Rock, VT

Triple Drop

Triple Drop
Photo of Tim Shafer by Patrick Rogers (www.kayakingphotos.com) @ Medium Water Level

River Description

Directions:

  Take out:  Take Route 30 from Brattleboro.  The West River will be on your right.  After approximately 6 miles, you’ll pass a covered bridge on your right.  Continue for another two miles.  The take out is on the right hand side, just before you cross a bridge.  There is a large parking area there (in summer, you could see fifty cars squeezed in there).  The confluence of the Rock River and the West River is at that point.  There is also a seasonal hot dog stand located there.  You can walk across the bridge to get a view of the Rock.

  Put in:  From Route 30, turn left on the road directly across from the put in.  This is called both Depot Road and Williamsville Road by the locals.    Follow this road for about two miles until you cross a cement bridge and reach a T.  (Scouting Note:  you can scout Triple Drop from Duke Road, a dirt road you’ll pass on the right hand side, just before you reach the cement bridge).  Turn left at the T and pass through the village of Williamsville (you’ll see the Dam on the Rock River in the center of town).  Pass through the covered bridge and park at one of two pullouts on the left hand side, just past the covered bridge.

    River Description:  The river is class 3 / 4, and difficulty varies significantly depending on the level.  There is no gauge.  The river starts out gently, with some surf spots and a few rapids.  Watch out for strainers on the right hand side soon after you start, which often fall down the steep side hill.  You’ll reach the old dam (now broken), the first major rapid, about a half mile down river.  This is described as a class 3 or 4 rapid, depending on whom you talk to and the water level.  This rapid, like most on the Rock River, changes from time to time, depending on where the rocks have moved during the last storm.  The rest of the section through Williamsville is straightforward fun, with some splashy waves and rocks to dodge, but no difficult rapids.  At the bottom of this section, you’ll reach the cement bridge and the beginning of the ledges.

  About 200 yards below the cement bridge, you’ll reach Double Drop.  The top drop plunges over a blind ledge, and then slides down to the second, smaller drop.  There is a pool below the second drop if you miss, so hold on and you can roll at the bottom.  Run the first ledge of Double Drop right middle or left middle, but avoid running it down the center.  Also, avoid the far right.  There is a hole at the bottom of the first drop that can hold you for a while but will usually spit you out, but it could hold you at high water.

  Down river is a neat ledge which you can barrel over on the left side or sneak around on the right side.  Barreling over it is usually pain-free at most water levels – it’s really a big chute.

  About .3 miles down river is Triple Drop, the hardest on the river.  Triple Drop is Class 4 except at very low water levels.  This rapid can easily be scouted on the left hand side, or walked on this side if you don’t want to run it.  The second drop of Triple Drop is the most difficult, as it can drop you into a hole that can hold you at low and medium water levels, and can really recirculate you and work you at higher levels. To run Triple Drop, run tight to the right of the two large rocks at the top of the first drop, and pull into the eddy below it.  From there, you need to build up enough speed to cross the second ledge and pull you over the hole.  If you run this ledge a little right of center, once you get past the hole, there is lots of green water to ride you right over the third, smaller drop.  If you run it left-middle, you can usually poke your way through some more narrow and less powerful rocky drops to make it through to the bottom.  Once again, there is a pool below the bottom rapid if you flip, so hang on until you reach the bottom if you can’t roll above.

  Below Triple Drop, the Rock continues another 1.5 miles through a beautiful gorge.  This passage is much more straightforward class 2+ and class 3 rapids. The most difficult rapid in this section is a neat chute on river right, about a mile south of Triple Drop. There are many bouncy waves, sometimes steep, and many surf opportunities before you connect with the West River.

  A note to all:  watch out for strainers, particularly in the section past the cement bridge.  This river is frequently run after a heavy rain, and the heavy rains frequently generate strainers in Double Drop, Triple Drop and the gorge below.

Carl Askegreen says, on the Northeast Paddlers' Message Board:
"Pretty flashy. I describe it as one world-class rodeo hole after another with class 3/4 rapids in between. Super fun.
"Runoff patterns are similar to West Branch, Green, South Branch of Ashuelot...yada yada.
"Way fun and way cool, should really check it out. Put in at the covered bridge then run down; strainers in the first rapid but easy to pass by. Nice rodeo hole. About .62 miles from bridge is a weird strainer on the river right, so I just kind of stay left there. Has this habit of grabbing boaters... got two in one day last year.
"Expect to find good technical play all the way down."

Posted by Eric Bishop
A warm sunny day. We put in about 2 miles upstream from S. Newfane and planned to paddle to the confluence with the West, about 6 miles. The water was fairly high. The run to S. Newfane was uninterrupted class II-III. A large tributary doubled the size of the river in S. Newfane. The broken dam in Williamsville sits at the start of a long section of III-IV past the village. We lined the dam, and Fred broke a paddle in the drop below. After a run down the creek without a paddle he bailed out and made shore. After recovering the boat, we decided to call it a trip as the water had risen noticeably. This is definitely a river to try again. -- Eric Bishop

Posted by Alan Darling

Upper Reaches of the Rock River

One thing that is not to be forgotten is that there is more to the Rock River than the section that is traditionally run (the section that starts at the covered bridge in Williamsville and runs to the West River, which is 2.6 miles long).

Depending on the water level, there are at least three miles upstream from the covered bridge that can be run; the good part is that this section can be run when the lower section becomes monstrous and scary. A good put-in is at the head of Penner Road. To get to Penner Road from the covered bridge put-in on the Rock, go upstream along Dover Road. You’ll pass the South Newfane General Store after about one mile. Continue for approximately two miles until you reach Penner Road on the right. Most of this section of the river is visible from Penner Road or Dover Road, making it easy to scout.

The section above South Newfane village is always narrow, and steep at times. At higher water levels, there are primarily only micro-eddies except in a handful of places, and because the river is narrow, it is hard to skip the more difficult parts. Fortunately, this section is not difficult. At low levels it is Class 2 or 2+, with much cursing at rocks. At higher levels, it becomes bouncy and pushy, and Class 2+/Class 3.

About a half mile below the put-in you’ll reach the most difficult rapid on this stretch. It is scoutable from Penner Road. To run it, follow the tongue that is to the left of the big rock on river right, and to the right of the haystack on middle left.

Just past the of South Newfane village, the Marlboro Branch converges with the Rock River on the right (south), effectively doubling the water flow. The river widens here and levels off some, and is generally Class 2 and Class 3. At very high levels, this section can become a torrent, and Class 3+ in many places. I’ve seen full trees flowing down this part of the river at flood stage, and the river can become 50 feet wider in some parts at highwater. After a heavy rain, you’ll find that some of the boulders have been moved six or eight feet down stream (you can hear the boulders moving underwater at flood stage). This section continues for about a mile to the Williamsville covered bridge, which is the standard put-in for the Rock River.

For those interested in the Marlboro Branch, this is the tributary of the Rock mentioned above. It converges with the Rock just downstream from the South Newfane General Store, which is at the intersection of Dover Road and Augur Hole Road. The Marlboro Branch usually is runnable when the section of the Rock River upstream from the South Newfane General Store is runnable. This river follows Augur Hole Road in its entirety, so you can pick your put-in place. Augur Hole Road is 3.8 miles from Route 30. When you enter the South Newfane village, Augur Hole Road is the first left – turn just before you reach the South Newfane General Store. The lower three miles of the Marlboro Branch are class 2 and pretty basic, with some twists and turns, often some strainers, and some splashy waves when the water is medium or high. Upstream from there, the river becomes a stream and gets narrow, and there are some steep, rocky chutes. I haven’t run the top section, so I can’t give you a rating. It takes a good bit of water flow to make it runnable.

There are two class 4+ or 5 steep creeks that flow into the Rock upstream from Penner Road - Hunter Brook and Adams Brook. Both were cleared of wood by Chris Ericson, who lives nearby, and both require a powerful waterflow.   Both are also strainer collectors, so scout them carefully if you dare run them.