Power Sub-Station Portage

42° 11.46' N    71° 44.857' W   See this location in: Google Maps   Map Server   Acme Maps

This site is a portage. This typically means there either is no road access to this location or that the site is not recommended as a launching site for some other reason. The portage may be around a dam, whitewater, or some other obstruction.

Description & Overview:

The Power Sub-Station Dam must be portaged. The start of the portage is marked but use caution because the take-out for the portage is not far above the dam so errors made in landing could easily end with you or your boat being carried over the dam, especially if the river is high. There is a large sign on river left warning about the dam and just beyond it is a smaller sign marking the start of the portage trail. The portage trail is somewhat rough and the last section down to the river is steep. The trail is not marked but is fairly wide and clear. There is plenty of poison ivy in the area.

If the river is low you can carry right over the rocks at the left end of the dam, avoiding the portage trail.

Below the dam there is a short section of quickwater and then the river slows down again.

For paddling this section of the Blackstone a more detailed guide is necessary then this website can provide. You should use the AMC River Guide or a similar book and only paddle this section of the river if you are an experienced paddler.

This site provides access to the following water bodies in the Blackstone River watershed: Blackstone River.

Location:

Town: Millbury

Access & Waters:

Water 'Features' At Site: dam, whitewater, flatwater/slow moving river

Note: Because one boat launch can access, say, both a lake and a river or both the upstream and downstream portions of a river, not all paddling trips at a given site will necessarily encounter all of the features listed.

Type of Access: Portage

ADA Accessible Boat Launch? no

Shoreline: Grassy bank (somewhat high) above the dam, gravel shoreline below the dam.

Float/Dock: no

Parking:

Parking: no

Sources for More Information:

AMC River Guide: 4th edition pages 150-151

Website: Blackstone Heritage Corridor National Park - Get On the River Page, with links to an excellent set of paddling maps and related information

Photographs:

Approaching the Dam from the Upstream Side

Photography by: Bruce Hooke

Date of Photograph: November 3, 2008

This view shows the start of the portage trail around the dam. The larger sign at the left edge of the picture warns about the dam ahead and the smaller sign to the right of it marks the start of the portage trail around the dam. The dam is on the right side of the picture and as you can see from this picture the dam is not very visible from upstream.

Detail of Start of Portage

Photography by: Bruce Hooke

Date of Photograph: November 3, 2008

This view provides a closer look at the take out at the start of the portage around the dam.

The Dam and the River below the Dam

Photography by: Bruce Hooke

Date of Photograph: November 3, 2008

This view shows the dam and the river below the dam. After a short section of quickwater the river slows down again.

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