Group completes previously unrun Upper Section of Wassataquoik Stream connecting Baxter State Park to Whetstone Falls.
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| jcass, Chuck Mathieu, Josh Geib, and Chris Hull. photo by Baxter State Park Rangers |
*All Pictures by Chris Hull, unless stated otherwise
Part 1: Planning and Logistics
Introduction
Before I say anything, I just want to acknowledge all the people who have run this river before, written about it, tried to gain access to it, preserved it, and or dreamed about it. This river is everything we thought it to be.
Wassataquoik Stream (pronounced wa-sa-ta-cook) in Penobscot, most likely means “River of the Salmon”, or “Salmon Swimming Here”. The Send It, ME crew dubbed it, “Wa”send”ataquoik” (pronounced wa-send-a-cook) for “River of the Sending”.
River Orientation and Terminology
I will refer to the Wassataquoik in 3 sections, and one Tributary. Please refer to the Maine Atlas and Gazetteer, Maps 50-51, or Jim Witherell’s The Complete Map of Mt. Katahdin and Baxter State Park. Included are some logistics, trail names and mileage.
From top to bottom they are:
The Headwaters: Originating in The Klondike, just a mile Northwest of the Peak of Katahdin. A swamp that drains Davis Pond into a steep boulder garden canyon paralleling the Northwest Basin Trail to Russell Pond Campground. *Still unrun, and most probably class V-VI (as compiled by data from satellite images and first hand inspection by people who have hiked into the area that also kayak).
The Upper: The Upper begins at the Wassataquoik Lean-To, and this is where we put in. From the Roaring Brook Campground and Parking Lot via the Wassataquoik Stream Pond Tr., and Northeast onto the Russell Pond Trail it is 6.5 miles of arduous hiking to the Wassataquoik Lean-To. Below the Lean-to lies 5 miles of Class V (VI), and then another 7 Miles of class III+-IV. Many rapids are named such as Ledge Falls V, Grand Falls (VI-yet unrun), and Norway Falls V.
The Lower: Orin Falls of the Wassataquoik to Whetstone Falls on the East Branch of the Penobscot. Approx. 12 miles from Orin Falls to the confluence of the East Branch of the Penobscot at the bridge at Whetstone Falls. At our water levels, Orin Falls was class IV, maybe IV+, and the rest of the run was excellent class III. This part of the run goes through the Wassataquiok Sanctuary.
South Branch of the Wassataquoik Stream Tributary: After 3 miles of hiking our group was able to get into our kayaks on the South Branch of the Wassataquoik Stream that parralells the Sandy Stream Trail. This was a blessing because our kayaks weighed 85-100lbs. This tributary that enters from the South just above the upper section is a surprisingly steep boulder maze, that requires little water. When we put on, the consensus about the water level was, “it looks navigable”. Any higher, in my opinion, would be challenging and have a high degree of pin danger and certainly be rated class V. Skootching my way down a low water creek, was far more fun than carrying my kayak anyway.
*Though on maps the trail to Wassataquoik Lean-to does not make any dramatic leaps in elevation, and in fact loses elevation, it is extremely narrow and rocky, requires several small stream crossings over slippery rock, and has low lying trees that constantly challenge the balance of the boat high on your back.
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| Each one of us fell with our kayaks strapped at some point in the hike, except for Chris. |
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South Branch of the Wassatquoik, our Tributary in, probably a First Descent.
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Team “Wasendaquoik”
The Wassataquoik had been floating in my dreams for some quite time. An expedition for whitewater kayaking that would involve challenging logistics, hiking creekboats loaded with overnight gear, and possibly a first descent of an unrun section of river. In January of 2011 I decided I was tired of dreaming, tired of the speculation gathered from message boards, guidebooks, Google Images, and vague recollections of “…someone dragging their canoe up there” and decided to put my skills to the test. I knew the Wassataquiok was on a lot of people’s radar, I knew that there was no longer access via motorized vehicle to the Lower section because of land use regulations, I knew that there was an adventure of pure wilderness kayaking in there, and I knew it would take months of planning and organization to pull it off. The first step was to organize a team.
Josh Geib and Chuck Mathieu are two of my closest friends, both excellent kayakers. I remember thinking, “It’s January, it’s an unknown section of river, high potential for failure and flatwater. They’ll never buy into it.” Over dinner and a few beers I pulled out the Gazetteer to maps 50 and 51. Showed them the river, described the data and reports from kayakers who scouted it, and told them that we could be doing something really special. To my surprise both of them were overly enthused, saying, “Let’s do this, this is going to be awesome, I’m in.” That night we figured out rough logistics and assigned roles and tasks to break up the work. Josh and Chuck suggested that we have a fourth member for safety reasons, and I agreed. Chris Hull was the obvious choice, with his experience and knowledge of river morhphology, he is someone who I highly respect. That night, Team Wa”send”aquiok was born.
The following are the roles we took on to break up the workload:
Jeremy (jcass): Lead organizer, communications, logistical operations, Wilderness First Responder (trip-medic) and emergency evacuation coordinator.
Chuck: Co-Lead organizer, details, reservations, team organizer and communications, go-man.
Josh: Group Gear organization and preparation, media organization, spontaneous motivator.
Chris: On water management and safety, navigational coordinator and photography.
Breaking our roles up gave everyone a vested interest in the project, and insured all our bases would be covered in the case of what Chris will often refer to as “Murphy’s Law, the law of the inevitable”.
Group completes previously unrun Upper Section of Wassataquoik Stream connecting Baxter State Park to Whetstone Falls.
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Chris, Josh, and Chuck at Grand Falls portage, photo by: jcass
Planning and Communications The first major challenge of the project was not to determine that navigability of the river or it’s mileage and rapids, but it’s access. Our agreed upon put-in had to be accessed via a hike and our tributary run through Baxter State Park. Years ago when I first ran Nesowadnehunk Stream, which begins within Park Boundaries, a ranger approached us to make sure we understood the nature of the run, had a safety plan, and were prepared, which we were and thus had no problem accessing the river. However, the Wassataquoik is an overnight run, that requires leaving Park Boundaries, and then traveling through the Wassataquoik Sanctuary owned by Eliottsville Plantation, Inc.(EPI www.keepmebeautiful.org). I felt in order for the expedition to be successful it would be both prudent and ethical to be transparent about our intentions to run the river with both entities. My thoughts were that if well-skilled parties could access Katahdin for winter mountaineering ascents, so should a team of whitewater kayakers be able to de-send it.
Luckily, my previous supervisor Betsy, an avid outdoorswoman and champion dogsled runner connected me with her partner Ben, the head ranger at Baxter State Park. I wrote him an e-mail stating our intentions, and that our aim was to uphold all Park Regulations and safety statutes. Ben replied with recommendations to follow the Park’s Travel Safe program (www.baxterstateparkauthority.com) and gain permission from EPI before committing to the run, and that if we understood it’s nature, had appropriate emergency action plans in place, the Park would not prevent such travel.
However, I noted that Baxter State Park, “…Does not recommend this run…” due to exposure, extreme and unpredictable rises in flow, and house sized boulders (for which I replied that this is what we are looking for). Also, “The park does not wish to advertise.” This means that the Park authority does not affiliate itself with special interest groups or favor any one party or form of travel over another in its rules and regulations. Please keep this in mind when planning this trip, and using the provided information. Send It, ME went through great lengths to portray the whitewater kayaking community as safe and professional. We reserved our campsite according to regulations, had an emergency evacuation plan with phone numbers of hospitals and the Warden Service for rescues outside of the park (Park Rangers handle rescues inside the Park) and we gained permission to camp on EPI’s Wassataqwuiok Sanctuary land prior to departure. Send It, ME highly recommends that attempting parties follow this ethic of transparency to ensure access for other kayakers for years to come.
This run is in a pure, rugged wilderness and at it’s deepest point is miles from any regularly traveled road. Though there are logging roads nearby and alongside the Lower section of the river, and after the Grand Falls Portage on river left there are no trails connecting the most remote river section of the committing Upper section. |
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| Runout of Grand Falls, We seal -launched just above where this was taken. |
Flow
Like any exploratory run judging flow is difficult at best. We know rivers run in the spring, that Katahdin holds snow for a long time, and that to look at the level, we had to hike in. Here the team decided on 2 possible dates based on the Park’s projected openings and our hopes for high flow. We chose the weekend the Park was predicted to open, and the week after barring snow, high water, or other possible delays as a back up. We ended up going in on our back-up date because the park had not opened due to a high snowpack and water year.
Chris reported that he believed the E. Branch of the Penobscot was running at approx. 3000 cfs just prior to our departure, then rose to 5000cfs our last day, which to my understanding is medium-med.high flow. The West Branch of Penobscot was running at aprox. 9,500cfs which is considered high. Keep in mind these are both dam controlled rivers, but border the Wassataquoik to the Northeast and Southwest so...they
may indicate water trends in the area (this is just
my guess)
www.awa.org
It had also rained all week, keeping rivers primed and ready to flow.
At Roaring Brook campground and parking lot, we noticed that Roaring Brook almost looked runnable, or enough water to crash down at least. This gave us hope that going in was the right idea.
When the Sandy Stream Trail began to parallel the South Branch of the Wassataquoik, our flows were “navigable”. Which further confirmed at least low levels in the area.
Our first night we anticipated low-medium flows and designated a large rock in the small pool just in front of the Wassataquoik Lean-to as a gauge.
The next morning our gauge rock was almost 2ft underwater! So was the small beach that designated where hikers could cross the stream.
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Hikers Beach Crossing low water
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| and after the rain, next morning high water |
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Just below Wassataquoik Lean-to, first day low water
So, our flows were at solid medium to high levels. Because many of the rapids reminded me of the size, power, complexity and length of the “Cribworks” on the West Branch of the Penobscot, my best guess of would be between 2000 and 2500+ cfs was pumping this river. However, I did not notice much surging, or dropping of the river throughout the whole day, which would tell me that it holds water “OK”. |
Holes were fluffy, chutes were huge and mostly clean, boulders were padded and some rapids had ledges at the entrance away from the surging main flow that allowed excellent entry into some very runnable big water mini-canyons. As in any run with boulders, there are sieves, and the Wassataquiok is not exception. However the ones we saw were very avoidable, and most rapids offered up very clean lines.
I think Grand Falls could be done lower, to about the tip of the rock showing perhaps. My guess is that the Grand Falls portage will get run by someone with the likes of Evan Garcia or Ben Stookesbury, and until then I will rate it class VI at our flows. I believe, though incredible gnarly, Grand Falls might go at lower water.
Josh Geib pulling the bow to the sky.
Me getting some air on the Helix.