Whitewater in New England?

[stanleyjs]

I am interviewing at a few New England graduate schools this Spring.

A criteria in my school selection is accessibility of whitewater. Anyone familiar with what's available in the Northeast?

[okieboater]

I cannot get into a lot of details.

But some years ago I spent a couple years in Boston Mass and Portland Maine.

Depending on exactly where you go in New England there is more fine creek and big water runs than you can ever boat.

There is a book Creeks of New England (or something similar) that I had but is packed away and the AMC Club of Boston has a lot of WW information. I suggest you just google WW Kayaking in New England or where ever you are looking to base out of.

Good luck. Winters are difficult up there, take appropriate gear or head to LL Bean in Freeport Maine. Food especially seafood is as good as it gets in both Boston and Portland area. A big bowl of Chowdah from Legal Seafood and the excellent micro brews all around or Fish and Chips in the many Irish Pubs is about as good as it gets foodwise.

[stanleyjs]

Cool! Thanks for the info. I've only been up to Boston a few times, and I'm not super familiar with the geography in the area, so it's hard for me to get a read on how far certain places are from good whitewater. I'm looking at New Haven, CT, New York City, NY, and Boston, MA.

[okieboater]

Every body is different in where they feel comfortable living. Here are some thoughts from my kind of living in that area.

NYC would be the last place I would live. Cost of living is out of sight, expensive apartments, forget about having a car in NYC proper - basically a crowded expensive place to be. Day trips or overnights are the way to go to see the sights.

New Haven would be cheaper than NYC. If you are a sailor - lots of sailing here, wooden ships and modern boats of all kind. CT tho is a expensive place to live or at least I think so.

Of the three, my opinion here, Boston is the best. Apartments or Condos outside the city would be the place to be. I had a condo in Newton just off the perimeter. Close to the train station and the train / subway is the only way to get around Boston. You could have a car and that would give you transport to all the good stuff up in Maine, NH, Vermont Mass mountains etc. Just leave the car home if you travel in the city. My opinion that is where I would go. You will still have a good drive to get to the good outdoor sports areas but would not be much different than what I do to get from Tulsa over to MO or AR boating areas.

If you are a local Arkansas young man, my bet is living in any of the areas is gonna be a heavy hit to your pocket book compared to what we pay here in Tulsa or over in Little Rock etc. Just be prepared.

All those major seaboard towns are jammed full of cars, people out the yeng yang living space hi dollar compared to Okie and Arky standards. -- get a few miles away tho and it opens up and great to explore from the car.



As I may have mentioned I have lived for extended periods working in Philly, Boston and Portland. Portland was my favorite for recreation, expensive but still cheaper than other areas for places to rent. Every week end I had in either Boston or Portland was a fun trip somewhere. History is every where in New England. The Maine seacoast is a camera bug's delight. Boston is just awesome for historic places and things. As I mentioned elsewhere, next to boating and being outside I love to sample local foods. I never had a bad meal anywhere up there and most were just excellent. In Boston there is a place called Faniuel Hall (my spelling may be off) that is a monster long building with stalls from all the famous Boston area places to eat. One of my favorite lunch spots as the price was right (for Boston) and you could sample the famous chef's offerings at your leisure.

Boston's main business is education. Colleges all over the place. Which should make finding what you want to study pretty easy.

Take plenty of money and you will have a ball up there.

[Deuce]

Check out paddling.net. http://www.paddling.net/message/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Several of those folks are NE paddlers I think. You might make some new paddling buds.

[Roger]

http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/view/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Find your locations.

[dogpatch]

I've done Kennebec (dam release) in Maine. Class III big waves. Also Dead River. "Raising of the Dead" is the fall release. Check with Travis Journagan (friend) who has a sea kayaking business in Boothbay Harbor. (he also knows whitewater in Maine) tel:+1-207-633-7140 Some beautiful country up there, esp in NH White Mountains and Maine.

[ARzach]

Cool! Thanks for the info. I've only been up to Boston a few times, and I'm not super familiar with the geography in the area, so it's hard for me to get a read on how far certain places are from good whitewater. I'm looking at New Haven, CT, New York City, NY, and Boston, MA.

New York City is pretty far from whitewater but doable. There are some sick creeks around the West Point area which is about 1-1.5 hours out of the city.

Boston would be a good jump off point for the Western Mass runs & NH Paddling. Probably not too far for Maine either.

Hands down best concentration of paddling and population centers in the Northeast (excluding the northwoods of Maine due to population) is in the Western Mass & Vermont areas. Vermont is amazing when it's raining and you can pop up to the upstate NY runs fairly quickly.

Best place to connect with folks, that I found during my time there, is http://www.npmb.com/3/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; There are all ranges of paddlers located around the NE on this board and it stays pretty active.

Good luck with it. There's a lot to be had up there!

--Zach

[Al Donaldson]

Stanley:

Check out he C-Boats forum. Many of the folks on that site are from New England, including John Kaz, one fine builder of whitewater canoes and kayaks.

C-Boats: https://www.cboats.net/cforum/index.php?mobile=desktop" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Millbrook Boats (John Kaz): http://millbrookboats.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Be well.

al

[MarkH]

The NE has world-class whitewater paddling opportunities; your final city will determine the drive time. Dam releases on several rivers guarantee summer paddling & a drysuit will enable Winter paddling (except if its frozen). Every major city has an active ww community, be it independent clubs, chapters of the Adirondack Mountain Club (AMC), or Facebook groups. Pool sessions during the Winter are a good way to meet local paddlers.

I recently moved from Upstate NY to DFW, PM me if you want more info.