BANGOR, Maine — When paddlers begin their treks downstream on Saturday during the 46th annual Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race, they may be thinking that they’re seeing more rocks than normal.
They’ll be right.
Water in the stream is much lower than it was two years ago, which many paddlers called the lowest they could remember. And though full historic water-flow data isn’t available, the statistics that are accessible point to historic low water in the Kenduskeag for this time of year.
A U.S. Geological Survey water gauge in Kenduskeag village, which had been inoperable for a number of years but returned to service in time for the 2010 race, shows that the water flow on Friday was similar to that found in the stream last July and August.
As of 10:15 a.m. Friday, the water was measured at just 3.58 feet in Kenduskeag. Two years ago, on the Wednesday before the race, the water was at 4.98 feet, and was considered extremely low at that level.
According to the USGS streamflow page, just 104 cubic feet per second of water was flowing through Kenduskeag at 10:15 a.m. Friday. The lowest level ever recorded on April 20 (in 13 years of on-and-off service) on that gauge came during 2010, when the flow was 272 cfs.
The race, however, will go on as scheduled, just as it has 45 previous times.
Simple enough. Gather everyone in Kenduskeag, put their canoes on their shoulder and jog to Bangor.
The Kenduskeag is low but still passable, at least in a kayak. Paddled from Six Mile Falls to downtown yesterday and didn’t have to get out of the boat except at the usual portages.
Postpone it until next Saturday. We are supposed to get rain later this week.
Temperatures are climbing and Maine’s climate is changing. And yet almost every Republican in the country seems to be in complete denial. History will look back and say, “How could they not have realized?”
There are a lot of people in denial about it, I agree. I don’t agree that it is a Dem/Rep difference though. GE probably has a lot of Repubs working there, but they also have a lot of scientists and they are one of the few corporations stating that there is global warming. I actuall feel that religious people seem to have the biggest problem with it. Man does not affect the earth, only God can, or something like that. It is a money thing, and some people will keep denying even after Florida is under water.
Do you not remember the record snowfall in the mid atlantic last winter? I fully recognize that climate change is happening, but it seems to only be mentioned when stories like this are posted and goes unmentioned when weather patterns don’t line up with the theory.
Let it climb about 10 more degrees and I will be happy. The climate will always change. We could not put a bent in it if we wanted to (If man is causing it) the third would is becoming industrialized.
When palm trees are growing here in caribou I will be worried
Its tough to cancel it now though. To many people are here now.
It’s George Bush’s fault.
I have copied the Red Green method of mounting wheels under my canoe securing them with duct tape so when we get to the low spots the bottom won’t matter, the wheels can take over…..remember guys, if the women din’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy…..
Good! I was hoping for a low precipitation winter so Vermont wouldn’t be brutalized by flooding again. Rivers down there can’t really take much more.