When a hole smiles at you

[eckilson]

We got some rain on Saturday that brought my local rivers up, so I decided to stay local and paddle a section of my home river – the Blackstone.

At one time, the Blackstone must have been a pretty good whitewater river with a 400-foot drop over 40-miles. Pretty much the entire river got dammed during the industrial revolution, so now it is pretty much all flatwater. There is one short, class II rapid known as the Millville Rapid that we often run. It is a series of three ledges with the largest at the bottom. We went to scout it yesterday and found the bottom ledge smiling at us. There was plenty of room on both sides to run it, but with just two of us we took a pass, and paddled a different section of the river.



Anyway, it just struck me as a great example of a hole smiling at you. When it frowns at you with the ends pointing upstream it is best to stay away.

 

[Tsuga8]

For the whitewater-ignorant of us, care to expand? Is a 'frowning' hole more likely to be a keeper and catch you in a recirculating current?

 

[ppine]

Ten feet per mile is not much gradient for a whitewater river?
Is it a pool and drop river?

 

[tketcham]

For the whitewater-ignorant of us, care to expand? Is a 'frowning' hole more likely to be a keeper and catch you in a recirculating current?

This readable explanation mentions frowning holes...

Understanding Holes - Lower Columbia Canoe Club

 

[Tsuga8]

Good reading, thanks for sharing

 

[eckilson]

Ten feet per mile is not much gradient for a whitewater river?
Is it a pool and drop river?

It is hard to know now because it is all underwater now, but based on the way the dams are spread out the rapids would have been spread out too. Probably not a pool and drop, more likely longer rapids interspersed with flatwater/quickwater. The river would have been really flashy. There is one short section that retains something close to the original character of the river - Blackstone Gorge. I've never run it - three river wide ledges, a big drop at the bottom that gets filed with wood, and lots of nasty undercuts, but here is a video of a local paddler who did.

Not sure how that short section of the river missed getting a dam put on it.

This is the short rapid above the smiley hole in the picture above that we decided not to paddle that day.

At higher water that ledge washes out.

 

[Chip]

I see a line! Funny, how from above, I always see the line. Paddling on the river, it never looks the same.

 

[Alan Gage]

I see a line! Funny, how from above, I always see the line. Paddling on the river, it never looks the same.

I've found the waves look much more intimidating from canoe level as well.

Alan