Connecticut Water Trails Program

Connecticut Water Trails

Hartford County

Glastonbury

Roaring Brook

Site Location:   Glastonbury, Connecticut

To get to the put-in go north on route 17 and take a right at the light onto Hopewell Street. Angle right onto Cold Brook Rd and park at a dirt parking area just after the road crosses Roaring Brook. Do not take the sharp right onto Woodland Street. Roaring Brook passes under Woodland Street but the landowner here hates boaters and will call the police for parking there.

The takeout is at a parking lot on route 17 just south of the route 160 junction in South Glastonbury.

Many boaters will paddle the entire run first then put in at Poolside Slide for their second run. Poolside is located behind a public swimming pool off of Hopewell Street

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Paddling Roaring Brook:

Roaring Brook starts with a meandering class I stream until it arrives at a pond. At the end of the pond is a 13 foot high dam with a very runable section in the middle. Just upstream of the dam is a 2 inch dia. pipe sticking out of the water. By paddling close to the pipe you would be perfectly lined up for the drop. CAUTION: At the higher water levels there develops a very powerful hydraulic at the base of the dam. If you must run the dam at high water run it as far right as you possibly can.

From the 13 foot dam it’s mostly class III until a second pond with a dam. The dam is only 9 feet high on the right and runable. The landing zone is full of rocks and debris so itÂ�s best to slowly drop over the edge while trying to pick your route.

The next bridge that you pass under has the hand painted gauge on the right wall. After this bridge it is recommended that you scout the next drop (Poolside) on river right. This is a fast slide that has a narrow start then fans out at the bottom. It’s often a crap shoot as to where you will end up at the bottom.

From Poolside to the takeout it’s mostly class three with several class IV drops. In high water some of these drops get quite intense.

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