Winnipesaukee

I ran this in a 15 ft open canoe with airbags. The put-in is super easy. There is a small boat launch with not a ton of room. The first bit of the float is easy riffles. At the current flow rate, the waves weren't huge and were easy for me to navigate. As you reach the end, you'll approach a bridge. The best route is to approach from the river left and hit the tongue by the third pylon. The current will try to push you far right, but it's easily avoided. Take out before the Dam on river right. There is a nice surfing wave when you're done. Overall, a really easy run.

I ran the Upper Winnie today. Not sure what the actual flow was, because this site claimed 540 cfs but a gauge I saw just above the first tressel was reading 320.

I don't have anything to add to the info here on the established sections. However, today the dam was open below the takeout area, and the level was 20+ feet lower than it normally is at the take out. This made it so that the usual calm area from below the rapids at School street bridge to the take out was not calm, but rather a series of rapids under the Park Street bridge and tressel and turned into an area better resembling the Lower Winnie. At this drainage level, there's a big log strainer at river left just around the turn from Park Street bridge. Further down stream there's another strainer lodged in big boulders mid river, but it doesn't stick out very far. River right looks to be the best route through here. After these drops, the river turns back into riffles with some small surfable waves. Expect a steep climb up the bank to the parking area at the take out.

Hey all me and a buddy of mine ran the upper section of the Winni toady. Other than a few passing thunderstorms we had a blast. He has never been on whitewater and I just got him into kayaking this year. He was nervous when he first saw the river, but that all changed once we got going. We ran at 800cfs and it was the perfect height for him. This spot is great for beginners. we arrived at 10am and stayed till about 5pm, we made 3 runs down. Normally on the run at the island in Tilton center you want to run the river left, but we found out our second run down that at 800cfs to the right of the island is a lot more fun. If I had to guess based on the depth of the water at when we stopped at the island it is not advisable to run the island on the left at anything below 650cfs or it is scratchy. If anyone gets a chance to run it this weekend all I can say is have fun. If you are a whitewater fiend like I am I scouted the Cross Mill section and it is moving very well. The only caution I would give is to get left fast after Zippy's final plunge or you may find out what it is like to run the lower damn. There is only about a 10ft section where the water slows before you are eating the cable spanned across to keep you from going into the dam.

p.s. I made a whitewater faux pas. I forgot my duct tape. I will tell you now I needed it because we made our last run and now I can't get him to shut up about it. I think he is hooked.

2003 summer weekly whitewater clinic.
John demonstrates the proper technique for a potential broach and aligator wrestling.
Is this the result of global warming

Photos of Map of the Lower Pemi region