White Water Rafting

[powderdaypatriot]

Where are the great rafting areas in the North East?

[Riverskier]

The best rafting in the North East is on the Kennebec, Dead, and Penobscot Rivers in Maine. The Penobscot being the most intense.

[ScottySkis]

At beginning if Hudson River on Gore access road wild water I think is the name.

[bigbog]

I know a few...
Those 3 rivers in Maine are terrific for rafting and I have been around Hudson's headwaters...very nice...as is the Deerfield River in MA. All of the good rafting sections of Maine's 3 rivers are up in the undeveloped woodlands(just some cutting in some areas)...so odds are you can see a good amount of wildlife as well.

[Euler]

The Black River, running through Watertown, NY is good stuff.

[Huck_It_Baby]

Any of you guys run white water in a canoe?

[bigbog]

Any of you guys run white water in a canoe?

Yeah, but haven't done any ww in the last ~5yrs. Letting myself get old too quickly = more house/yahdwork and deep backcountry wildlife-sightseeing than anything....but I sold my last OC-1...was a little too quick for me so I sold it(kicking myself now..as often turns out = company/boat now gone..royalex becoming harder & harder to find)...and haven't gotten back into it...yet..., but love it.. Like most everything worthwhile..the more ww you paddle & better/more-relaxed you get..the more you want to do it... You've got a lot of terrific "creek style" streams/rivers in VT Huck... The whole darn state is either mountain or valley...

[Huck_It_Baby]

Yeah, but haven't done any ww in the last ~5yrs. Letting myself get old too quickly....but I sold my last OC-1...was a little too quick for me so I sold it...and haven't gotten back into it...yet..., but love it.. Like most everything worthwhile..the more ww you paddle & better/more-relaxed you get..the more you want to do it... You've got a lot of terrific "creek style" streams/rivers in VT Huck... The whole darn state is either mountain or valley...

I bought a 17-18 foot Mohawk this past summer built from Royalex and am not sure if it's suited for white water or not. Bought it for canoe camping not WW. It's a pretty tough, can hold a lot of weight and I'm told royalex is rather indestructible so I am assuming hitting rocks here or there wouldn't be a huge issue?

I have no experience with WW...so I'm just probing here.

[bigbog]

I bought a 17-18 foot Mohawk this past summer built from Royalex and am not sure if it's suited for white water or not. Bought it for canoe camping not WW. It's a pretty tough, can hold a lot of weight and I'm told royalex is rather indestructible so I am assuming hitting rocks here or there wouldn't be a huge issue?

I have no experience with WW...so I'm just probing here.

It won't be "at home" like a dedicated OC-2 for WW....but most any canoe with some rocker can be paddled "most" anywhere. Most of it depends on the stroke skills, amount of rocker, and roundness of edges, within extremes....ie lots of boats can make it given the humans don't screw it up!...
Always thought Mohawk did a pretty good job of design...not the super inexpensive reacreational things geared for zero wind & chop.
Royalex is a good moving water/ww material....is heavy but there are helpful pads/yokes..and carts..etc which are great, and once in the density of water..can become pretty nimble without compromising stability..and most of all, can take more scratching on rocks yet perform like new. Thing is the stock seats are often pretty high, balance-wise. Lower them, use a comfortable foam pedestal...or something and you can really rock & roll while maintaining stability.
Fwiw....one dvd by the late Bill Mason "Path of the Paddle" series..done in mid-70s...has ~4 videos merged into 1 DVD....was, and will always be, great stuff for instruction...most probably some, if not all uploaded onto YouTube somewhere..y/n?
*Don't be afraid to leave it out in the winter or in the sun every year(except for the high exposure of mid July-August), moderate sun stiffens the material up a little...making it more responsive. Fact not opinion...
Rambling...lol.

[Huck_It_Baby]

It won't be "at home" like a dedicated OC-2 for WW....but most any canoe with some rocker can be paddled "most" anywhere. Most of it depends on the stroke skills, amount of rocker, and roundness of edges, within extremes....ie lots of boats can make it given the humans don't screw it up!...
Always thought Mohawk did a pretty good job of design...not the super inexpensive reacreational things geared for zero wind & chop.
Royalex is a good moving water/ww material....is heavy but there are helpful pads/yokes..and carts..etc which are great, and once in the density of water..can become pretty nimble without compromising stability..and most of all, can take more scratching on rocks yet perform like new. Thing is the stock seats are often pretty high, balance-wise. Lower them, use a comfortable foam pedestal...or something and you can really rock & roll while maintaining stability.
Fwiw....one dvd by the late Bill Mason "Path of the Paddle" series..done in mid-70s...has ~4 videos merged into 1 DVD....was, and will always be, great stuff for instruction...most probably some, if not all uploaded onto YouTube somewhere..y/n?
*Don't be afraid to leave it out in the winter or in the sun every year(except for the high exposure of mid July-August), moderate sun stiffens the material up a little...making it more responsive. Fact not opinion...
Rambling...lol.

Thanks for all the info and advice! I'll have to search youtube for some of those videos before hitting any WW. My canoe is outside covered with snow now. I was worried about leaving it out there all winter but hopefully it will be OK.

Are you saying to lower the seats so your center of gravity is lower in the boat and thus more stabil?