Anyone been to Cheney Pond recently. Specifically, was wondering about the condition of the road, and the water level for a paddle on the Boreas to the old dam site.
Thanks,
Jan
Jan,
MDB and I drove by there just last week, I noticed a new sign on Blue Ridge Rd, but we didn't drive down to the pond. In the 30 years that I've been visiting there, the road has changed little.
My buddy and I paddled all of the Boreas from Cheney to rt 28N in August of 2013.
The gage on the Hudson at Newcomb was 180 ft^3/sec that day. Above Lester Dam, all was fine. Below was another story.
Gage today is at 140...all that would be different is likely the pond outlet. That section of the Boreas from pond to dam would be nearly the same as when buddy and I paddled it, which is to say, relaxing!
Hope this helps.
I paddled this today and thought I'd share what I experienced. The road is very narrow and has a few rough spots. I wouldn't attempt it without a high clearance vehicle, and if you happen to meet another vehicle going the other way, well, good luck. The pond is really beautiful and has what has to be one of the nicest beaches in the ADK's. The lean-to is in great shape. Very clean and in a great location. We didn't make it very far on the river. The water level is so low we ended up dragging the boats most of the way down the pond outlet, with one carry through some tall grass. When we got to the river, the current was surprisingly strong, the water level was low and the rocks were many. We struggled to get to the campsite on the right with the picnic table and gave up. There were moose tracks going through this campsite, but alas, no moose sighting. Rough trip upriver back to the outlet. I won't be going back unless the water level is a lot higher.
I'm surprised the Boreas was so scratchy...there must be a threshold between the levels that you and I had, it was fine for me.
Was anyone at any of the campsites?
I'm sure with your experience you'd have had no problem with the river. Our kayaks steer like barges so we were banging off a lot of rocks. We were also tired from the trek down the outlet. For the most part the river was OK, but the scratchy parts and slippery rocks were more than we wanted to handle. Very disappointing because the view downstream was so tantalizing, but we were afraid we couldn't get back upstream safely. Thanks for the link to your trip report. I remember reading it back then, but it was fun to revisit it after my introduction to the area.
Sorry, forgot to answer your question about the campsites. There were two guys at the lean-to when we got there at 10 am. They were gone when we came out. A few other day trippers, but no overnighters.
I'm sure with your experience you'd have had no problem with the river. Our kayaks steer like barges so we were banging off a lot of rocks. We were also tired from the trek down the outlet. For the most part the river was OK, but the scratchy parts and slippery rocks were more than we wanted to handle. Very disappointing because the view downstream was so tantalizing, but we were afraid we couldn't get back upstream safely. Thanks for the link to your trip report. I remember reading it back then, but it was fun to revisit it after my introduction to the area.
Sorry if my interpretations led to any inaccurate impressions...
I try to post reports as objectively as possible, but invariably my impressions and assessments are influenced by my experiences.
When MDB and I paddled the Boreas, I was in my DY Special, great for zipping across the pond, but not so good in a twisty river with currents.
When I paddled the Boreas with my buddy, I used my Mohawk 13XL, not so good on the pond, but perfect for the river, especially the part below Lester Dam.
I suppose the other factor is the water level...below a certain threshold, the current can be rather strong, which is sort of a paradox. You would think that with a low flow, the current would also be slack, but that's not quite how the river dynamics work.
Sorry if my interpretations led to any inaccurate impressions...
I try to post reports as objectively as possible, but invariably my impressions and assessments are influenced by my experiences.
When MDB and I paddled the Boreas, I was in my DY Special, great for zipping across the pond, but not so good in a twisty river with currents.
When I paddled the Boreas with my buddy, I used my Mohawk 13XL, not so good on the pond, but perfect for the river, especially the part below Lester Dam.
I suppose the other factor is the water level...below a certain threshold, the current can be rather strong, which is sort of a paradox. You would think that with a low flow, the current would also be slack, but that's not quite how the river dynamics work.
LOL, it is a paradox! ( i know you get it so for anyone else), Think of an airplane wing, the air on the upper side has to speed up to keep up with the under flat side. The top air is forced to gain speed. Those rocks and features of river bottom are having full effect at low water, When at high water, the friction of the surface is apparent at the shoreline, you are mostly unaware of the turbulence at bottom. But the fish are, that's where they hold!
I wish I had read your trip report earlier Jan! I've been wanting to do that section for quite some time now and finally got around to it on 08/08/15, this past Saturday.
We were taken down to the pond by CloudSplitter Outfitters in Newcomb, who were extremely great people. That road would have eaten my car up, you absolutely need a truck or SUV to navigate some of the road, which is very narrow and bumpy. Pretty cool to see the wild apple trees though!
Anyways, Cheney Pond was very nice. Once we got to the channel though, we knew we were in for a little adventure. It took us 35 minutes to walk through the channel because we could only kayak 50-100ft portions at a time, while trying to steer clear of the leeches that were in the warm unmoving water of the channel. Once we got through to the Boreas we were relieved and expected an easy paddle down to the dam, as the water was not crazy low (18 inches deep about) level, cold and moving quick. Boy were we wrong. It was bony pretty much all the way down to the dam, we did a fair amount of walking for a kayaking trip! We scratched and clawed our way over rocks, and beaver dams (about 8 of these quick water sections in total). It took us about 1.5 hours to get to the old Lester Dam. It was picturesque, but in all honesty, absolutely not worth the effort to get to it in low water. We spent about 20 minutes at the dam, then needed to begin our paddle back upstream. We had some wind in our face, along with the current. The worst parts were the quick water sections, getting back up through those were tough, and we ended up just dragging our kayaks through numerous sections. We were spent when we finally got back to Cheney Pond, we floated across and were picked up about 5:30pm. We left the beach about 1:00pm.
All in all, absolutely not worth the effort or time/abuse to the car it takes to get to the pond then the river in such low water conditions. I was happy for an adventure, but was let down by the reward this time!
jimmyb,
You had half the water that jan did!! Gage at Newcomb for the Hudson on 8/8/2015 was reading 70 ft^3/sec at mid day, it's been a very dry summer.
And, I don't know about everyone else, but I would like to see those pictures...
jimmyb,
My hat's off to you making it to the dam site, and with less water! I just wasn't sure we could get back upstream if we went too far. Did you have any problem with the slippery rocks when you tried to line the boats? I'm with Stripperguy, would like to see your photos, to see what I missed.
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