The Medway River is one of the most popular paddling destinations in the province due to its consistent water levels and playful rapids. This class III to IV river has excellent park and play and is a beautiful river to run. The main run is from Moyles to Buggy Hole Falls. There are two other significant rapids after Buggy Hole (Rocky Falls and Gloades Falls) but they are usually left out of the run because of the long flatwater section between Buggy Hole and Rocky Falls. All of the rapids on the Medway are easily boat scouted with the exception of Bears Falls. Bears Falls is the only class IV rapid on the river and has two main lines. You can run the tongue on the main falls or you can run the sneak route. The tongue is in the middle of the river, slightly river right, and is best run with someone leading who has run the rapid before. The sneak route is directly river right and is easily scouted taking out in the river right eddy just above the falls. If you’re more of a playboater the waves and holes of Bangs Falls provide an excellent playground for practicing your moves. The typical park and play run is from The Perfect Wave to the Bridge wave, then to Fishers Hole. You usually walk from Victor Wareham’s barn up to The Perfect Wave. Then when you’re done the run you walk back up to the barn from Fishers Hole to get warmed up.

The Perfect Wave is a small wave or hole, depending on the level, which is great for learning to flatspin and cartwheel. There is a very large eddy river left that makes accessing the wave very easy as well as allowing plenty of room to warm up. The Bridge wave is the fastest feature on the river and awesome to surf. There is an eddy river left but you have to actually grab part of the bridge abutment to get back on the wave. At ideal flows the wave is a hole on the left side, a breaking wave in the middle and a green wave to the right side.

The next spot is Fishers Hole, site of the annual Bangs Falls Rodeo and the best play spot in the river. It’s a really nice spot that you can perform all hole moves in. There’s a good eddy to the river right and an island to the river left that is the perfect place for spectators to watch the show. There are boardwalks from the island that will take you back to the road, which leads you back to the barn.

Victor Wareham has built a wicked paddle barn for any paddler who is looking for a place to stay the night or just get warm after a cold day of paddling. The location couldn’t be better and you’ll never meet a more generous guy than Victor. He has put a lot of work into the barn the last few years and asked for nothing in return, so remember to bring a few bucks to put in the donation box for further up grades to the barn.