Exploring the Contoocook River

I hate not using stuff. My motto isn’t so much the old expression, “Waste not, want not,” but rather, “Not waste a single thing in the house.” So when my wife asked me what I want to do for Father’s Day, I told her I want to use the kayaks we’ve been storing in our basement for the past year before vermin decide to take up permanent residence in them.

Fortunately, she was game.

Now, truth be told, I don’t know a whole lot about river exploring in New Hampshire. I’ve paddled the Souhegan a few times, but for this adventure I wanted to try something new. I also didn’t want to have to drive too far, just in case my chosen route was a total disaster—no need to put my wife through a bad kayak route, and a long drive. So after consulting the AMC River Guide and some websites online, I settled on the Contoocook River, starting from the North Village area in Peterborough and ending at the Powdermill Pond Boat Ramp in Greenfield. I knew the rivers might already be running low in the southern part of the state, but was willing to risk it, seeing that June wasn’t over yet. I figured: Only one way to find out, right?

Well, we found out. We had to portage several times in the early going over fallen trees, so we didn’t have a completely “flowy” experience. But we liked the adventure of it all the same. The only real problem we ran into was that the kayak my wife was using, which had been living at my in-laws on the rocky shores of Maine for the past decade, had apparently developed a good-sized hole. About an hour into the paddle she said, “I’m sitting in about an inch of water.”

“Do you have a leak?” I asked.

She did. It was a big one, right in the bottom of the stern’s keel. As long as she paddled at a steady clip, the water didn’t pour in too vigorously, but the second we went over a shallow spot and scraped along the bottom, she started taking on water like a pirate ship that got cannon blasted by the British navy. It was a bit more than she signed up for.

But she made the best of it, as she always does, and while it was more of an effort towards the start because of the shallow spots, we had a beautiful time on the river. It was a worthy exploration that only encouraged me to find more rivers to run in the future—maybe ones a little further north where the waters are deeper and we can avoid having to portage. And next time, we’ll be sure to bring a fully functioning kayak for my lady, of course. I’ve already ordered a new one in anticipation of such possibilities.

Our first run of the Contoocook tells me we’re going to need it.