{"id":13851,"date":"2017-09-18T10:00:01","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T17:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=13851"},"modified":"2017-09-22T12:40:28","modified_gmt":"2017-09-22T19:40:28","slug":"beaverfest-bonfires-boofs-and-whiskey-bottle-toots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2017\/09\/18\/beaverfest-bonfires-boofs-and-whiskey-bottle-toots\/","title":{"rendered":"Beaverfest: Bonfires, Boofs and Whiskey Bottle Toots"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mega-phone screeches, \u201cAnd can we please keep the fireworks to a minimum people?\u201d But by that time it was too late. The fuses had been lit and there was nothing else to do but watch two ecstatic Beaver-Fest goers have at it in an epic roman-candle war for the next 30 seconds. After a hard night of rain, trucks were sinking in pits of mud throughout the campground. People looked on with envy at those who brought rain boots. Redneck music blared from the speakers of the landowner\u2019s two-story shack as a three-story-tall bonfire lit up the entire scene: a field of smiling faces.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Scott Martin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Labor Day weekend in upstate New York means one thing to kayakers. Beaver River Rendezvous (Beaver Fest)<\/a>: a tradition that has been running for the better part of two decades. I was lucky enough to drop in and experience the scene from the perspective of a first-time attendee (and Idaho-boy), and witness a little taste of the East Coast paddling community.<\/p>\n

The Beaver River is located in the heart of the Adirondack state park. Which is made up of a surprisingly large area of green space and backwoods roadways. The area is oddly rich with gradient, even though it seems to be filled with agrarian roots upon the initial approach. With a little bit of travel, driving on dirt roads through rural farm towns, you\u2019ll land within striking distance of a handful of fun, technical and steep runs. On top of that, there are reasonable class III+ sections with plenty of low consequence waterfalls that both the pros and intermediate paddlers can enjoy. All of the runs sit amongst dam-mitigated reservoirs, which have been lobbied for recreational releases that coincide with the greater Whitewater King of New York race series<\/a>. Labor Day weekend subsists of two of the three initial races used to decide who will wear the series’ crown.<\/p>\n