Check out Cohas Brook Kayak Adventure on Relive!
https://www.relive.cc/view/rt10000290299
Today I went out to Cohas Brook to perform maintenance on the caches within this series. This is the one year anniversary of the creation of this series and I was anxious to see if the caches survived the winter and spring rains. Water levels change significantly on this body of water and that poses a challenge to the longevity of caches. Not to mention nearby muggles. Shown below are my notes from today’s maintenance run.
Launch area at Tavernier Way: water level is low. I’m amazed at how close the I-93 construction is to this area. The water in the launch area shows sign of sediment run off due to the nearby road construction.
Cache 1 and 2 were missing and I’m not surprised. Muggles or high water was the culprit. Replaced both containers.
Cache 7 replaced wet log
Cache 8: small beaver dam on the way to Cache 8
Cache 9: container looked like it had been submerged during period of high water. I replaced it with my newly created floating spray insulation hanging cache container. Interested to see how this new design fares over the course of a year.
Cache 10: container was missing. I moved it slightly to a new and nearby location and have adjusted the cords on the respective cache page. N42 57.098 W071 25.202
Cache 11: small beaver dam on way to this cache. The container at Cache 11 is a small bison tube hanging in shrub. Original container was muggled by nearby home owner last fall.
Cache 13: container was intact but way too high and floating tree on the shore blocked access. I didn’t feel like getting out of my kayak so I installed a new cache container that is more accessible and lower to your kayak. If you look, you can see the old container up high close to the bank.
Cache 14: I was very pleased to see that my specially designed proprietary Styrofoam ball floating cache bobber container survived the winter.
Additional: journey took about 3 hours and 15 minutes. Maintenance added about ½ hour to the trip.
Cache 15 to take out area: after finding cache 15, I approached South Willow street and the water levels got very low and I got hung up on small rocks and I had to do the shimmy shimmy scoot. Take out was behind the Lazy Boy store parking lot. I spoke with the Lazy Boy employees in the parking lot and they were very nice and promised to watch my kayak when I went back to Tavernier to get my automobile.
Other: I changed the name of each of these caches. I placed the cache number as the second piece of information in the cache name because the numbers were not appearing on my GPS’r due to the length of the cache name field. All that I was seeing was “Cohas Brook” and that presented a challenge when viewing a list of caches as they all appeared identical on a list.
I brought my hand saw with me and cut some branches. Cohas is open for travel. There was one tree early on that I had to scrunch under. Crossing the beaver dams took time but not a big deal using the paddle and doing the shimmy shimmy scoot.
I packed a pair of clean shorts and t shirt and several towels in a sealable bag and placed it on the front of my kayak. This was one of those bags that you attach to a vacuum cleaner to seal it tight. At the end of the journey, this enabled me to change into dry clothes prior to calling Uber for a ride back to Tavernier Way and the launch point where my car was parked. Uber makes this real convenient. Note: I got muddy at the put in location and was covered with saw dust from tree trimming and was wet from water coming into when I would rock back and forth while sawing away at branches, etc.
In conclusion, I was pleased by the conditions of the caches in this series.
Launching:
Put in is located at the end of a dirt road adjacent to 40 Tavernier Way in Manchester. Tavernier Way is a cul du sac located in a Manchester neighborhood. You will see a dirt road from the street; this dirt road is to the left of a house as you are facing it. Drive down that road to the launch site. There is lots of parking at the launch area. Please respect the neighborhood and drive slowly as the streets are a bit narrow.
Water levels vary throughout this journey dependent on recent rainfall. One week I had no portages; the next weekend I had three portages.
End of Journey Comments:
Fast water Bailout suggestions: when you reach the bridge/tunnel at (Route 28) South Willow Street: when the water is running fast, I don’t like to go under the road (rocks and fast moving water in a dark environment, it spooks me) and I bailout to the right before the bridge/tunnel. I drag my kayak up the rip rap rocks up to the parking lot at Super Shoes on South Willow. Note: this is a hard climb dragging a kayak.
Slow water bailout suggestions: When the water is low and slow, I go thru the tunnel and bailout at a low spot on the right next to the furniture store. This is a much easier bailout area.
Check out this website featuring a recent newspaper article about kayaking on the Cohas. It will be worthwhile to read this in advance.
http://www.unionleader.com/Mark-Haywards-City-Matters:-A-wilderness-expedition-within-city-limits
Blockage and Beaver Dam Summary when water is low:
If water is high, you will have no need to portage
On the way to Cache 4, if water is high, you can paddle thru a narrow opening to the right in the marsh. If water is low, you will have to portage as there is a large tree fall on the left path where the low water flows. I have been trying to saw away the tree but my progress is slow. Bring a handsaw and contribute to the cause! LOL?
On the way to Cache 9, when there is low water, there is a Beaver Dam across the brook. I paddled to the left and crossed at opening in the dam. Water level difference was about one to two feet from approach to the dam to the lower side of the dam. See photos on Cache 9 posting.
On the way to Cache 11, There is a Beaver Dam that requires you to paddle over in low water. When water is high, you won’t even see the dam. See photos on Cache 11 posting.
Cache 15 in low water: you will encounter a tree blocking your path. I bailed out 25 yards to the right in a clearing and dragged my kayak through the weeds to a spot about 25 yards past the treefall. There is a nice low area to re-launch. Note – the mud is soft and stinky.
Waypoints of Interest:
40 Tavernier Way Launch / Put in location (Parking Area)
N 42° 57.564 W 071° 24.360
Drive to 40 Tavernier Way; look for the dirt road to the left of a house. Drive down the dirt road to the launch area. Plenty of parking down there.
Fast Water Bailout (Tough Climb) (Parking Area)
N 42° 56.834 W 071° 25.969
When the water is moving fast, I do not like going thru the fast water under South Willow Street. I'm not confident enough to take the challenge in the dark environs of the tunnel. Thus, I bailout here and make the tough climb up the rip rap rocks to the parking lot at Super Shoes.
Slow water Furniture store parking lot bail out (Parking Area)
N 42° 56.837 W 071° 26.105
When the water is not roaring thru the tunnel, this is an easy bailout area to drag your kayak up the hill to the parking lot. UPDATE: I contacted the owners of the "Lazy Boy Furniture Store" and they are completely fine with us parking our vehicles in the far back of their store's parking lot. Do not block any loading docks or their trucks. If you see "No Trespassing" signs, you may ignore those signs as they were installed due to vandals and homeless people.
Other info:
You Tube video I posted showing some portions of adventure:
Cohas Brook Kayak Adventure
https://youtu.be/iw7HMgHiR7M
Link to view route on Garmin BaseCamp:
https://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/anne-b/cohas-brook#top
Note to cachers: feel free to perform maintenance if the cache has gone missing. The variations in water levels presents a bit of challenge with regards to placement of the containers.