Exploratory

I went farther up the Quinnipiac River and put in on Hanover Pond, after the usual 20 minute talk with a couple of guys in the parking lot.

A recent news article claimed that the state had finally removed all of the dams on the Quinnipiac, which wasn't true.  They had removed the dams above Hanover Pond, but the two large dams below are still alive and well.  In fact, Hanover Pond exists because it has a dam holding the water back.

I headed upriver finding more than enough fish hooks dangling from overhanging tree branches.  I removed them and collected as much of the line as possible.  After about a 1/2 mile I came to a whitewater stretch of perhaps 500 yards of class I-II water.  Too fast to paddle against, but portagable on river left.  I could see that the top of the section was a fair chute drop over a former dam.  I decided to turn back and explore the pond.  (Later I found that there is more fast water above what I could see from the canoe. This is more or less a one-way section of river).

I circled the perimeter of the pond and found that there is a second tributary.  Smaller than the river it divided into two creeks.  The river right creek turned out to be Sodom Creek (there was a sign on the bridge where I turned back).  It became too shallow to paddle after a hundred yards.  The second creek went longer and I considered naming it Lost Bicycle Creek for the discarded bikes that were in it.  I managed a few hundred yards before the current and shallow depth made it an easy decision to return.