I took S to a part of the big river that she'd never seen before. It's higher up than where I normally go, but it is still a big wide river. Almost at the upper reaches of the tide, and close enough to that upper reach that you wouldn't notice the tide, the key difference in this section of river is the shallow depth and shifting sand bars. The big boats of the lower river don't come up here. Even smaller power boats that could maneuver just fine, if they kept their speed down, rarely appear.
No houses stand on the shoreline. Steep but low banks give purchase to some forest which is often backed by farm fields. It is quiet. There is a current. There are a few fisherman about.
We cross the river being able to see the bottom almost at any point as we go. The bottom is a sandy gravel, it is not prone to silt clouding and without the big wakes of the oversized RV boats, the water remains clear. S comments on how many cans she can see on the bottom.
On the far side of the river we head up behind a mile long forested island. At the top of that island the Farmington River enters...it likely has much to do with why the island is where it is. We pass a few canoes piloted by...well, not actually piloted...they wobble their way in some general direction.
We also pass two Bald Eagles and a large Red Tailed Hawk.
The Farmington carries more current. I reckon it to be at least a 2-1 current (twice as long to go up as it takes to return). Perhaps 60 or 70 yards wide, it is forested as well with long gentle meanders. I tell S that it reminds me of rivers in the midwest...mud banks, trees, few rocks.
When we reach the old sandstone railroad bridge we decide to return and explore a bit of the big river some more.
We cross back over the big river and head upstream toward the mouth of the Scantic, but decide part way there that we have explored enough new terrain. We descend the east shore back to where we started...but you never end up where you started, do you?
No comments:
Post a Comment