Here's the update.
Friday afternoon I made my way to the AgCan building on Baseline and said:"hit the road, Jack." After much traffic-induced cursing, we managed to pick up Mr. Ken "Morning" Woods.
Even though we were careful about hydration levels during our drive, it was necessary upon arrival in Old Forge, NY (in the cold rain, BTW), to carefully re-hydrate ourselves. But for some reason, the next morning, some of us did not feel so hydrated... Plus, only then did I notice that my motel room had a heater...
Saturday morning: the Moose gauge is at 5.2, a. k. a. almost insane level for the Bottom section. A quick change of plan and, together with a group of Ottawa/Montr?al paddlers, we decide on the Independence river. None of us had been there before. At the put-in, we saw was a small shallow cute thing of a river, Petite Nation-style, easy: just float down the current and chat with your buddies. Until you round the first bend that is, 100 m from the put-in. There it starts: 2 km of non-stop find-your-way-down Class II-III boulders (to avoid), small drops, more boulders... Shallow (don't flip!), but with many small eddies here and there to catch your breath if you can catch them.
Then something strange: a bunch of people standing on shore at what logically would be just another small drop of the kind you got used to running blind for the last hour... What are they doing there? They're looking at the "Fat Lady". It's worth going there just to look at it and see the few who decide to run it. No photo will do justice to this drop, it's just too big and complex. It's a 100 m (longer even) shallow, narrow, steep cascade, with a very tricky entry (all the water is funnelled between two rock walls with a nasty curler/hole), then a giant rock splits the current into two steep slides, the one one the left had a convenient large strainer tree, which a few paddlers visited as the audience screamed; then another current split... Quite entertaining, we watched one guy run it 5 times (and the hike up is quite something in itself). It's like Eagles section, the Big White Slide and other drops of the Beaver, all stitched together. So we walked (the hike down is easy: pull your boat on the smooth rocks, it's so steep the boat just comes with you).
We put back in just before the end of the Fat Lady. Below that, there's a really nice 5-foot boof drop under a bridge, no scouting. Then you think you're done, but you scout the last rapid anyway. Looks easy at first: another gem, but gems can be hard to swallow sometimes... It's an easy enough rapid to start: a sneak line on the right is available... But the last third is a confusing mess of boof rocks, narrow channels, funny waters... Jacques (who started the day with a brand new full-face helmet) didn't get to see that last part, being upside down. I was just behind him, going "Ouch... Ouch... That helmet isn't new anymore...". Me, I put a dent the size of a grapefruit in the nose of my boat, and I didn't even feel it (but the others heard it apparently). Strangely enough, at the take-out, the sun was shining, and 1/2-an hour later, the dent in my boat had popped out on its own.
After taking out from the Independence, you can stay dressed and drive approx. 1 km to Otter Creer, with a nice section of Class III rapids, with one Class V (so we heard, since we didn't try it this time). If there is enough water, it's definitely worth the drive: two rivers in one!
Sunday, the water was still too high for the Bottom Moose (the consequences of the previous evening activities may have had some weight in that decision), so we run the Lower Moose instead, whose take-out is the put-in for the Bottom section. The water was significantly higher than when we did it last Spring, definitely class III-IV, not a cakewalk. The Tannery rapid was big and complex. I eddy-hopped my way down, while others tried other routes. More fun in the subsequent ledges, where Sabine, an unlucky canoeist, side-surfed a pourover hole for at least 2 minutes, no exageration here: that's how long it took, for instance, for others to finally decide that she's not getting out, to go to shore, get a rope bag, walk back up the rapid, only to find that the paddler had managed to escape the hole on her own! Lesson: don't give up!
Myself, I had a stupid swim later after voluntarily (almost) going into a small but very retentive pourover hole above Rooster Tail: after punching said hole and eddying out, I decided to peel out, but I went too far upstream and got sucked in. I stupidly decide to bail out after only a few windowshades. Stupid, because I found my boat 400 m downstream... Lesson: don't be stupid, and if you are don't give up!
Then more fun. Froth hole was scary. The narrow chute just to the left of the suicide hole, which I had run last Spring, looked trickier this time, although many ran it successfully that day. Instead, Jacques and I decided to ferry to the other side and inspect a small narrow drop there. We ended up doing that line instead (Class III at most), and that was fun. Very narrow, narrower than my paddle length.
...And we get to the MixMaster. Some tried it and succeeded in avoiding the 2nd hole, others were "mixed"... I decided to give it a try, even though I was tired and didn't have any power left in my arms... I was a tad bit too far to the left right at the start, cleared the 1st hole, almost cleared the 2nd hole... But not quite, and got pulled back, windowshaded a few times, rolled a few times, surfed, windowshaded some more... It was clear that I wasn't getting out so decided that it was time to bail out (I was NOT being stupid this time...). Ok, one more roll up to get some air, then I pull the skirt. My paddle gets ripped out of my hands, the boat escapes the hole right away, I do too... only to get sucked back in for more "mixing" (felt more like being in a blender). When I finally reappeared at the surface, I was 20 m downstream. It was interesting, to say the least. I was exhausted, but since there were only a few fun drops left in the run, still in a good mood. Dry suits are amazing!
And thanks to Sabine who found my paddle and elbow pads!
At the end, we went to check out the first drop of the Bottom section, Fowlersville Falls. Ok, our decision to run the Lower section had been right. No one was there (maybe no one ran it this year, not sure). There was zero margin for error, the recirculating hole at the bottom occupied most of the landing. Not for us this year...
I am sure that I am forgetting some interesting incidents. We had a good time even though we ended up doing completely different runs. They call it the "Elusive Moose" for a reason...
But certainly not the elusive Deer: near a cafe full of patrons eating breakfast, there was one of those creatures taking a dump in someone's front yard right. In the middle of the village!
--C.
