Saco River

At 750cfs the put-in gorge was a very scenic runnable Class IV. It starts with a tight, pinchy move followed by a large eddy. The river then drops through an easier Class III series of punchable wave/holes before leaving the gorge. The best scouting/portaging is on river right along a well-worn social trail. Go across the train tracks and then descend a steep embankment or follow the side stream to put in at the eddy between the two gorge drops. Alternately, stay high on the embankment and continue downstream to bypass the gorge entirely. This is a popular swimming hole in the summer with beautifully clear water.

The rest of the run was low but fluid. We ran all the way to the bridge on River St but wished we'd left the car a bit further upriver on Cobb Rd or Main St since it got wide and scrapy with lots of cobble bars for the last mile or so. Not sure if there is public river access upstream however, so if you're going to do that scout with care.