McIndoe Falls Portage?

A friend and I are planning a 3 night, 4 day trip. We want to end the trip at the Orford Boat Landing as this will be the easiest pickup point for the person picking us up.

My friend and I did a 24 mile section last year with an overnight and the last 14 miles just about did us in so I'm looking for relatively short days and minimal portages.

We're looking at putting in at the Barnet-Monroe Bridge Access and spending our first night at Either Stephan's Island or Fiddlehead Island just 6 miles down river but there is a dam at McIndoe Falls. I didn't see any portage trail on the interactive map around the dam. Does anyone know about this? looking at Google maps, it seems like we could take out on the NH side and put back in at the small beach just south of the dam. The access point is on the VT side, though.

Hi wbjohn: We did two day trips on Moore and Comerford reservoirs and then another short trip from Comerford to McIndoe. We took out at McINdoe on the NH side and loaded boats in the parking lot. Just below the dam was a put in with a lot of heavy wave action that loaded boats would have had a hard time punching thru. YOu could have lined the boats downstream with some difficulty. It would not have been impossible. The shoreline was rocky as I recall and the wave action was not as intimidating, We did not check out the VT side for a better put in. Someone else could answer that one. Irregardless there is a release schedule for the falls on the H20 web site. I remember seeing an 8,000 to 12,000 cfs release which is hefty. You should check out the release numbers and find out from others where the recommended portage trail actually is.

I've also heard that Stephans island is a very small campsite where 3 tents would be a crowd and campfires out of the question. I hope that you enjoy the rest of the river. We paddled from Woodsvill to Orford and had a very good time.

Hi wbjohn: We did two day trips on Moore and Comerford reservoirs and then another short trip from Comerford to McIndoe. We took out at McINdoe on the NH side and loaded boats in the parking lot. Just below the dam was a put in with a lot of heavy wave action that loaded boats would have had a hard time punching thru. YOu could have lined the boats downstream with some difficulty. It would not have been impossible. The shoreline was rocky as I recall and the wave action was not as intimidating, We did not check out the VT side for a better put in. Someone else could answer that one. Irregardless there is a release schedule for the falls on the H20 web site. I remember seeing an 8,000 to 12,000 cfs release which is hefty. You should check out the release numbers and find out from others where the recommended portage trail actually is.

I've also heard that Stephans island is a very small campsite where 3 tents would be a crowd and campfires out of the question. I hope that you enjoy the rest of the river. We paddled from Woodsvill to Orford and had a very good time.