Spring Dead River Release
Our crew of 6 and sometimes 8 have rafted all of the rivers that NO guides in Maine, a few times each, so we were excited to hit the Dead for an early, cold, high-water release.
We arrived early Friday afternoon, moved into our cabin and immediately went up to the lodge for some Big Mamma Blueberries. After a few canning jars later, we had dinner, more Blueberries and hung around until we hit the sack.
Spent the day on Saturday rafting the Dead at 7000cfs and had a blast. The Dead is always good because of the continuous whitewater. Needless to say, not a lot of dead water to paddle through. We also braved the elements in a Diablo – definitely worth it and would do it again. To be honest, we were a little bummed that the high-water didn't seem to add any intensity to the hits as we had done a few times before at 6000cfs, but we had a great time nonetheless. Luke was awesome again as our guide and got us into some surfing and perfect lines during the trip. Great guy and guide.
We ended the trip with a nice lunch, watched the video and headed home to spend time with our wives for the rest of Mother's Day wknd.
Overall, great 36 hours were spent with NO again. Cabin was nice, rafting was great and all of the guides and support staff were awesome. Can't wait to head back for a little daddy / daughter trip on the Kennebec later this year.
Cheers!
Kevin L
Pelham, NH
Rating: 4 ****
