Watch My Wake?

It's been just to plain hot to be out canoeing for most of the last week.  Today arrives with a drop in temperature and an overcast sky, although it stays muggy. 

A low low tide is scheduled to coincide with my putting in, so I head for more water in the Connecticut River.  I pull in to Pilgrims Landing, but the parking area is almost full (it only holds 6-7 cars) and there are a lot of Chads and Kips standing around deciding who is going to row the dingy out to the yacht, far too many frat boy hair cuts for my good.

I end up at Ely's Ferry.  It's just me and a guy playing with his dog.  We have a good chat while I get my gear out.  Then, I head up river with three Bald Eagle sightings in the first 400 yards.  Plus, my eyes are aimed just in the right direction to see 30 inches of striped bass leap clear of the water.


The air is near calm and the water smooth.  There are a few motor boats about, but they pass by and I get long periods of quite time.  It is nice paddling.

Selden

I head up the Selden channel.  Quite a few Osprey in sight and calls from even more.  I pass a couple of state guys putting up official no trespassing signs on a piece of private property, then two guys in kayaks, and that's it.  I mull over the return route.  It would be nice to repeat that pleasant run through the channel, but I opt to check out the main river instead.

Selden

There is some boat traffic of the "no seamanship" variety, but they seem to be grouped together and there are reasonable periods of quiet.  When I tire of the personal watercraft clowns, I cross the river and follow the west side down.  It ends up being a bit of a grind as the water is lumpy with old wakes - no rhythm to the wave action.  Every so often a fat cat runs through with too big a yacht at too fast a speed and I get to ride two feet of wake.  I imagine the clown saying, "Watch my wake?  I didn't raid my employees pension fund so that I could watch my wake."  So it goes.

I end up with eight Bald Eagle sightings and more Osprey than I cared to count.