Newfound River

Ran today with Tom Currier at approx. 7.35 ft.  Seemed like a medium-high flow.

My first time on the river, overall it was a fast and exciting run - there were few grabby holes but plenty of sizeable wavetrains.  Some islands to pick a direction around, it was obvious if one was more fluid than the other.  Low and overhanging branches at the start of the run especially. Very few rocks were exposed anywhere on the river, almost all of them were below water level.

I ran the first dam (before crossing under 3A the first time) left center and got caught up on a rock at the bottom - Tom went a bit more river center and didn't hit anything.  The second dam (just after crossing 3A the second time) seemed very spooky to run at this level.  We took out right before it.

There is poison ivy on the bank below the dam where you'd put in after a short portage, fyi if you were to do the bottom section down to Old Nate during leafy months.

Regarding Old Mill,  I thought it was solid 3+ (maybe pushing 4?). Tom said at 6.5 Old Mill has more rocks to get caught up on, but it's much less pushy.  In a lower volume boat I was still scraping and having to avoid rocks more than I'd have thought in the area around the footbridge.

As of 4/9/2017 both dams are runnable. At the first dam about a 1/4 way down river, run about 15' from the left shore and slide over a smooth hump and paddle through the washout at the bottom.

This may be easily scouted from shore or from the road. I recommend doing so as this one has changed over the years. We used to run it river right until this season.

The second dam is after the walking bridge crosses the river. After going through a mini Kennebec like series of rough whitewater, paddle fast and hard and run the dam about 10 - 15' from the right shore. Again, paddle hard through the washout at the end. There's a slight hydraulic here but with any speed you'll blast right through

Ginger Gatewood at the bottom of Broken Paddle
Paul searching for a line through upper Broken Paddle
The first mandatory portage around a dilapidating dam.

Great play hole at low to medium levels
Gage located river left just below the dam