Nature Makes No Unearned Errors

A long stretch of windy weather finally let up and today came with near calm weather with mostly sun predicted and temperatures in the upper 60's.  I made the smallish extra effort to visit one of favorite places, the Great Swamp on the East Branch of the Croton River.  The main focus of good paddling is a 6-1/2 mile stretch below the town of Patterson.  At the halfway point is the only road crossing and for the past two years the lower half has been particularly difficult to access as the lower launch point, which is on the property of a private school, was closed due to the covid pandemic, and a dozen large trees fell and blocked the river right at the midpoint road crossing.  Although the deadfalls weren't impossible to bypass, the idea of doing it twice was less than amusing.

I put in at the lower launch.  The water was high, but not the highest I've seen - still, most of the beaver dams should be submerged.   I headed upstream, and I was the first person in, and first person sees the most animals.  As such, it was not a particularly peaceful paddle as there were a good number of Canada Geese in the swamp and they just cannot help but honk endlessly until one leaves the area, entering the area of another pair of Geese, of course.  The first and second dams were well submerged and visible only by reading the subtle disturbance on the surface of the water.  The lodges of the beaver that built the dams were well maintained.  As I continued up, I noted that there were several more lodges than on my last trip - the pandemic was good for beaver.  Once I got into the forest, the scent of castoreum was obvious and the beaver had been busy building and maintaining scent mounds, which mark territory.  I flushed a mature Bald Eagle near the top of the forest section.

I reached the road crossing with only two brief step-overs of recent deadfalls.  And, as a bonus, high water and winter had managed to dislodge much of the blockage in this area and I was able to paddle through.  With that surprise, I picked up my pace knowing that for the first time in two plus years I would be able to paddle the full 13 mile round trip.  I spotted the Eagle again.  An Hawk flew by taking a buzz at the Eagle, which scolded it with a hoarse whistle, as well it should.

It wasn't an especially strong wildlife day, although I spotted two Pileated Woodpeckers and heard a third, spotted one Canada Goose nest, a couple of Great Blue Herons, a couple Yellow Legs and some smaller Sandpipers, lots of Red Wing Blackbirds and Swallows, a few Mallards and a few Wood Ducks and 3 healthy snapping turtles.  When the water is high in the swamp, a lot of waterfowl will be back away from the river.

When I reached the Patterson put-in, I turned back, simple as that.  The paddling was so good that I didn't stop to write, as I had planned to do, but just kept paddling, and sometime in the fourth hour, drifted off into the paddling trance. It seems a long time since I went to that metal place.