While most were playing, some were hard at work gathering info. I belong to the later group (along with Darryll, Ishtar, Jacques and Cleo) and here are my two cents. The water level at Palmer's during the weekend was 42 and dropped to 40 on Monday.
At that level there was a really nice surfing wave, picture upper and lower Pushbutton waves stitched together. Once on the wave one could seemingly stay for eternity. You could also cram up to three boats at the time (observed a creeker, Fun and Agent crowded in at the same time). As for the rapid it was a lot of fun especially after the creeking class. While hanging out on the wave on Monday, I bumped into MKC group that run lower Mad on Sunday. I chatted about the river with a guy that was taking course at MKC with me three years ago. He was pleased with the run and described it as intresting and technical. Back then the dude was one of the lifers there, taking courses every year for x many years. Since it's Xmany years plus three he knows his Madawaska. I also chatted with the instructor leading the class,
the only scrape was the can opener the sneak route on the last rapid. He also mentioned that there were playspots here and there. And lastly, I had a chat with a nice fellow who owns the Palmer Rapids Co-op property and he said that there was no special release for Palmer Fest so the water level is what it is.
Robert
