Hanging Spear: Headwaters of the Hudson

A TRANS-WILDERNESS KAYAKING EXPEDITION

HANGING SPEAR:

HEADWATERS OF THE HUDSON

BY ERIC ADSIT PHOTOS BY SCOTT MARTIN CANOEKAYAK.COM

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MAY 2014: The team wolfs down freeze-dried dinners in the Flowed Lands lean-to. Steve Fisher and Pat Keller reflect on a day that started with a hike in over five miles, gaining nearly 3,000 feet of elevation through Avalanche Pass and then continuing to climb along the Upper Opalescent to an unrunnable 60-foot waterfall. From there, the two professional kayakers paddled downstream over several Class IV and V slides and drops, completing a small portion of the section that New York whitewater guidebook scribe and creek explorer Dennis Squires held back from years ago. The camera crew Fisher is directing has followed them every step of the way.

“The number of man-hours they put into building these trails is impressive,” Fisher notes to the team, leaning against the wooden wall of the solid lean-to. “They’re well groomed and there are bridges over almost every stream.” Everyone nods in agreement.

Keller begins reading aloud from a book of short stories based in the deep past of the Adirondack wilderness. As he reads, images invade the crew’s collective imagination: grizzled old trappers tramping through the snow, axe-wielding loggers riding felled timber down wild rivers, and early mountain guides building their own lean-tos. “We’re all giant wusses,” Keller concludes. Again, everyone nods in agreement.

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Thatfirstnightwecampedunderthestars,swarmedbymosquitoes,with only a handle of whiskey and what little gear we could each fit into a single drybag. After a sobering dip in Ptarmigan Lake’s icy waters the nextmorning,webeganthesix-milebushwhacktoTurnerLakeandour canoes.

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The spirits of those long-past explorers, as well as those of the paddlers to previously enter the gorge, seem to be watching over the crew. The weather so far has been ideal, with pleasant temperatures for the long hike in, and melting snow maintaining water levels. With luck, the levels will rise slowly tomorrow, allowing Fisher and Keller to pick their ways through the steepest (and previously unrun) portion of the Upper Opalescent’s gorge at low water, and, with relatively higher water, ultimately paddle over the prize: seventy-foot Hanging Spear Falls.

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Looking down, a pool of water seven stories away rushes into a narrow gorge. Just upstream, the water seems to cascade directly from the sky, revealing how this is only one of many edges that define this place. This is the lip of Hanging Spear Falls, and the last place anyone has seen Steve Fisher.

The cameras have been rolling all day. Fisher and Keller have found the gorge, though highly consequential, surprisingly navigable, running several drops and portaging just two. At the crux of their portage, Keller discovered a natural tunnel through the massive chockstones beside an unrunnable waterfall. Throughout the day, the water level has risen significantly; the difficulty of Hanging Spear Falls fortunately decreasing with the added flow.

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Keller launched into the water first, and, with just a few strokes, finally completed the dream of connecting as many drops as possible into a descent of Hanging Spear Falls. Fisher followed shortly thereafter. His line looked good, but the crew now waits silently for him emerge from the foam.

Minutes seem to pass, though it has only been a matter of seconds. Finally, Fisher emerges from the boil and rolls up.

Though he plugged the drop, torso tucked to deck, the pool impact slammed him against his back deck, jarring Fisher’s shoulder enough that it renders him unable to paddle the remainder of the section. He remains optimistic, fortunate as the day comes to an end that the most difficult paddling of the gorge is over. They spend one more night in the Flowed Lands lean-to. As they begin the five-mile hike out the next day, Keller and one of the crew members opt to paddle out, tracing the hard-earned, once-exploratory path of Squires’ and Young’s groups down the Lower Opalescent and out of the wilderness park with a story to tell.

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EPILOGUE A student at the University of Vermont has just learned to roll at one of the school’s many roll clinics. As he surfs the Web, he comes across “Hanging Spear: Headwaters of the Hudson” — Fisher’s completed film.

The tumult of water pouring down the mountainside on the screen is terrifying and awe inspiring. He can’t imagine what paddling down the local river is like, let alone Hanging Spear Falls. Nevertheless, the gears begin to turn: “That’s not so far from here … maybe someday … ”

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