Steer Clear

I got a late start for the day and headed inland to save myself from some of the wind that would be on the coast.  Actually, I was already in the car before I decided where to go, something I do more often than one might think.

I ended up putting in from the quite little cove that feeds into the Housatonic some two dams up from the sea.  I paddled off follwing the edge of the shade provided by the forested bank.  There is a great hiking trail off to my left, not far up the hill into the forest.  The canoe travels the same linear distance much faster, none of the ups and downs and turns of the foot path.  I pass a drainage and know that it is the one that the chickenwire bridge crosses.  Not too many canoe lengths further, the path turns uphill away from the water.  That uphill is a grind on a warm day.  Then for about a mile of shore the path is high and away from the water.

The first bird sightings are Common Mergansers that fledged this spring.  I spot about 6 or 8 total and they are sticking together more or less, probably for safety.  Every so often I flush or spot a Great Blue Heron.  

This is a motorboat section of the river and I am surprised to find almost no motor traffic.  A couple of bass boats pass plus a couple runabouts, but they are here and gone in seconds.

I almost get down to the dam but have no reason to get there, so I cross the river and follow the other shore back.  Until,  I see a couple on the shoreline a 1/4 mile up.  I recross the river to avoid them.  As I near the confluence with the Shephaug I spot a few small boats coming down the shore.  I cross the river again preferring an extra 1/3 of a mile to the inevitable random chatter.