To the Cascades of the Shephaug

The Eagle spotting was worth a gold star if I do say so myself.  500 yards off and up the hill in a pine tree, but way back in the shadows of the branches.

Bald Eagle just left of center

The Same Bald Eagle

I put in on the always silent cove and paddle out into the main river, although controlled such as it is, it appears as a lake. 

No matter, there is enough protected forest in this area to make it look like something it isn't.  At the bottom of the cove some purple growth draws me straight across the water.  I find a bumper crop of purple wisteria vining up the trees on the hillside.

I head down and around the point into the Shephaug River, which also looks like a lake.

Not far up from the point I spot a mass in the branches overhanging the water...an Eastern Hog Nosed Snake, although I do have to wait until I'm home to identify it.   

Eastern Hog Nosed Snake

I follow the shoreline north for the next hour and a half until I get to the cascades of the Shephaug.  There is no canoeing past here, in either direction for some way with a tough rapids through a gorge with no way to exit the river.  You can't even access the shoreline to look at it.

I turn back.

The mild wind has freshened some, but it comes in long gusts with long pauses between.  It is not a problem and actually serves to cool off a warm day.

At the wooded point where the two rivers join, the same point I rounded on the way out, a couple sits in their lawn chairs behind their big bold No Trespassing signs.  This is a long walk from their house, but so be it.  I ignore them.