One of my favorite whitewater runs is a little river in north of Worcester, MA called the Quinapoxet. It’s a flashy little stream that is real tough to catch, so lately have hiked along it more than I have paddled it. We did a hike there yesterday, and I was amazed at the huge blocks of ice along the banks.
They seemed to go on forever. The river must have frozen solid during the extended cold snap we had in late December and early January, and then broke up without melting during a brief warm-up with 3 inches of rain that we had a couple of weeks ago sending all this ice floating downstream. I would have loved to be have seen it - the river is not that big. Not something that happens here very often.
While we regularly see massive ice formations along Great Lakes shores, I had no idea they’d develop on rivers. That’s impressive -and a tricky passage.
@Rookie said:
While we regularly see massive ice formations along Great Lakes shores, I had no idea they’d develop on rivers. That’s impressive -and a tricky passage.
It doesn’t usually happen around here - we had a freak rainstorm with 3" of rain that flooded the rivers, broke up all the ice and floated it downstream in huge slabs. There were some pretty big ice dams on a couple of nearby rivers. Good news is that it cleared out all the strainers. Then it got cold again so those huge slabs haven’t melted.
I remembered hearing about a canoe race where the paddlers would drag their boats over moving ice flows - its Quebec
@eckilson said:
One of my favorite whitewater runs is a little river in north of Worcester, MA called the Quinapoxet. It’s a flashy little stream that is real tough to catch, so lately have hiked along it more than I have paddled it. We did a hike there yesterday, and I was amazed at the huge blocks of ice along the banks.
They seemed to go on forever. The river must have frozen solid during the extended cold snap we had in late December and early January, and then broke up without melting during a brief warm-up with 3 inches of rain that we had a couple of weeks ago sending all this ice floating downstream. I would have loved to be have seen it - the river is not that big. Not something that happens here very often.
y
The “Quinnie” is the closest trout stream to urban Boston. Been flyfishing that river for over 30 years. Only saw one set of kayakers coming down once in a high spring melt. Takes guts as the river is pouring and there are almost always one or two sweepers across the stream after each winter.
Have fun but be safe out there. Good thing you scout most of the run (taking a couple of hours or more of hiking).
Good news is that the ice seems to have taken out all the strainers. The most dangorous is the Springdale Rapid, and that was clear. Fun run when it comes up, which isn’t very often.
I saw very similar blocks of ice along the Pemigewasset a couple of weeks ago. Agree, it’s related to the heavy rains and flooding. A month ago I saw debris from Sebosis Brook deposited several hundred feet up in the field in front of the Mt Washington Hotel. The snow cover isn’t thick so maybe spring flooding won’t be too bad.
All that ice comes down in floes, then jams up for miles, beginning where the river narrows. Not this year though. This year has been quite mild - especially compared to last year…
