MOOOOSE!

There is one short October adventure that I should write about - Moosefest! This was my third time going - there were a whole bunch of us: John J, Peg, Andy, Ryan, John C, David, Lauren, Marcella, Scott, Hosanna & Tim. The Moose River is in the Adirondacks, passing through Old Forge, NY, which is where the festival is held. It's the last big paddling shin-dig until the spring, when the world starts (emphasis on starts) to thaw out and the rivers flow again.

I worked Friday evening, so as soon as I was finished, I packed Madison in the car, grabbed my paddling gear and started driving. About the time I got to the Schuyler rest area, sleep felt more important than anything else in the whole world and I decided that it would be wise to take a nap; I could finish the drive in the morning.

At breakfast, it was determined that there were no beginner/novice paddlers with us, so most of us would skip the Middle Moose to do the Lower Moose, and the few remaining paddlers would run the Bottom. A short note about the river: it is conveniently organized in order of difficulty (click here to read a description of river classification). The Middle is mostly class II+/III, Lower is rated Class III/IV, and the Bottom Moose is Class V.

Back at the homestead (otherwise known as the put-in of the Lower Moose), we changed into our wetsuits & drytops, and left dry clothes in the trailer that would be waiting for us at the end of the run. The more I thought, though, the more hiking with Madison appealed to me. Despite the fact that it was perfect weather - in the 50s and sunny, unheard of for Moosefest - I bailed at the last minute. I have extremely conflicting, mixed emotions about kayaking. I love being out on the river. I love doing what I know I can handle, like Fife Brook (up until Zoar Gap), Middle Moose, and Millers River. I am terrified of losing control of my boat, though. Just because I have a bombproof roll doesn't mean that I want to spend the rest of my days rolling through Dragon's Tooth - my last time on the Dryway, cheers erupted from the shore after I came up on my third attempt - many people thought I'd pop the skirt off my boat and swim, but I just held on until the water was a little less turbulent so that my roll would be successful...but I want to be able to have a clean run. I hate that just above Split Hair, I can't ferry across without getting flipped. Even now, closing my eyes, I can scout Zoar Gap in my mind and at the same time, I feel a rising wave of panic.

I don't feel like I'm progressing much at all anymore - I've imposed my own glass ceiling - and I get frustrated, because I do want to paddle harder stuff, but that inner voice talks pretty loud. My friends have far more faith in my abilities than I do, but that, so far, hasn't stopped me from choosing to walk lots of rapids. And the reason that I didn't run the Lower Moose was because I didn't want to have to walk all those rapids...I didn't want to have to make that agonizing decision above every single drop, while everyone else rolled their eyes as I scouted and debated. And panicked and walked.

Anyway, Madison and I had a fantastic time hiking on old logging roads, ATV trails, and we even did a little bit of bushwhacking.

So, on Sunday, we discovered that there would be no release on the Lower Moose (the amount of water in the Moose River is controlled by a series of dams...hydroelectric companies make recreational releases, meaning that they schedule their releases of water so that paddlers have the opportunity to play - and, that way the paddlers know how long there will be water to play on - nothing stinks more than being halfway down the river and suddenly running out of water). I was glad, because it meant that I didn't have to agonize over a choice of paddling spots for a second day in a row. There was NO WAY I would even consider attempting the Bottom. That left the Middle Moose. I had a great run, with Peg & a friend from VT, Jeff. Peggy was awesome, using only hand paddles, even on Nelson's Falls. That's the only class IV rapid on the river, and yes, I walked it. As a whole, the river was a little scratchier than in past years (less water = more rocks). But...things that in previous years had been H-U-G-E and scary were not bad at all (which does lead me to believe that I am getting to be a better paddler, slow as the progress might be). As an added bonus, it was in the 50s for the second day in a row, without a cloud in the sky...AND we were off the river in mid-afternoon, instead of after dark, like normal.

I will miss paddling while I'm on the AT.