{"id":27684,"date":"2022-09-03T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2022-09-03T19:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=27684"},"modified":"2022-09-01T13:07:26","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T20:07:26","slug":"a-sup-source-to-sea-on-the-saco-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2022\/09\/03\/a-sup-source-to-sea-on-the-saco-river\/","title":{"rendered":"A SUP Source to Sea on the Saco River"},"content":{"rendered":"

If I had a really strong arm, I could throw a rock to the Saco River from my house. I\u2019ve driven by it countless times on the way to town and spent lots of lazy summer afternoons floating along with its easy-moving current. It\u2019s the perfect river to spend time in, clean sandy bottom, and trees hanging over the water with rope swings dangling from them around every corner.<\/p>\n

Each summer our small town of North Conway becomes the epicenter of summer vacations here in New England. Urbanites make long drives to spend their weekends on the Saco. They stake their summer claims, shoulder to shoulder with their fellow vacationers. Perhaps, more comfortable in a crowd than all alone in the quieter stretches of water.<\/p>\n

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Thankfully that chaos doesn\u2019t start until early July. Before then, on most years, the snow high in the White Mountains lingers, trickling its way into the river keeping it cold, too cold for drinking beer in. Spring rains inevitably surge down from the mountains, across the wide grassy intervals, and fill the flood plains with cold, murky water discouraging most from considering an afternoon paddle or swim.<\/p>\n

So, there\u2019s a sweet spot in the middle of June, a quiet time on the river, an ideal time to pack a paddle board with camping gear and see the whole river from the mountains to the ocean. Traveling a pathway of big sweeping arcs cut into farm fields, slowed by dams, and\u00a0through rips and rapids that have been pushing to the ocean for thousands of years.<\/p>\n

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Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it also set in motion every worthwhile adventure. Mike Morin, my partner on this trip,\u00a0and I both wanted to see what the river was like from here to the ocean. To know what happens to the water between the covered bridges we cross on our daily commutes. What about those long stretches we never see as the river wanders far from the road and out of sight?<\/p>\n

On a summer day in June, Mike\u00a0and I jumped on our boards with a handful of drybags stuffed with food, gear, and cameras planning to take five or so days to reach the ocean. Our first hope was to paddle from\u00a0farther\u00a0upstream close to the headwaters at Mt Washington. A couple of years of drought and a dry spring left the river too low to do any kind of paddling upriver. Even with a lower start our first two days (40+ miles) required a lot of dragging and walking our SUPs. In early June here in New Hampshire the rivers should still be running high and cold. I can\u2019t help but wonder if this is the new normal here on the Saco.<\/p>\n