## Posted by Eric on the Mt Washington Valley Paddlers Website on 5/28/03
Eric, as requested, below is my report of our recent
run down the East Branch Penobscot River below Grand
Lake Mattagamon. Feel free to post on your club site.
The trip started w/ an unexpected class 5 stop at a
roadside bar in Shin Pond, Maine where the mud parking
lot was full, so was the bar, and a fun WBLM-type band
was taking some liberties but jamming it up in the
corner to the locals delight! All of this along a
remote section of road on a Friday night in the middle
of the northern Maine woods! The liquor was flowing,
the girls (of a wide variety of ages)were chatting it
up w/ Rick, and Jonny found a snowmobile buddy that
fully understood his recent purchase of a
top-of-the-line sled. We overcame our first obstacle
to the kayak trip by getting out of there just before
closing time and no worse for the wear.
The next AM, or should I said about noontime, Jonny,
Rick, Duke, Brenda and Patrick (I wanna talk about
myself in the 3rd person, just like that guy on
Seinfield cuz its cool) put in a mile below the Grand
Lake Road bridge, not really knowing where the rapids
began and having a vague river report. We used the
next 3-4 miles to warm up in a combo of swift and flat
water,and one easy class 2 series of ledge drops. Oh
well, so now we know. It was a slightly overcast day
with the sun starting to peak out and illuminate the
budding lime green growth lining the river and
massive Traveller Mountain immediately to our right.
After an hour or so we were hungry for some
whitewater.
As we approached the end of Haskell Deadwater, we
could hear the roaring of class 3+ Haskell Pitch. It
had a horizon line so we climbed out to stretch and
take a look. The rocks were visibly sharp, and Jonny
sustained the first injury of the season requiring
first aid supplies with a cut to his palm while
scouting. He wouldn't stop crying so I struck him in
the head with my paddle (kidding). Jonny and Patrick
took a right creek-like channel drop of 5-6 feet
requiring a slight left to right move. The others
successfully punched the big hole in the main drop,
and we then played on a few decent waves and headed
downstream.
The second good rapid was a waterfall of about 8-10
feet and the campers there said "you boys don't want
to run this one, believe me." I climbed downstream
and waved Duke thru, him being fully insured and all.
It was a class 3-4 rapid, and all paddlers punched a
series of holes successfully providing a entertaining
respite to the campers' bug swatting. The rapid
continued around the corner with lots of big waves, a
couple munchy holes, and some swirly eddy lines.
Overall, this was my favorite of the day. This river
is certainly a Penobscot family member, being
characterized by lots of swiftwater dotted with
periodic rapids.
The next one was undoubtedly the BIG one, class 5+
Grand Pitch. We had been hoping to poach this one, not
having ever seen it, but a dowstream scout from a tall
cliff on river left left us scrambling for our boats
and the portage trail. It was a 22 foot waterfall
with a narrow yet (maybe?) do-able green tongue
lasting at least half way down, but a few feet either
left or right would have resulted in a rocky bounce or
worse. Jonny and Patrick gave it their best scout, or
at least tried to make it seem to the others that they
were considering running it, but then came to their
senses and chickened out. One question they posed
themselves was, WWGD? (what would George do?) they
decided that even George would have carried on this
one, not wanting to risk the bone healing time for a
man of his age. If the approach to the falls was
easier, there is chance some of us would have poached,
but no go on this day. Strike one!
The next rapid was the Hulling Machine, so named
because it used to strip all the bark from the logs
during the river drive. Downstream the loggers could
tell which logs came out the E BRanch because they
were stripped bare here! OK, so we aren't too smart,
we thought maybe we can poach this one, too, coming
into the day. The rapid itself is only class 3, but
the first drop is a 20 foot wide steep funnel into a
menacing river-wide hole that appeared to contain
viscious rocks just below the surface. Thus the log
stripping! This could have been a bow pin, so we
called it a class 6 and once again, carries below it
and ran the rest of the rapid with no problem.
That left just one more: class 2 Bowlin Falls. Despite
paddling some decent class 3-4 stuff all day, Brenda
got caught in a play hole and bailed out, just
upstream of the take out at Bowlin Camps. Our swim
team captain was beginning to worry me with her
flawless descents throughout the raging White Mt.
rivers this spring, but alas enjoys the water too much
to stay out all season. Rick did the rescue (stay away
from my girl, sucka!).
All and all a very successful exploration that
paddlers should check out if they haven't. Cons: tough
shuttle, considerable stretches of slow water, and the
2 biggest drops are portages (to most paddles). PRos:
no other boaters seen all day, 3 great class 3-4
rapids, awesome country, and terrific vistas of Grand
Falls.
Hope this does it, Eric.