Upper Scantic River

It has been over two years since my last trip on the upper Scantic.  Wind storms had brought down some sizable trees that blocked the river and a few anti-beaver doofus's broke a key dam that made upriver progress difficult.  But, S was working nearby for the day, so it was particularly efficient for me to make the trip north to check the river conditions.

Up here, the weather would be mostly cloudy and about 80F with very little wind.  I put in on the Somersville Millpond and headed up into the river, gradually remembering landmarks that I haven't seen in awhile.  Spotted a Green Heron as I left the pond and three Great Blue Herons over a few hundred yards.  I passed four rec-boater/dippers before the first bridge, and that would be the last people that I would see on the water.

Things were as I remembered up as far as the old beaver pond.  Little of the beaver dam remained and I suppose that high water had gradually blown more and more of it out.  The pond had been difficult to get through when the dam was first broken a few years ago.  However, the free flow of water seems to have flushed out one of the channels and it was clear paddling up through the old pond.

There is a current, something less than 2:1 (my shorthand for twice as long to travel  against the current as it will be going downstream).  But, I forgot how strenuous this it is above the old pond.  The river turns in sharp bends about every 50-75 yards, so it is constant extra effort turning the canoe... each time I get to a bend, the current will push the bow of the canoe away from where I want to head.  Once above the old pond, I start finding Beaver Lodges every few hundred yards.  Of note, all of the lodges have huge amounts of leftover winter food.

Large lodge with a lot of leftover winter food

Fortunately, and I am much obliged, someone has been in here cutting out the large deadfalls that previously made this trip a slow crawl.  I get up to the second bridge with only one step over, and that one was easy - a forked tree low in the water with 20-25 inch diameter trunks to stand on as I drag the canoe over.  It was almost as easy as standing on a dock.

Above the second bridge, I start running into deadfalls.  It's not too bad, and over-under (push canoe under the log while I step over), two very short portages - just a canoe length or so, but, this is what it's going to be like as no one has been up here with a saw.  It's enough for the day with and hour and a half of paddling to get back out.