Sandy River, Maine. Looking downstream to Phillips

Twenty-five years ago in Augusta Maine the Edwards Dam was removed from the Kennebec River and ever since then the waters above the old dam have revitalized and fish have returned in great numbers. The Sandy River has the best Atlantic Salmon spawning habitat on the East Coast, but it flows into the Kennebec River upstream of four other dams, making fish access extremely difficult. Today, two of those dams on the lower Kennebec River are up for federal re-licensing, presenting a once in a lifetime opportunity to change things for the better. If passage to the Sandy River were opened up again, it would change the whole trajectory of the river and its surrounding area. Without safe access to the Sandy River to spawn, Atlantic Salmon will go extinct in the U.S.

In July, Chris Morgan will lead a group of paddlers down the Kennebec River from Source to Sea with Rivers for Change, a non-profit group that knows the importance of Source to Sea education and the importance of understanding rivers as complete inter-connected systems. This Sandy River trip was done to complement Chris's trip, to bring awareness to the dam re-licensing and to shine a light on the Sandy River, the most significant tributary to the Kennebec River.

As a group, we met up at 8:15am on Tuesday May 14th at the takeout, some of us meeting in person for the very first time. We discussed the overall plan, discussed our equipment, reviewed some personal info and safety protocols and then proceeded to re-pack the cars in order to shuttle up the river. Our route started about 65 miles up river and we'd leave a vehicle at the public launch in Norridgewock. We left another vehicle on the riverside in New Sharon, a point a little more than halfway down the river, just in case we'd need it. The remaining two vehicles would get us to the put-in.

Before launching, we'd set out to explore a few significant watershed features up river of where we would start. Because the river levels had already receded there wasn't enough water to paddle directly from the source. We'd have to drive around about five miles of river until the river opened up just enough for us to paddle.

Our first stop was at Sandy River Ponds, the mountain catch-basins and the official start of the Sandy River, which lies just behind Saddleback Mountain in Sandy River Plantation. The set of small ponds is a beautiful site and ironically was the only point in the entire trip where we encountered other paddlers. We paddled around the ponds a bit, while Joe Klementovich recorded some video and took some photos. Joe is the likeable character who put this team together and is a professional photographer who would be capturing photos and video for future film projects about the Sandy River and this trip.

Our next stop was at Smalls Falls, a well known picnic spot and rest area with large vertical waterfalls that are really impressive. We hiked around the area for a half hour and absorbed the energy of the falls, all pretty excited for what would soon come. Clark Tate was another paddler on the trip and she would be recording audio in order to document the sounds of the river, the wildlife, the environment and us. She's a journalist, audio producer and Maine based photographer with a calm, thoughtful and professional presence on and off the water.

The rest of the team consisted of Amy Borch, a tattoo artist, outdoor educator and overall badass adventurer out of South Portland, and Eli Studer, a tattoo artist and cat lover with a glowing personality and probably the most natural athletic ability of the group. I'm a long time paddler, river lover, Maine transplant and the catalyst for this trip. I'd been dreaming about a trip down the full length of the Sandy for years. Once Rivers for Change connected me to Joe and I mentioned the idea, the seed was planted and he quickly nurtured it to grow this wonderful, competent and talented team of people.

By 3pm we'd finally prepped the gear and launched into the river for four days of adventuring. We'd all packed to be self-sufficient and were ready for the upcoming rain. We all paddled inflatable standup paddle boards and were geared up with maps, audio/photo equipment, food, cooking and camping kit, first-aid, spare clothes, spare equipment and everything else we needed to travel and live on the river.

Day one highlights included some magical river running followed by our two longest portages of the trip. The map labeled them as "Class IV/V Gorge" and "unrunnable." We knew they were runnable for some, but not for us and certainly not while we were fully loaded. So we made the first portage on river left and had to carry up a very steep and loose hillside, down the road and back to the river's edge. Not all that far in length, but difficult and time consuming. When we finally got back on the river we had burned up a considerable amount of time (and energy), but we had also completed our first team building exercise in the rain and saw our first rainbow! It was an awesome first test for morale and spirit and everyone passed with ease.

Since we were already feeling a time crunch we pushed on late into the day and arrived at the next portage after 8pm. The sun was setting and we were tired so we opted to camp at the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad Park Museum. It was situated on the portage trail and had good camping options for the upcoming rainy night. Set camp, make dinner, eat dinner, organize for the next day, sleep.

The next morning we packed up our wet gear, portaged all of it down the road to the bottom of the unrunnable gorge in Phillips, ME and re-packed to begin day two. As did the first long portage, this one took awhile and it was after 10am by the time we launched. Right away we prepped for a Class III rapid that never materialized. We speculated that it could've been changed by the massive flooding this past winter. Flooding at those levels can make major immediate changes to a river system; changes that usually take years.

The rest of the day was mellow and fun-filled with lots of smaller rapids that let us read and run as we maneuvered down the river. We saw 17 miles of river that had obviously received high water recently and had more debris along the banks than we'd prefer to see. Unfortunately the Sandy River doesn't have an organization that advocates on its behalf and nobody to lead the charge with water quality, river cleanups, legislation, monitoring, etc. The river is on its own. That night we found an impressive sandbar just upstream of the Rt. 4 bridge in Temple that made a comfortable camp with plenty of room to spread out, dry out and prepare for a long day three ahead of us. As I laid down to sleep I thought of what it would take to create a Sandy River based organization.

We got an early start on Thursday and right away felt and saw the transition from a mountain stream to a valley river. As we approached Farmington the landscape changed, the population grew and the water was different. Overnight storms upriver had increased the flow, raising the river about two feet and giving the water a murkiness. We could no longer get mesmerized by staring at the rocky bottom of the river while we floated quickly along its surface. We could no longer spot fish below us.

We meandered quickly around bends and fought headwinds on the straights, we paddled under bridges and through town. We ran some fun short drops and some longer rocky rapids. We paddled through farmland and witnessed more damage to the banks, including a potential new oxbow pond. We passed a river cat, played the flute and had an overall relaxing day making our way to the next big river feature.

By early afternoon we reached the rapids under the Rt. 2 bridge in New Sharon, a rapid I've looked at for years from above but had never paddled. With a quick stop above the long rapid we put on our helmets, discussed our strategy and executed our plan, stopping in eddies along the way. It was a great feeling being on the river, under the bridge I've crossed so many times in the past. Surprisingly I was able to block out all the hustle and bustle in order to focus on the river. This was the last bridge over the Sandy River and the feeling below was so much different than the feeling above and not what I expected. I was just feeling so grateful for my time on this river with these people, so close to civilization but feeling so far away. Cars were literally driving over us, but I felt like I was in the wild.

We made our way through a handful more rapids that day including a big one we'd later learn that was unfortunately changed during the flooding. It used to be a big surfing spot for paddlers, but the rapid was now wider and flatter without a wave to surf. Rivers change naturally, but flooding certainly changes things more quickly.

On the stretch of river through Mercer Maine I felt like I was on the Allagash. There were long stretches of river with no development, beautiful trees surrounding us, large boulders strewn across the river and eagles in the sky. It felt like a moose or a bear could've crossed at any moment and none of us would've been surprised.

Towards late afternoon we began looking for a campsite. We knew there were some large islands downriver and hoped one of them would be suitable. Before we could find one we came across a wonderful group of people in the middle of a riverside dinner party just below a rapid on river right. Being experienced paddlers themselves, they were very interested in our trip and fully up to date on the issues the Sandy River is facing. We discussed the river, shared some stories and gathered some of their local river and campsite knowledge. Two of the guests are the owners of 122 Corson, a highly praised On Farm restaurant in Mercer, and they almost enticed Amy to extend her trip to join them for dinner on Saturday.

Shortly after we departed the group, we came across an island that wasn’t quite ideal for a campsite, so reluctantly decided to continue on. Luckily we floated upon the next island a couple miles later and were greeted with a large rocky beach, a big meadow, trees for Joe's hammock and of all things, a picnic table! Someone worked hard to bring a heavy picnic table out to this island and we decided to take them up on it. On the last night of the trip we had a group meal at the table, stoked the campfire and celebrated an awesome 29-mile day until we were all tired enough for sleep. It was a wonderful private island campsite that I will remember for some time.

Day Four was upon us and we got another early start, hoping to land at a decent hour to allow for shuttling back upriver to retrieve vehicles. Within no time we approached Madison Ledges, a class III rapid at the site of the old Madison dam. The folks we met the night before advised us to run it river right because the left channel had exposed rebar that was quite dangerous. We pulled up for a scout on a rock outcropping river center and got a decent view of the drop, the hole and the wavetrain. It was the biggest rapid we'd be running this trip. Trying not to overthink it, Clark and I lined our boards river left, safely passing the rebar, and quickly set up safety for Eli, Amy and Joe to run it. We passed a bit of info their way via two way radio and they were psyched to get paddling. They each made quick work of the feature, all hitting the line absolutely perfectly and all making it look very easy, although we knew it was not.

That was it for rapids and fast water - the excitement was over. Now we looked forward to the confluence with the Kennebec River and finishing out this fun trip. For two days the water in the Sandy River had been brown and murky and where it flowed into the Kennebec River there was a visible and distinct difference between the two rivers. Joe flew his drone to capture the image and we remarked at how sharp a difference there was, and also that hey, we made it to the Kennebec and finished the Sandy!

The nearest takeout to the Sandy Kennebec confluence is about 6 miles downriver so we paddled the last stretch of our trip on the mighty Kennebec River, a section I'd never paddled before and thoroughly enjoyed. As the Norridgewock bridge came into sight the overwhelming bittersweet feeling came upon me. We were minutes away from completing this special trip, but I wanted to continue. I secretly dreamed that I could continue this adventure next month with Chris as he paddles right through this exact spot on his upcoming Kennebec River Source to Sea trip.

View Joe Klementovich's photos here:
https://www.klementovichphoto.com/Conservation-&-Science/Sandy-River-SUP-Adventure/thumbs

Check out a map of the Sandy River created by the Northern Forest Canoe Trail with support from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund and the High Peaks Initiative here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QYf3L7OqIkqoLv_Kc8keAsnZYNWg9nOf/view

Learn more about the upcoming Kennebec River Source to Sea trip here:
https://riversforchange.org/2024-kennebec-source-to-sea/

Stay involved with Sandy River and Kennebec River current events here:
https://www.nrcm.org/programs/waters/kennebec-restoration/restoring-kennebec-river/

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Sandy River SUP Trip