Mad River
Road from Castor Hill to North Branch
July 9, 2006
Trip Report
| Reporter | Adrian Bout |
two sucsessive 5'+ drops, this is the first. both are part slide, part ledge. this is basically the ramp that sends you flying off the second ledge.
i saw no sign of an old mill but this place is named Otto Mills on maps, there was a cottage nearby.
20+ tall, the feature to portage. do so on river right, around the bend in the cliff is a good spot. repel your boat with a throw bag, then climb down after it.
as soon as the river quits channeling, another cable crossing apears, with a class III slide following (uh, hence the rapid name). middle looked best, aim for the small rooster tail that'll set you to boof the hole (as pictured).
this is the Cold River as it enters the Mad. there was a walk bridge shortly upstream on the Cold. above this the river came in small rapids from two forks.
you can run this even faster if you start center/left (main flow). it still finished like a blur starting from the river right eddy and peeling out the back of it. its the steroidal class IV version of double-drop on Flint Creek. not bad for the one class IV on this river, just be aware there is a house near river right.