Umbagog Whitewater Kayaking Thriving!!

I was able to check in with our Umbagog group when I delivered the resupply last week. After a beautiful ride across the lake, I arrived on the island shortly after their breakfast. The group was eagerly awaiting my arrival. They were rather excited for fresh fruits and vegetables and of course, mail. I heard great stories from the group about learning the basic skills of running whitewater, of warm days spent on the river, and of course tales of fending off the infamous mosquitoes. Bug bites and all the group was thriving. A great victory of the group at large was that everybody had learned the eskimo roll and was able to accomplish it in moving water. This is a significant milestone in each paddlers progression and a signal that the group is progressing rapidly with their skills.
The greatest challenge they had faced to date was the high water on the river caused by the daily afternoon rain events. This created a need stay on the lower section of the river and paddle the stretch from what is known as "Gate 4" to the bottom. It is a wonderful stretch of whitewater and perfect at all water levels for learning the basics.
As a side note; there are 8 "gates" on the lower section of the river. Each is not an actual gate, but refers to the location of where the slalom gates placed. During the 1970-80's the river was used as a training ground for competition slalom kayakers. The kayakers would span elevated wires across the river at predetermined locations. Each wire would have a pair of wooden dowels hanging from it. The dowels were standardly striped white/red, or white/green, and spaced about 3 feet apart. The dowels would hang just above the water. Slalom kayakers had to navigate the river in such a way that they passed through each set of gates.