Ashuelot

My group met Kieth, the owner of the first factory on river left that's normally used as the portage between the class 2 and class 3 sections. He was polite but told us he doesn't want people trespassing on his land. I'd recommend either portaging the first dam along the road on river right or just skipping the class 2 section below the covered bridge and putting on below the first dam on river right. It seemed like there was a great parking area there, but you'd probably have to bushwhack a hundred or so yards down to the river. (42°47'23.4'N 72°26'39.0'W)

This run is one of my favorite park and play runs. It has two major play spots that are awesome for intermediate to advanced play boaters. May I add they are both loopable. The first hole is very retentive and is great for learning to loop and cartwheel. Besides that the run is very fun too not much maneuvering but big waves and holes.

My friend and I ran the Ashuelot today 8/10/08 from just below the third dam and paddled the Paper Company Rapid at a gauge level of 5.7' which made the run a continuous class IV with some haystack waves higher than 4'. It was a thrilling and fast ride at that level with not much to play in on the way down.