Hewes Brook, NH

Hewes Brook is a short class IV run in Lyme, NH. There are two possible putins. I've only run it from the lower one by turning off River Road and driving up the creek on something listed on Google Earth as "Shoestrap Road," but I think actually labeled "Maple Lane" until a gate, at which point I get out and carry up a short distance to above a 15 foot near-vertical sliding drop. In this lower section, there are probably four drops. The first 15 foot drop, which is lots of fun and can be run almost anywhere; a multi-tiered slide that the first drop leads pretty quickly into; a narrow slot drop followed by another small slide, and then some boogie into the last sequence.

The last sequence is pretty dangerous, and I haven't run it yet. Starts out with a small ledge followed by a cool looking ~10 foot slide into a another ~5 foot slot-slide that feeds directly into a sieve which, last I checked (Spring 2008), had a log sticking out of it. After the sieve, the rest of the drop is easy, but the sieve move is crux and the log makes the most desirable line -- a boof into an eddy river right of the sieve and then a ferry in front of it -- basically impossible. Make sure you scout this drop, and scout your takeout above this drop, because it could be problematic and wouldn't be hard to get swept into.

I'm not sure if there are rapids further up the creek, but Greg Hanlon has told me that it's worth putting in at or right below where the creek crosses Route 10. The issue with this is the shuttle (which, the way I ran it, is walkable).

This usually runs for a few weeks (surprisingly long time, actually) in the spring. It also comes up pretty easily. Best way to tell if it's running is to go take a look. There's a rock in the middle of the creek just downstream of the bridge at the bottom/takeout (on River Road). If there's water going over this rock, it's running well. If there isn't...well, you're there, you may as well head up and see if the drops look fluid, it can be run pretty low. And if you can't see any sign of the rock, it's high.

I wouldn't drive far for this run, but if you're nearby and it's running, take half an hour, hop into your drysuit, and run it. The drops are fun and you can run them a few times easily.

Posted by Nick Gottlieb.

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