Weekend River Report - August 30 - 31, 2008

August 30th the weather was overcast and about 70 degrees. The river is low and slow. Two sets of stewards floated and they saw 9 canoes, 11 kayaks, 16 tubers, and the each saw 10 anglers (these could be the same anglers or not). “The water level was very low. Maneuvering was very difficult. Dillon and I got stuck quite a few times. The low water was a pain in the butt, literally. A large bird caught a fish; it was the bee’s knees.”

“I was surprised to see that more people weren’t on the river being its Labor Day weekend. It was overcast most of the day but the temp was good for a ride on the river. What I did notice was the amount of wildlife on the river had risen due to less people scaring them. Being overcast made it easy to see in the river and spot fish. On the New York strip of the river we covered there were schools of sucker fish in just about every big hole.”

August 31st was sunny, about 75 degrees, and the water level remains low. Two sets of stewards floated and in all they saw 14 canoes, 24 kayaks, 82 tubers, 16 swimmers and 23 anglers. “Twas exceedingly empty until we got to the bridge with a cover. There was a plethora of fish in the river. We also saw an osprey/hawk. The bat was still there but it was too busy decomposing to pay us any mind.”

“The river was busier than yesterday. We saw a lot of activity down into NY. We saw about 50 mergansers. We saw a few fish about today. This brings the conclusion to the BKWA river steward.”

“The water is beginning to get extremely low to the point where it’s becoming a pain to go anywhere without getting stuck. The Vermont side of the river is mostly people in canoes and kayaks and people fishing. The New York side is mostly people in tubes, plus there is a lot more people on the NY side. Not sure what the reason is for this, most people enter the river at the NY parking area.”

Totals for August 30/31: 23 canoes, 35 kayaks, 98 tubers, 16 swimmers, and 33 anglers.

Weekend River Report - August 23 - 24, 2008

August 23rd was sunny and warm; the river is low and flowing slowly. Dillon and Charles floated from the Arlington Rec Park to Eagelville and saw 11 canoes, 22 kayaks, 53 tubers, 32 swimmers and 1 angler. Dillon reports that the bat they saw previously was still hanging from the telephone line and another tree had fallen across the river. The conditions were excellent except for the low water level.

August 24th was sunny and the river remained low. Two sets of stewards floated the river and in all they saw 1 canoe, 7 kayaks, 55 tubers, 9 swimmers and 4 anglers. "A man caught a tree but Charles helped him get his hook and line back. I saw a man peeing in the river. For shame. Very few people on the river. I guess as the kids have gone back to school, people aren't in the summer mindset."

"Today on the river I was a bit surprised to see that there was almost no activity. Considering the day was beautiful, people must have had better plans. The water depth was on the verge of being extremely low, but still manageable to float a canoe or kayak, we never had to walk. The few fishermen we saw had caught no fish and they were all fly fishing. Also, for the first time there were no mergansers floating on the river. Calm day on the water, very peaceful."

Totals for August 23/24: 12 canoes, 29 kayaks, 108 tubers, 41 swimmers, 5 anglers

Weekend River Report - August 17, 2008

August 17th was hot and sunny; the Batten Kill was flowing slowly. Two river stewards floated from the Arlington Rec Park to the Eagleville Bridge in NY. Along the way they came across 6 canoes, 9 kayaks, and 42 tubers which were predominately floating from the NY parking area to the Eagleville Bridge. The stewards also saw 18 swimmers and 13 anglers.

"The water was now low enough we had to start worrying about getting stuck again. We saw a large bird that could be an osprey or young eagle. The river was surprisingly quiet. We also saw a catamount or a calf; I will go with the former because it's cooler."

Weekend River Report - August 9 - 10, 2008

One set of river stewards floated the river this weekend. Saturday was cloudy and the river remains high. The stewards noticed 7 canoes, 3 kayaks, 76 tubes predominately from the Covered Bridge in Arlington, VT down through the Eagleville Covered Bridge in NY, 11 swimmers and 2 anglers.

Journal entries for 8/9: “The river was high enough that we could take new routes. We saw a dead bat hanging from a wire. We came across a canoe expedition that had all sorts of equipment. They were going all the way to Jackson, NY. New York being like California in their words. A little strange to see all that gear to go to the Shushan bridge. Perhaps they started in Canada though.”

"We saw a dead bat hanging from a telephone line. We also saw a group of people with a lot of stuff in their canoes who were going to Jackson, N.Y. Apparently that is located in California, so they said. We also met a lady who asked us if we know about rock snot."

On Sunday August 10 the river stewards report that the weather conditions were sunny and the river high. They saw 7 canoeists, 8 kayakers, 23 tubes, and 10 swimmers. "We were surprised at the lack of people in comparison to yesterday; the lower water made certain adventures more exciting resulting in Charles flipping his kayak. The bat was still there. Contrary to many sources it rained so we decided one trip was enough."

The combined totals for August 9-10 are:

• 14 canoes
• 11 kayaks
• 99 tubes
• 21 swimmerss
• 2 anglers

Weekend River Report - August 2 - 3, 2008

Two sets of stewards floated the river on Saturday. The weather was overcast and the water conditions remain above normal. In all they met 17 canoeists spread along the river, 15 kayaks, 56 tubers predominately between the Hawley Bridge in VT through the NYS parking area and into Shushan and Eagleville. Each set of stewards also noticed 3 anglers on the river.

Journal entries for 8/2: “Today the river had calmed down substantially since last weekend. The water level is still above normal but perfect for canoeing and kayaking because there were no spots to get stuck. From Benedict Crossing down to Shushan there were 3 or 4 trees down in the river that are potentially dangerous to any tubers or kayakers that are inexperienced due to the fact you could get caught up in them. Other than that, the river wasn’t too populated compared to previous weekends.”

“The river was still above normal conditions today. It was cool and cloudy. There wasn’t a lot of action on the river today. I believe it was because it’s supposed to storm. Once again today we saw a lot of mergansers and we saw several ditched tuber as well.”

On Sunday one set of stewards floated. The weather was still overcast and the river is high. The stewards came across 1 canoe with two people in it, 5 kayaks, 43 tubers from the NYS parking area down into Shushan and Eagleville, and 6 anglers predominately around the West Mountain bridge.

Journal entry for 8/3: “We had an excellent side adventure. We went down over 2 trees in NY. We also followed/chased (not purposely) a heron into NY. The river was slightly higher than average.”

The combined totals for August 2-3 are:

• 18 canoes
• 20 kayaks
• 99 tubes
• 12 anglers

Weekend River Report - July 26 - 27, 2008

July 26th was sunny about 79 degrees with some overcast skies. Due to recent rain the river conditions are high and slightly murky.

On July 26th two River Stewards floated from the Benedict Crossing Bridge to Eagle Bridge in NY. In route they counted 24 canoes and 29 kayaks evenly distributed along the river. There were 14 tubes and 2 swimmers.

Journal entries: “The river was very high after the two days of rain we had. The high waters swept away a canoe, so we tied it on and brought it with us. We saw about 15 mergansers and there were a few families in tubes and kayaks.”

During the night of July 26th the area received severe thunderstorms and torrential downpours. The river rose by several feet and on July 27th the river conditions were very high and dangerous. The weather was hot and humid. The river stewards did a quick float from Benedict Crossing to the Arlington Covered Bridge. In all it was basically a suicide mission and the stewards opted to wear life jackets. No notes were taken on river users but the stewards did take pictures of the high water.

The journal entries: “This week in Bennington County, Arlington especially, the precipitation was high and we took many inches of rain. This reflected on the river’s water height tremendously and there were floods all along the river. Trees had fallen and made our trip, and anyone else’s, very dangerous.”

“Today on the river it was flat out dangerous. We saw a guy who had hit a downed limb and was dragged for about a mile. The river was extremely high and fast moving. There was a lot of debris on and around the river. I did see tubes floating by themselves down the river, and I saw two canoes.”

Weekend River Report - July 19 - 20, 2008

July 19th was sunny, humid, and hot with 90 degree temps. The river is low right now.

On July 19th two River Stewards floated from the Benedict Crossing Bridge to the NY parking area. In route they counted 30 canoes the majority at the Hawley Bridge, 69 kayaks with most at the NY parking area, 71 tubes with most at the Covered Bridge, and 33 swimmers most at the Covered Bridge.

No stewards floated on July 20th.

The journal entries reflect the stewards’ observations that the river is accumulating a significant amount of trash; the weather is too hot for anglers, and there is a large number of Mergansers, “(fish eating ducks),” in the area around where the BKWA has recently worked.

Weekend River Report - July 12 - 13, 2008

July 12th was sunny and hot, river conditions were normal to low.

On July 12th River Stewards Dillon and Charles floated from the Arlington Recreational Park to Shushan, twice. In route they counted 3 canoes, 15 kayaks, 130 tubes, 19 swimmers and 3 anglers.

July 13th Dillon and Charles floated from the Arlington Recreational Park to the Eagleville Covered Bridge. The day was cloudy and drizzly and in route they count 23 tubers and 3 anglers. July 6th was about 80 degrees and partly sunny, the water conditions were medium to low.

The combined totals are:

• 3 canoes
• 15 kayaks
• 153 tubes
• 19 swimmers
• 6 anglers

Weekend River Report - July 5 - 6, 2008

July 5th was about 75 degrees and partly cloudy, the water conditions were normal to low.

On July 5th two River Stewards floated from the Arlington Recreational Park to the NYS parking area beginning at 10am and ending at 4pm. In route they counted: 48 canoes the majority of which were located around the NYS parking area, 56 kayaks with the majority between the West Mountain Bridge and Benedict Crossing, 58 tubes with a majority located around the Covered Bride in Arlington. These stewards also came across a large raft with about 40 people and 2 beer kegs in the area between the Arlington Covered Bridge and the NYS parking area, and one angler near Benedict Crossing.

On July 5th a second set of River Stewards floated from the Arlington Recreational Park to the Eagleville Covered Bridge between the hours of 11am and 4:30pm. In route they counted: 22 canoes the majority of which were around the NYS parking area, 21 kayaks equally spread out along this course, 101 tubes with a concentration between the Hawley Bridge and NYS parking area, and 22 swimmers.

July 6th was about 80 degrees and partly sunny, the water conditions were medium to low.

The river traffic was quieter today. The combined numbers from each set of stewards report 16 canoes, most around the Covered Bridge in Arlington, 41 kayaks with a concentration around the Hawley Bridge, 127 tubes with large groups at the Arlington Covered Bridge, the NYS parking area, and the Shushan bridge, 74 swimmers with a concentration at the Arlington Covered Bridge and the Eagleville Covered Bridge. Six anglers were seen between the Rec Park and Benedict Crossing.

Weekend totals (there is an overlap factor in these total counts because the stewards did float at the same time on one day):

• 86 canoes
• 118 kayaks
• 286 tubes
• 96 swimmers
• 7 anglers

Weekend River Journal Entries - July 5 - 6, 2008

"The river was low, the conditions started out sunny, became cloudy as the day went on. The river was busy today. There was quite a bit of beer drinking going on. It went fairly good overall, except for the raft with 40 plus drunks on it."

"The day started out about 77 degrees and sunny. Throughout the day clouds moved in and the temp dropped 5 – 6 degrees. The water level was normal. Out of state groups were being obnoxious on a 30 ft raft with two beer kegs and about 60 people. Incident report!!"

"This day had nice weather and few bugs. There were a lot of tubers especially on the NY side. Some trash on the river but it wasn’t terrible. Overall it was a nice calm day especially on the Vermont side. Wildlife report – 2 jumping fish, about 10 ducks and a few song birds."

"The weather was overcast but did not start raining until we dropped off the kayaks. There were not very many people on the VT side, but quite a lot of people were in NY. There was a beer can in an insulator floating the river behind a group of tubers. A lady had a swamped kayak which I helped empty."