Lackawaxen River on the eve of the Summer Solstice
by Bob Rancan

June 19, 2024

We had a very nice trip last Wednesday, June 19, the evening before the summer Solstice. A beautiful hot day but with a nice breeze. The idea as usual was to start late in the afternoon and paddle without any chance of running out of daylight. A plus is that the power plant would be responding to the high energy peaks and would keep increasing their output throughout the day. I almost got it right...an hour or so earlier would have been a better start. The gauge at Baoba, right where we put in, peaked at 1010cfs at 1:30 ,was at 1000cfs at 2PM, 972 at 3:15 and dropped to 527 at about when we got on the water at 4:15.

The downstream gauge at Rowland, which was at 860cfs between 12:30 and 2, actually peaked at 1040 between 3:45 and 4:45. Then it started dropping fast and when we went under the bridge just after 6:30 in was down to 630cfs. So, the plant put out a surge in the late-morning, early afternoon hours and then started to cut back. It takes a long time to fill and empty that wide, rocky riverbed so there's room for error and you can still have a good paddle, like we did.

If these conditions stay the same all summer, I may think about a meeting time of 1:00-1:30...but you never can tell. In 152 visits to the mighty Lackawaxen, I think I have paddled it from around 500cfs to 3,000cfs. The wonderful scenery remains the same. Plus, there are now 2 Bald Eagle nests...in 1981 there were none.

So thanks to the ten members who joined me: Mark G., Alex T., Bob Z., Al G., Sumonnat K., Peter W., Chris M., Phil M., and Surasit and Paxton N.

Bob