Penobscot, S. Branch

Probably the most visually intimidating drop on the river. As the river splits around a large island take the narrower right hand channel to the slack water just above a sharp horizon line. Take out on river right to scout or carry around. Just above the drop the two river channels meet once more then plunge over a slanted rock slab. The left side of the slide is a vertical wall that may be undercut. At the bottom of the slide the channel constricts to just about 20’ into a huge exploding boil. At higher levels a rather large keeper hole forms. The usual route is to start at the converging river channels above then run through the center of the slide down into the boil with a left lean as you hit the bottom of the slide. The rock slab on river right gradually angles down to the river bed forcing the water to push to the left creating the exploding boil at the bottom of the slide. Just below the boil there is a shallow spot followed by a large recovery pool.

After a fairly long section of class II and III water you may eye several exposed ledges protruding from river left. Take out in the large eddy on river left just above one of the ledges. Just downstream river left (and out of site from river level) is the South Branch campsite where you can access the river to scout before you run. The river drops sharply towards the right vertical river bank then takes a rather sharp left turn then drops over a two foot ledge into a very large keeper hole. The hole is nearly river wide with a passage on river left. Run the upper rapid directly to a river right eddy just below where the river hits the right bank and takes a hard left. You will need to be fairly aggressive to punch into this eddy. From the top of this eddy set up and execute a hard ferry to the river left eddy, once here it is a simple run to the left of the hole. Do not underestimate the power of the current here and get sucked downstream into the hole. Just after the slot the river splits around a midstream rock ledge then leads into a calm pool.

Not far below SYBOF the calm water ends and you are once again in class II and III waters. A couple ledges and turns down and you will notice some rather large midstream rocks and obstructed passages. Pull out on river left and scout. The top of the rapid has a river wide hole, weakest on the left. Once past the hole the flow splits around a large midstream ledge, the left channel runs through a rather obstructed and shallow drop at the lower release levels. River left drops over an “L” shaped ledge easiest run on far river left. The more difficult line is up close to the midstream ledge where the flow piles up against and takes a sharp and steep left hand turn. I then drops into a two step drop with a trashy hole at the bottom of each. Do not hug up too close to the midstream ledge; at the bottom of the first step there is a large semi-submerged rock that may knock you back into the hole.

This is really just the lower part of the same rapid. Shortly after the upper drop the river once again splits around some midstream ledges. The river left route has a steep drop by a large protruding ledge. Downstream from here the river is somewhat shallow at the lower release levels and requires some maneuvering to get through.

Towards the bottom Lower Split Decision there is a near river wide hole that is best run on the far left.