Black River  May 7, 2005  Reported by Jon

USGS Gage (below the damn in Black River) read a discharge of 950cfs.  There is no flow data for the stretch between the Hatfield dam (put-in) and Black River Falls.  I’ll try top get information from the Hydro plant. 

9 Pure Water Paddlers took 8 boats on the Black.  Kayaks were paddled by Mary, Fred, Marc, and Jeff.  Canoes were paddled by Andy, Ken, Renee, Glenn, and Jon.  We got to the river and assessed the situation from the tall bridge overlooking the river.  I quickly noted that the river was very different than the previous time I paddled it last summer.  My experience would be of little value for this trip. 

Scouting the first drop from the bridge warranted a closer look.  Glenn paddled about 200 yards downstream to scout the two staged drop.  The first drop was about 12”-18”.  Glenn pointed out the line to take which was close to the rock he was standing on.  As I passed closely by Glenn, I planted my canoe paddle on his shin in appreciation of his efforts.  Thanks Glenn!  I grabbed an eddy to watch the rest of the paddlers come through.  Everyone made the first drop in style.   

Mary led the group through the second pitch.  She effectively located an awkwardly placed rock.  Andy stopped to assist.   

The river started with a lot of short drops of minimal difficulty with small flat spots between them.  After about ¾ mile of this paddling, the river widened and flattened for the next mile.  We approached another drop which we intended on scouting.  Ken and Renee led towards the top of the pitch and kept on paddling.  Everyone was able to pick a good line through the drops.  It was hard to believe that this was the same spot we saw kayakers doing rolls and cartweels in a hole last year.  We stopped on the sand bar immediately below this drop for snacks. 

A couple hundred yards of boulder garden provided an opportunity to practice maneuvering skills.  Nothing too scratchy.  Everyone agreed that another 8-12 inches of water would be great.  After a brief area of flat water, we approached a bend that was the regional garbage dump.  There were so many trees and other objects on the large flood plain on the outside of the bend.  Does anyone need a picnic table? 

The last ½ mile of river consisted of about 5 pitches of another rapids.  The first pitch provided more maneuvering skills practice.  Most paddlers stopped river left to scout the next drop.  Glenn and I decided to scout from the rock garden in the middle of the river.  Glenn approached the mouth of the boulder garden and quickly spun around and started paddling hard upriver.  “That looks like a big drop” was the only thing he could say!  If Glenn is back paddling, so am I!  We scouted the drop and determined that maneuvering into a good position at the top of the 4’ drop would be tougher than the drop.  An awkwardly placed rock on top of the drop looked ominous as the water appeared to be pushing right towards it.  We decided it was runnable for anyone who wished to try it.  No pressure if you don’t want to run it.  Andy was waiting with a throw rope.  Ken was filming from river left.  Jon was on the island. 

Glenn was the first through and got pushed right over the top of the rock we were worried about.  No problems, there was enough water on top of it to pass right over it.  Fred was already in his boat and hit the drop like a champ.  Marc saw all the excitement and put his boat back on the river and followed.  Hard to believe he picked up the boat less than 24 hours earlier! 

My turn followed.  The turn was not as difficult as it looked.  The drop was really fun!  Jeff  also ran the drop in style.  Fred decided to try again and pulled his boat over the rock garden in the middle of the river.  I walked back up and rode Andy’s canoe through the drop. 

The rest of the drops were pretty easy with a bit of maneuvering but nothing overly tricky.

We took out at the Power House and loaded gear.  A great run on the river with wonderful company.  We’ll have to come back later in the year during a scheduled dam release to try the river with more water.  Don’t paddle this stretch if the water is any lower.