bumped into Michelle Seamans, Emily's first (and favorite) kayak instructor, and Emily did Michelle proud through several sets of standing waves in this section. Way to go, Em! In all, it was a very good day.