Here Comes the Fall

 We settled on the East River.  Neither of us had been there for awhile.  In my case I had been focusing on other waters after realizing just how often I paddled the East.  We talked fro quite a time with B.  He is one of the few canoeists that come here.  He solo paddles a 17 ft Tripper - S commented on the amount of gear in his canoe and I filled her in that it is ballast necessary to keep that big canoe from wandering in the wind.  About that time there was an impromptu meeting of the Bud Light Navy - one motorboat being towed in and some guy without a PFD out with kids.  I muttered to S, "Let's go before we have to rescue someone."

We headed up the Neck River.  High tide had just passed, the wind was light and coming more or less downriver, the sky was almost clear with a crisp blue color that doesn't happen in the warmth of summer.  There were several Willets in the lower end of the river, more than I usually expect to see in September.  One mature Bald Eagle was circling high for quite some time before leaving the area.  Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons were also quite common and there was about one Osprey/nest still in the area.  

In the Sneak

We cut easily through the Sneak and returned to the East.  After passing two dipping kayaks, we had the river to ourselves.  

As we paddled through the Big Bends I figured that there is some extra water from this weeks substantial rain storm.  About six inches of rain fell during the night two days ago.  Fortunately, the East doesn't drain too much land - it is only six miles long, if you count the parts that are too shallow for canoes.  Anyway, the water stayed higher than expected even as the tide dropped.

We spotted a couple Green Herons as we got into the fresh water marsh, and S did a good job sighting a young Night Heron.  It took me a couple minutes to spot it after she called it.

We turned back at the old stage coach ford and descended with good speed having the ebb current and a tailwind.