Broad Brook, New Hampshire
Location - Hinsdale, NH
Difficulty - Class IV-IV+ Length - 1 mile
Level - medium Date - 2005
Difficulty - Class IV-IV+ Length - 1 mile
Level - medium Date - 2005
With its many hills and mountains, ample snowfall, and frequent rains, New
England has a wealth of whitewater and a rich paddling history. As boat design
developed intrepid explorers pushed farther back from the standard waterways
in search of steeper and increasingly difficult runs. The paddle sports
renaissance of the late 1990’s saw first descents being knocked off each spring
weekend and seemingly after every heavy rainfall. By the early 2000’s most
runs worth paddling were well documented. To run something “new” you either
had to isolate yourself from guidebooks or search out insanely steep creeks or
nightmarishly tiny streams. With all of this knowledge in mind, I was a little
surprised when Nate gave me a ring one fall evening and asked if I wanted to cut
out some wood on a creek that looked good down by the Ashuelot.
I had the next day off and no plans, so that morning I grabbed my ax and drove
down to meet Nate and one of his buddies for breakfast in Keene. Nate had
apparently been looking over some maps one day and spotted Broad Brook, a
small, but not unreasonably tiny creek, draining a lake in the extreme
southwestern corner of New Hampshire. We trucked down the half hour to the
creek and started hiking up and down the mile long riverbed, trying our best to
skirt private property and keep a low profile.
What we saw indeed looked promising. The gradient was there, the stream size
was there, and the wood was minimal, especially after a little sweat and
determination on our part. After a few hours of work all we had to do was wait for
the first heavy rains of the year. As it turned out, this didn’t come until the spring,
but when we arrived with our boats we found a great looking class IV-IV+ creek
ripe for the picking. I’m not willing to step out there and say that this was a first
descent, even if it was the caliber of whitewater hardly makes it notable, but
there is certainly a possibility no one had run Broad Brook before us.
The first rapid is a tight slot between a few huge boulders leading into a chunky
run out and some fast water. This quickly builds into a long stretch of fun and
steep boulder gardens which lead under a very low bridge. There is basically
just one line through here, and it is highly entertaining. The rapids continue,
steepening slightly as the brook bends to the left. A bit more of a move to make
down here, but nothing particularly tricky or sneaky.
Soon you find yourself at the toughest drop on the run, later named The
Gangler, it features a steep broken ledge with some marginal looking lines at low
flows. It has since been run every which way, but on our first trip only one of us
was up for banging down the rocks. After this drop the stream quickly eases up
and flows into the Ashuelot, which will be running high and feature pushy class III
bigwater down to the take out in Hinsdale.
England has a wealth of whitewater and a rich paddling history. As boat design
developed intrepid explorers pushed farther back from the standard waterways
in search of steeper and increasingly difficult runs. The paddle sports
renaissance of the late 1990’s saw first descents being knocked off each spring
weekend and seemingly after every heavy rainfall. By the early 2000’s most
runs worth paddling were well documented. To run something “new” you either
had to isolate yourself from guidebooks or search out insanely steep creeks or
nightmarishly tiny streams. With all of this knowledge in mind, I was a little
surprised when Nate gave me a ring one fall evening and asked if I wanted to cut
out some wood on a creek that looked good down by the Ashuelot.
I had the next day off and no plans, so that morning I grabbed my ax and drove
down to meet Nate and one of his buddies for breakfast in Keene. Nate had
apparently been looking over some maps one day and spotted Broad Brook, a
small, but not unreasonably tiny creek, draining a lake in the extreme
southwestern corner of New Hampshire. We trucked down the half hour to the
creek and started hiking up and down the mile long riverbed, trying our best to
skirt private property and keep a low profile.
What we saw indeed looked promising. The gradient was there, the stream size
was there, and the wood was minimal, especially after a little sweat and
determination on our part. After a few hours of work all we had to do was wait for
the first heavy rains of the year. As it turned out, this didn’t come until the spring,
but when we arrived with our boats we found a great looking class IV-IV+ creek
ripe for the picking. I’m not willing to step out there and say that this was a first
descent, even if it was the caliber of whitewater hardly makes it notable, but
there is certainly a possibility no one had run Broad Brook before us.
The first rapid is a tight slot between a few huge boulders leading into a chunky
run out and some fast water. This quickly builds into a long stretch of fun and
steep boulder gardens which lead under a very low bridge. There is basically
just one line through here, and it is highly entertaining. The rapids continue,
steepening slightly as the brook bends to the left. A bit more of a move to make
down here, but nothing particularly tricky or sneaky.
Soon you find yourself at the toughest drop on the run, later named The
Gangler, it features a steep broken ledge with some marginal looking lines at low
flows. It has since been run every which way, but on our first trip only one of us
was up for banging down the rocks. After this drop the stream quickly eases up
and flows into the Ashuelot, which will be running high and feature pushy class III
bigwater down to the take out in Hinsdale.
A boater runs the fun drop downstream of the small bridge.
- Photo by Nate Lesch - Huey
- Photo by Nate Lesch - Huey
A blue boat is barely visible in the river left slot of the first drop.
- Photo by Nate Lesch - Huey
- Photo by Nate Lesch - Huey
Sweet boof above the road bridge on Broad brook leads into a busy
stretch of whitewater.
- Photo by Nate Lesch - Huey
stretch of whitewater.
- Photo by Nate Lesch - Huey
The cleanest line at The Gangler is pictured here, although I though
a river left boof would work. - Photo by Nate Lesch - Huey
a river left boof would work. - Photo by Nate Lesch - Huey
Class IV boggie water essentially defines this short but fin run.
- Photo by Nate Lesch - Huey
- Photo by Nate Lesch - Huey
The biggest drop on the river looks clean in this picture, but the line is
actually really thin.
- Photo by Nate Lesch - Huey
actually really thin.
- Photo by Nate Lesch - Huey