Deerfield, Massachusetts, US |
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| Usual Difficulty | III-IV (for normal flows) |
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| Length | 4.8 Miles |
| Avg. Gradient | 55 fpm |
| Max Gradient | 80 fpm |
The Monroe Bridge Section of the Deerfield (also known as "The Dryway") is a popular class III-IV river that can draw a rather sizable crowd on release days. The river generally starts out easy then gets progressively harder as one paddles downstream.
If you are up for the challenge the Dryway is a premier destination for most northeastern paddlers. If you are not up for class III and IV water try a raft trip from one of many outfitters in the Charlemont area. Or, for an easier trip try the Fife Brook section of the Deerfield just a few miles downstream.
The water in this three mile section of the Deerfield is usually bypassed by a diversion canal from Dam #5 all the way down to the reservoir behind Fife Brook dam (which is where the nickname "Dryway" comes from).
In addition to boating, may raft companies offer guided trips down The Dryway (and its companion easier Fife Brook/Zoar Gap section downstream). These include Zoar Outdoor, Crabapple Whitewater, and Moxie Outdoors.
First scheduled releases began in 1991 with approximately ten per year.
On October 5, 1994, whitewater boaters, fishermen, conservationists, government agencies, and the New England Power Company took a giant step together to protect one of New England's most important watersheds.
NEPCO (Now TransCanada Hydro), a major regional utility based in Westborough, Massachusetts, together with twelve environmental and recreation organizations and government agencies joined in an agreement that commits the company to enhance recreation, fisheries, and conservation along the Deerfield River in western Massachusetts and southern Vermont. The agreement is for 40 years and will guarantee 32 release days on the Dryway each Summer.
This was an enormous achievement by paddlers and organizers. It involved dozens of meetings, thousands of letters, and large turnouts of paddlers at last minute weekday evening hearings in southern Vermont and Western Mass. This was all done at a time when the internet was not established.
Read the article, from 1994, on the historic agreement which opened the Deerfield to regular whitewater paddling!
For an excellent description of the Dryway by Bruce Lessels go to Zoar Deerfield River Guide. For a description of the different dams and how the releases work go to this writeup by Bruce on the Zoar site.
Dryway River Maps
Dryway
Upper Dryway
Lower Dryway
Factory & Split Rock
Rapids
Dragon's Tooth &
Labyrinth
May ?: Deerfield River Clean-up Week (part of the National River Clean-up Week)
June 2-3: Trout Unlimited ?One Fly? Fishing Tournament, minimum flow at Fife Brook
June 10 (Sunday) Zoar Gap White Water Plunge
June 23 (Saturday): Charlemont Lions Club Canoe Race, Fife Brook
July 27, 28, 29: Deerfield Riverfest sponsored by American Whitewater
Click here for
information on the upcoming River Festival July 28 and 29th.
Zoar Outdoors: Rafting, paddling shop, whitewater
school, camping. Phone: 800-532-7483
Country Aire Campground: Charlemont, MA 01339
Ph: (413) 625-2996
Mohawk Park: P.O. Box 668 Charlemont, MA 01339 Ph: (413) 339-4470
Mohawk Trail State Forest : Rte. 2,
Charlemont 413 339-5504
Savoy State Park (413-663-8469)
DAR State Park (413-268-7098)
Charlemont Inn (413-339-5796)
Oxbow Resort (413-625-6011)
Giovanni's Red Rose (413-625-2666)
Whitcomb Summit Motel (413-662-2625)
Call before you drive! For flow information call Waterline's free national telephone hotlines: 1-800-452-1737 for the Boater's Edition (1-800-452-1742 for the Angler's Edition). At the prompt, dial-in a six digit site code for the specific river each of interest. Monroe Bridge (a.k.a. The Dryway) #5 Bypass Dam site code 255122, (Fife Brook site code 255123). The information is usually updated by 5PM on the day prior to each scheduled release.
Also available at Waterline FlowCast website: http://www.h2oline.com/TRC.asp and http://www.h2oline.com/REL.asp. Individual gages can be accessed by including the site code in the URL (eg, http://www.h2oline.com/255122.asp).
| Mile | Rapid Name | Class | Features (Legend) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | Put In |   | |
| 0.1 | Factory Rapid | III |  |
| 0.3 | Boof Rock and Disappointment Wave | II | |
| 0.4 | Old Put In |  | |
| 0.5 | Upper Play Zone | II+ | |
| 0.8 | Split Hair | IV | |
| 0.9 | Split Hair Rock Dangerous Undercut with Sieve | IV |  |
| 0.9 | Pinball | III | |
| 1.0 | Rodeo | IV | |
| 1.1 | Lower Play Zone | II | |
| 1.4 | Straight Shot | III | |
| 1.7 | Dunbar Brook Rapid | IV | |
| 1.9 | False Tooth Rapid | III+ | |
| 2.2 | Dragon's Tooth | IV | |
| 2.3 | Dangerous Sieve at top of Labyrinth | IV | |
| 2.3 | Labyrinth | IV | |
| 2.4 | Dangerous Sieve at bottom of Labyrinth | IV | |
| 2.6 | Take Out |  | |
| 2.6 | Showtime | IV | |
Put In
Factory RapidShortly below the put in Factory rapid is a straight forward drop with good eddies on river left. There are also a couple good surfing spots accessed from this side of the river. River right still contains some debris (rebar, metal, etc.) from the dilapidating factory just upstream.
Disappointment WaveBoof Rock drops one into the setup eddy for the wave. Called Disapointment because it is not quite a great hole or wave even though it looks much better. Look for a good eddy on river left after the flat section following Factory Rapids.
Old Put In
Main Surfing Wave in the Upper Play Zone
Split HairAlso known as "Split Rock Rapid", "Initiation", "Left Turn", and "Governers Rapid" (after a front page picture of former Governer Weld here). A large midstream rock splits the flow just as the river takes a slight left turn. Just upstream of the rock on river left there is a micro eddy that services a nice dynamic wave. Most boaters choose to run to the left of "Split Rock" while rafts run to the right although either side is fine. After passing the rock the river takes another slight jog to the right. There is a rather large pourover near the bottom on river left that should be skirted to the right. This rapid has numerous play spots both above and below the split-hair rock.
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| Below Split Hair is a large eddy on river right which provides a great place to pick up the pieces of any swim. You don't want to swim on the left as you'll immediately wash into Pinball Rapid which is full of rocks and holes. It's only class III, but any swim will likely leave one sore and bleeding. Rescues are particularly difficult due to the nature of the rapid which require constant rock-dodging by any rescurer. |
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Riding the Waves in Rodeo
Surfing in Lower Play Zone
Straight Shot
Dunbar
False Tooth RapidAlso called "Landslide" or "Pine Tree" (after the pine tree that hovered above the rapid in the early days). If you have run the Dryway once or twice before you may be fooled into thinking you are about to enter Dragon's Tooth at the top of the drop. The top of False Tooth rapid looks strikingly similar to the top of Dragon's Tooth. False Tooth is much easier with only a few big holes to punch. You can recognize False Tooth by the rock slide on river right of the rapid. You can also take-out above this rapid by climbing up the steep bank into the parking lot which overlooks this section of river.
Dragon's ToothShortly after False Tooth pull out on river left and scout Dragon's Tooth. Dragon's Tooth rapid is steep, narrow, and turbulent. The main feature to avoid is a shallow rock ledge protruding from river right very close to the top of the rapid. This ledge creates a shallow recirculating hole just below it. The usual route is starting from river right move towards river left through heavy turbulence just to the left of the "Tooth". Just below the "Tooth" is a trashy hole wave that must be leaned into and punched. There are other options through Dragon's Tooth by going far right and running a vertical slot against river right of the tooth. Or the most difficult maneuver doing the "Scary Ferry" from the eddy just above the river right slot. The "Scary Ferry" is not for the light hearted or unskilled. It requires you to do a ferry just above and below two large recirculating holes caused by the Tooth. A missed ferry could cause you to get recirculated in the shallow sticky hole below.
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| Sieve at top of Labyrinth. | |||||
| View from river-left eddy at bottom of Dragon's Tooth looking over flat section to start of Labyrinth. . |
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| Entrance to Labyrinth as seen from flat area on river-left. | |||||
| Arrow points to sieve location. |
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| Labyrinth Entrance and Sieve from the side. | |||||
| Arrow points to sieve location. |
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Below the take out is a short but enjoyable rapid. Bounce off the rock/wave in the center and into the eddy. Open boats typically avoid this rapid since it results in a more difficult carry up the rocks to the take-out. Also known as "Bear Rapid" since there is a nice view of the Bear Swamp hydro project from here.
(iCal)
reach
state
reachlink
3) Monroe Bridge to Bear Swamp (The Dryway), Deerfield Massachusetts, US (mobile)
User Comments
rapids have changed--but many of them almost certainly have changed, as avalanches sent
mountainsides into the river. The shuttle road was washed out, so people are suggesting going by
the "back way." See http://www.npmb.com/cms2/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?181238 for some
suggestions.
25, 2009, for the Deerfield. Is this just an oversight? It would be nice if the organizers would
update the info for this year on the webpage. Edit
Town of Monroe and the Town of Rowe will effectively close the bridge to all traffic tomorrow
morning (4/30/08). Repairs will take about 8 to 10 weeks to complete. The two towns will do their
best to install signage about the closure at alternate routes.
www.zoaroutdoor.com, then look at the sidebar on the left. put your cursor over the tab 'The
Deerfield River' and then a little side menu drops down and you can click on 'Whitewater Release
Schedule' and scroll down to the bottom of the page, they have the gauranteed release days listed
there. Enjoy! :) Edit
are hidden at the request of Norm Simms and Flow? I understand that these people and organization
was instrumental in getting flows restored to the river, but how are people supposed to plan long
term if they can't plan ahead for scheduled releases. Just asking because I want to organize a race
on the Deerfield.