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July, 2005
Gulf Hagus
Trip Report. Level: just under one foot
By Karyn Roy
This past Memorial Day weekend just happened to be another weekend full of perfect river levels in this wonderful rainy state of Maine. My husband Jay and I had planned on heading North and hopefully hitting a couple rivers over the weekend. Due to the rising water levels, I had a couple of friends from Vermont who had been itching to hit Maine at good levels, so on Thursday night I got a call and they were on their way.
After getting out of work on Friday, we all met in Windham and paddled Steep Falls first thing Saturday morning before heading up to hit Marsh Stream at 3.5 feet later in the day. We knew we wanted to paddle Gulf Hagus more than anything this weekend so we decided to head to our camp on Moosehead Lake and go for it on Sunday. I have paddled Gulf Hagus several times between 0 and 4 inches on the bridge gauge, but I had a feeling Sunday would be a different story!
We got up first thing Sunday, loaded boats and headed the back way into the Gulf Hagus area. We paid our fee at the gate and kept on trucking despite the moments of rain, and finally reached the put-in bridge. This is a great time of year to be in Gulf Hagus area. Two years ago we made the mistake of going in early April and ran into a lot of problems with ice! This place takes a lot longer to thaw out so I was very happy to see lots of hikers at the put-in as well.
It was about 11am when we were ready to launch. We were a group of five, Jay and I who have run Hagus several times, along with Damon, Whit and Max from Vermont. These guys are super solid boaters, and Damon is a fellow Wavesport paddler. I felt really stoked with the group, everyone was really safety conscious and aware of each other, which helped ease my nerves when I looked at the gauge and it was close to a foot!
We put on and warmed up in the flatwater leading up to the first drop. It wasn’t raining then and we actually hit brief, very brief moments of sunshine. We got out and scouted the first drop, which looked sweet with that much water. Everyone ran it cleanly and we headed downstream. I knew what was around the corner so I was anxious to see how much another six to eight inches of water would change things in this tight gorge. “Faceplant” and “Billings” were next. These are a nice set of waterfalls, 14 and 18 feet, respectively. Faceplant was one of the sweetest autoboofs I’ve ever seen, but you had to eddy out quickly to be able to line up for Billings. Usually we boof right over Billings, but I wanted to check it out at high water because it can get messy. There is a little cave behind the waterfall’s curtain which I have seen people end up in and I wanted to avoid that because it is hard to set safety there. It was very pushy and boily on the river right side so Jay, Whit and I opted to hit the slide on the left side of the falls, which was a super fun choice! Damon and Max boofed middle-left and landed perfectly.
Things were going well in the top part of the run and I think a lot of the manky boogie water really cleaned up with the higher flows! Wedge was pretty much a mandatory portage; and luckily we had some climbers in the group that made the walk much easier. The trickiest part though, is getting back in at the bottom of Wedge because the rock shelf we usually use was part of the waterfall. It took some creativity but we all got back in fine. Whit, who grew up cliff jumping, opted to throw his boat downstream to us and launch the 60- footer on the river right side into the pool below. I was very glad he stuck it!
We came upon “Buttermilk” and after a quick look, we all ran it and headed downstream. Things get quite a bit busier after Buttermilk and right away we came to “Turn Style” rapid. The river gorges up, and there are several must-make boofs, even at lower flows. Luckily, we were able to get out and scout; and we definitely wanted to set up safety. There were three nasty holes and the bottom feature was a very big, gnarly hole backed up by a massive piton rock. Jay, Damon, and Max ran it cleanly while Whit and I set up safety.
We had some more boogie water drops, and quickly came upon “Jaws.” I knew Jaws would be tough, but I was hoping it would be a little cleaner than it was. We scouted for awhile and we even scouted the rapid just below the last drop of Jaws because of an enormous hole backed up by a large boulder that worried me more than Jaws. Safety was a must here because there were several features that are normally dry, but turn into undercuts and sieves at higher flows. Max opted to run Jaws and did well at the top two drops. When he entered the tighter bottom drops he got pushed right, dropped into a big hole, flipped over and ran the slot upside down. He then rolled up just in time to line up for the massive hole in the next rapid, and just made it left. He was fine, but the rest of us decided that today was not the day. I think we all could have run it, and probably run it cleanly, but sometimes it just doesn’t feel right. We decided to walk around.
After one and a half hours of portaging Jaws, which includeding roping boats, rock climbing, and some careful maneuvering, we met up with Max and said that running Jaws probably would have been easier than portaging… . Directly after Jaws there was a series of three rapids that can really mess you up. They were quite pushy at this level and you couldn’t even see the piton rock in “Shark’s tooth rapid.” “Double drop” was next and was a series of a four-foot boof into several other holes. It happens very quickly. The bee-bopping rapids below were quite mild and fun at the higher flow and we finished in no time.
We were all quite happy to be at the take-out after about six hours of paddling. It normally doesn’t take this long, but with a new group and a very high level, it was definitely worth it. We scouted a lot of drops and it took time to set up safety and film, but at the end of the day, we were all stoked and agreed it is one of the best runs out there. And of course the beer at the takeout didn’t hurt either.
I definitely recommend this run, but it is one that should be taken seriously. The river really gorges up and trying to hike out could be very difficult. It’s not the big drops which people usually get hurt in, it’s the little ones in between that you relax more on. I think the best level for a first run is from 0 to 4 inches. Twelve inches was a great, exciting level but I think next time I’m going to shoot for 8” so I can hopefully run Jaws because that portage was nasty. It’s such a beautiful place to have in our backyard and whether you hike or paddle, mark this one down because it’s one of a kind!
Karyn Roy is a Registered Maine Sea Kayak Guide and a 7 year whitewater rafting guide. She won the 2002 Teva Tour National Championships for whitewater kayaking and is currently a member or Team Wavesport. Karyn and her husband Jay recently bought a house in North Windham and can be found at Limington Rips. She also is a Special Education teacher in Freeport, Maine.
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