December 2001
Volume XII
Issue 10
Abridged Edition

Ice Breaker

Why you want to come out to Paddle Early

By Tom Todd

[click on the images to enlarge]

We call the first trip of the season, the Ice Breaker. It is a time that all the experienced paddlers await anxiously. As the snows begin to melt and fill the rivers, this marks the season of the best paddle. As the snow goes, so does the water. As the water goes, there are fewer and fewer places to whitewater paddle, until late May and the summer rolls around and we are relegated to the old stand by dam release rivers.

John Jenkins paddles a small drop on the Souhegan

Here are the pictures from an early trip last season on the Souhegan. Everyone had a great time. As I looked through all my pictures of the trip, I was amazed to see ear to ear grins on everyone.

The Souhegan is a wonderful little class II stream with a class III section just above one of the class II put ins. It has a short paddling season as the water tends to run off quickly.

Jerry Monkman has lost his snowman from his deck

This day, March 31, 2001, was a delightful day. Many of those who truly understand the beauty and opportunities of early paddling were out with us.

I remember having a wonderful sense of inner quiet as I enjoyed the beauty of the snow and the water deep in the woods. It just doesn't get any better than that trip: good friends, wonderful water, snow bombs dropping off the hemlock trees thumping on to the airbags, snowmen built on the decks of the kayaks, snowy pillows on all the rocks. There are walls of icicles dropping just to the waterline where the flowing water acts as a big eraser so that they grow no longer

Ted Kennelly and Jackie Schoendorf all smiles on the river

Looks Cold! No, not really, wetsuits and drysuits with layers underneath kept everyone warm. The thrill of being out there experiencing what many cannot understand keeps us all warm. The joy of dipping a paddle in the cold water and navigating the rapids keeps us working until we get to an eddy to look up and truly enjoy it all: the river and the woods.

Thump, another snow bomb on the air bag. Looking up the culprit branch is swaying after having relieved its load.

This is all to urge you to come out and paddle with us early. We get to paddle many of the rivers that we can't later in the season. We'll show you how wonderful it is launching your boat over a snow bank or dodging small chunks of ice in the river.

Claire Kurzban gets a gentle shove from Tom Todd to launch as Dora Jacobs smiles and readies for their launch.

Each year many people find they have missed much by not coming out to paddle in the mud season. Last year, the snow melted quickly and the rivers

dried up to record low gage readings almost as soon as the rivers started flowing. Get ready and come out to paddle early.

Don't miss the season and wait until it is warmer. By the time it is warmer, the water is gone and the black flies are out. Now there is something that I can't stand … black flies! But they don't bite through wetsuits.