After a few years absence, I rejoined the boater pilgrimage from Ottawa to Old Forge for Moosefest again this year. Paddling partner Adrian met me in the parking lot of the Bridge Authority just this side of the border at 7 a.m. Saturday to drop one car behind and continue the rest of our way down to Old Forge together, stopping at the Lowville Diner for breakfast (think DeerHunter kind of place). Adrian was looking forward to christening his new large Burn (the Godzilla was finally retired).
By 10:00 a.m we were at the Fowlersville put-in waiting for the gang to show up ? and it did. Ray, Mike, Joanne, Simon, Ivan, Toni, Steve, Alex, Eric, Gillian and Robin.
The river was running at 3.5 (much friendlier than the 4.8 I first ran the Bottom). The typical festival inanities of blow up dolls, guys wearing shorts in 5 C weather, drinking beer for breakfast and paddling playboats etc made their appearance.
But no spectacle is equal to the rapids themselves: Fowlersville (45 feet dropping 60 degrees down a massive slab with a retentive hole waiting for you if you don?t stay far enough left), Funnel (like it sounds with the flow splitting around a rock at the bottom just waiting for you if you are offline), Knife?s Edge( Z line or boof ? your choice, Double-Drop (like it sounds, far left or right center ? your choice), Ager?s (10 foot slide down a concrete skirt of the dam into the pool above the 19 foot waterfall, set up and boof the lip into the softest foam pile landing you have ever experienced but stay alert, the run-out is Class IV and catches the unaware), Shurform is next (it is aptly named after a rasp file, get left and stay left, if you miss your line stay upright, if you flip, protect your face, you will take hits, so hope for the best), Powerline (wave trains and holes, stay left again (it reminds me of Norman?s on the Main Channel but no boils). This rapid is underestimated and boaters in our group got messed up here and swam both days ? get to shore quickly because Crystal is waiting). The last two are the doozies of the day: Crystal (amazing rapid, it?s big, it?s beautiful 3-part waterfall, it?s technical, it has teeth if you mess up). Capturing the entire rapid in one frame means the camera person has to go so far away, it makes the rapid look small. Last is Magilla (little on river right or big brother on river left). The take-out is right there. Most paddlers are content to run Little Magilla on river right, the crazy good or just crazy go river left.
These last two rapids are best described by those of have run them. I haven?t. I am fairly certain that I would run them just fine, but my family can?t afford the odds of ?fairly certain? on those two rapids (waterfalls). The potential consequences of being wrong there can be the most serious (think broken neck). Until I?m feeling ?certain? or 90 percent certain, I?m walking. I got up Sunday morning having had a good run on Saturday. My pact with myself was that if today I ran everything ?clean? up to Crystal, it was my green light from the river gods and from my mind and body that all was aligned and in sync. This was going to be my year to nail my line on Crystal. My day started perfect. I didn?t even get my head wet on Fowlersville, bounced right into the left eddy at the bottom. Funnel I saw my run first in my mind, didn?t even scout. Ran it just like I pictured it in my mind. Double Drop, same thing. No scouting, nice boof first drop, bounce off the left wall on the second into the pool. Ager?s, again no scouting. Great separation off the lip, perfect landing. Shurform the line was perfect and seemed effortless.I just had to let out a ?Yeah!?
Then came Powerline. It is supposed to be the easy rapid of the pack. No big deal, stay left drive forward, punch the holes. But I got smacked sideways into a hole, flipped, rolled, got knocked over again, got spatially disoriented, I didn?t know if I was still tucked or where by paddle was. My mouth was open when I came up the first time to breathe and I was flipped so fast I sucked in water. I bailed.
I looked at Crystal a long time ? too long. I shouldered my boat.
Full-on paddling deserves a full-on meal. Hungry boaters descend on the Old Mill for dinner. Truly hungry carnivores can hunker down into 14 oz or 19 oz prime rib (it's bigger than the plate!), plus all you-can-eat hearty soups, salad and bread, fuelling up for another day on the Bottom. Nobody left hungry. Heck Toni was full before her main meal came and it ended up as the take-out snack on Day Two on the Bottom. Great weather, great friends, great paddling ? great time!
The insomniacs, drinkers and socializers in the boating crowd invariably end up at slickers and shut the place down at 1 or 2 in the morning.
Day two on the River is a repeat or a variant of day one depending on your state and condition after Day One.
As a postscript, here is my two cents to the discussion thread earlier on this board about ?Everyone should go to Moosefest.? Maybe. But definitely not everyone should be on the Bottom Moose. The Bottom is called ?easy? Class V, but it?s still dangerous. People get hurt every year. Those of us who were down and didn't see the other CdBers there were relieved that those plans fell through. Moshier Falls is push button compared to Crystal and we know what happened this year at Moshier Falls to one of our experienced paddlers. On that thread a bunch of boaters who have never seen the Bottom or the Lower at any level were talking about running the Bottom with not even one of them actually knowing the river or having past experience on the river. You've done Taylorville? So what. That means as much as running the Lower Mad.
When you are feeling confident as a Class IV paddler and wondering ?am I ready for Class V,? the Bottom Moose is one place to test your readiness. But treat the Bottom Moose like the prom. Is somebody who paddled that river before inviting you to go? You will get the most from the river experience if you are there with someone who knows the river, has paddled with you before, knows your paddling ability and your ?river sense.? The ?invite? from a more experienced boater on a Class V run means someone in the ?experienced? group has paddled with you, watched you and is comfortable with you. Someone has vouched for you that you will not pose an unacceptable risk to yourself or make bad judgment calls that will force others to put themselves in dangerous situations to help you. One of the boaters in the group was relatively new, but others knew his paddling progression this year and everyone was comfortable with that boater being there and he "styled" the rapids. If none of the the experienced boater in the Club that you know are inviting you along or encouraging you to paddle the Bottom Moose with them, take it is a sign, or to quote my good friend Bill "Not recommended."
When I paddled the Bottom Moose the first time, it was after I talked it over with someone more experienced in the Club who I paddled with a number of times and who is obviously an awesome paddler. He said he would have no problem leading Adrian and I down the Bottom. We ran the Otter that particular weekend as well. We had a great time. I've heard that same "by invitation" story to a lot of the paddlers I know.
There is a progression and evolution to paddling. Some are faster than others but everybody has to go through their own process. If you skip to Class V before putting in your time reading lines and then making those lines on easier water (some need less, some need more), the margin of error gets smaller and the consequences of "slips" outside those margins are significantly higher.
Yes this is a risk based sport but there is a difference between properly preparing oneself for and managing the attendant risk versus those who come unprepared and demonstrate reckless disregard for it.
SYOTR
