Northwest River is Wood Free

Last Friday a group of four paddlers took on the Northwest River for the first time this spring. We caught the river at 18.8 cms, which is a nice medium - low flow for this run. Apart from some confusion on meeting times, which was my fault, it was an awesome day. Sunshine, sorta warm water, and lots of good lines.

Last fall the rapid known as "Right to Left," in the first canyon, was blocked by a river wide log. I'm pleased to announce that this rapid is once again wood free. As well, there is no wood in "Pinball" around Northwest Falls.

For anyone interested in the nomenclature used for rapids on the Northwest River I would like to add a new name to the list. Below "Fish Hook" there is a small double ledge drop that I have always referred to as the "Double Ledge Drop." Many paddlers are familiar with the sticky hole at the bottom of the second ledge because many of us have been stuck in this hole. Cody Neal is the latest member of the kayaking community to become intimately acquainted its sticky nature. Cody informs me "a swim out of this hole doesn't count because you can put your feet on bottom, walk out of the hole, and into the eddy." I propose that the name of this rapid be formally changed to "Doesn't Count Rapid." If you're aware of any previous names that take precedent here please let me know.

Dave MacDonald will be pleased to hear the Cody doesn't just offer crazy advice, but he actually practises what he preaches. Cody was seen in the eddy dragging both his boat and paddle onto shore. His selfless action of hanging onto his gear made it much easier for Paul Rose, the better paddle in this case, to help Cody rescue himself. In this era of irresponsible, selfish behaviour by drug-enhanced professional athletes Cody's actions are commendable and he makes a fine role model for younger paddlers in the crowd.

I've thrown in a link to a slide show of pictures we took on Friday. I hope you enjoy.

Northwest River Slide Show

Pipers Hole Festival and Northwest River Updates

Hi folks,

The Pipers Hole River Festival took place on April 28, 2007. Seven brave souls turned up to take on the low flows on Pipers. The river hasn't been above 1.4 m this spring. The rodeo was held as a river running play event due to the lack of distinct features. Paul Rose was definitely styling the river. He managed to find several small cartwheel seams and was hitting multi-point cartwheels all over the place. Dave Ennis is pleased to announce that he relenquished the "Best Swim Award" this year and headed home with a dry boat. Thanks everyone that popped out for the day and to the Outfitters for supplying a few prizes.

Important Pipers Hole Rodeo Update

Alright,

I've had a "luck of the Irish" type day. Essentially my vehicle is
out of commission until sometime next week. Which leaves me in a
pickle about the festival this weekend. My executive decision is to
delay the festival to Saturday, April 28, 2007. I'm terribly sorry
about the short notice of this schedule change, but unfortunately we
can't choose when our cars are going to break down.

I was able to change my Kilmory reservation and I hope that the resort
is understanding of anyone else that needs to do this too. On the
other hand the water levels and weather are still forecast to be good
this weekend, so hopefully people will still go and enjoy the river.
I'll be humping my boat over to Rennies Mill for sure.

Thanks for your understanding

Chris Buchanan

Northwest River Levels

I've noticed that the NL government gauge is not being updated at the moment. It has been this way for a while and I'm not sure when it will get fixed. However, the environment Canada gauge is still working fine and can be found at http://scitech.pyr.ec.gc.ca/waterweb/formnav.asp?lang=0

Unfortunately this data is given as the head of the gauge (m), as opposed to the NL graph, which is converted to CMS. A few years ago I monitored the websites and came up with a fairly accurate conversion for the environment Canada data. This allows us to judge the water levels using numbers we're familiar with for the Northwest River. Listed below are a few touchstone levels for each gauge. I hope this helps you out.

Environment Canada (m) = NL Government (CMS) River Level
1.1 m = 10.7 cms Low
1.3 m = 15.8 cms Low
1.44 m = 20.1 cms Medium
1.6 m = 25.8 cms Medium
1.7 m = 29.8 cms High
1.8 m = 34.1 cms High
1.9 m = 38.8 cms High
2.0 m = 43.7 cms High
2.5 m = 73.3 cms Really High
3.0 m = 110.8 cms Really High

My conversion is an estimate, but is very accurate between 2 cms and 50 cms. Above 50 cms it becomes less accurate. Really though, if you're on Northwest River above 50 cms you know what you're about and you don't need a lousy gauge.

I hope this helps you out a bit. The Northwest is at about 20 cms today. In otherwords it is perfect. Judging by the weather forecast it will stay in a good window for a few days. So, get out there and paddle.