Mattawamkeag, Maine, US

Kingman to Mattawamkeag

Usual Difficulty	II-IV (for normal flows)
Length	12.5 Miles
Avg. Gradient	10 fpm
Max Gradient	50 fpm

Gauge Information

Name	Range	Difficulty	Updated	Level
Mattawamkeag River near Mattawamkeag, Maine
usgs-01030500	300 - 25000 cfs	II-IV	00h43m	2330 cfs (running)

River Description

The following was posted on the NPMB by "pjbuehner" on 5/13/03

Went to the Mattawamkeag today. It was at 6250cfs last night but I think it was down to about 5800 or 5900cfs by the time we got on it today. The road is open except that the campground caretaker had to leave so he locked the gate at the park. It is easy to park at the gate and hike down the power line to put in. It means that you miss the initial Class 3 warm up option but no big deal. There really are only three signficant rapids on this river at the level today. Quite a bit of flat water separates them but it is moving quickly and goes by without a problem.
First up is Slewgundy heater, a gorge that is about 1/4 mile long. this reminded me of the Kennebec that had some obstacles thrown in to make it interesting. The lead in is a wide channel right of a small island. I eddied out right and Keenan and Mike hit the left eddy under the island. With about another 2 or 3 thousand CFS I think I would have been sitting in a large whirlpool.
Play on the wave part way down that channel then eddy out one more time river right. Ferry into the middle splitting two little holes and then ride a big wave train to the end.
There are lots of funky currents and diagonal waves that make it much more interesting than it sounds. the only big feature was over on river left (big hole) but I don't think even that would hold you (didn't test my theory) 1/4 mile of flat and then Upper Gordon. We eddied right to scout it since guidebooks put it somewhere between class3/4 to 5+
It wasn't near class V at these levels but then again we made our lines. Basically right of center to an eddy right. Peel out high and catch a little curler to surf you to the center of the river. Come in behind a big exploding wave, then look down into a huge trough. Hit the line right and your right hip hugs a hole and you Ride a monster Big Mamaesque wave that immediately is followed by another wave with a good foam pile on top. Keenan reassured me that the only really nasty stuff was on river left. "Nothing would hold you over here Peter" So as he casually came down as number 2 (I was in the eddy right already)and missed the eddy I figured he was trying to prove his point. Well once he missed the eddy (he thought it was going to be easier to catch) he really got his boogie on to get left. In my estimation, there was really one line to run if you were out in the business. River left has a couple of huge pourovers that block that side. river right is one long pourover with lots of water going over it. No thanks to either one. I also think there might be a sneak route extreme left but we didn't look. So, it seemed that he was too far right. From the eddy you can't see what is happening as the drop is too big. So apparently he practiced his roll about four times but got just far enough left to avoid a good spanking (he swears he wouldn't have) Mike and I had clean drops. Just this one rapid-when you are riding the lip of a wave with a monster hole beside you and get a clean run is so exhilarating. It makes the relative lack of whitewater so worth it.
Lower Gordon was a straight forward left to right wave train avoiding the big purover at the top right.
Casual paddle in quickwater to the trucks and home. Nice day, beautiful river, no one else within sight. No houses lining the banks, good friends
See you out there
Peter
If anyone is curious, at this level I think that it is a class 3/4 run. the water in Slewgundy is definitely funky but the right side is quite easy to manage
Upper Gordon has a big line to hit and it's pretty easy to get to if you can use the water to help you. Missing it would not be fun at all.

The following was posted on the NPMB by "mikejohnson" on 5/14/03

"I ran it at 15,000 in late April..." and it didn't seem that much different than you described. We had to run the whole 12 mile section, but since the water was howling it wasn't that bad. The Heater section was pulsing like crazy, but things were pretty much avoidable. I agree that several of the holes on the left were terrible. I was out of breath at the end due to manuvering around things. Killer surf wave at the end.
Gordon also sounds similar. We ran it center right to center left trying to skirt the monster wave holes. Neither of us got left fast enough and got a pretty good whitewash. This drop really reminds me of Locsha Falls in ID. The power of the water was remarkable for an Eastern River.
The place I has the most trouble was at lower Gordon. I let my guard down and hit the left hole sideways and had to surf a minute before endering out and rolling up.
I had a great time on this river. It was raining that day and we just couldn't think of anyplace I would rather be on a rainy day. Lots of flatwater, but the drops were so unique to Maine.
I really can't rate rivers that well, but I would say at 15k it was a solid 4,maybe a hair higher due to the length of the Heater drop. I could be way off though, I have only run a few class 5 drops.