Above Rocky Hill

I ended up at the ferry landing at Rocky Hill. The ferry is a three car barge with a tug lashed to the side. There has been a ferry here since 1655.

I've started here before, but I can't remember going upstream, so I go upstream. It doesn't take long to realize that I haven't been in this direction before. 

This section is flood plain river. Rivers cutting through wide flood plains often take on an isolated feeling even if they are close to the man-made.  If a flood plain is dry enough, it might be farmed. If not, it will remain a swamp or wet-footed forest. But, one would be a fool to build on it and it would be a waste of money to build anything more than a dirt road as the periodic floods (if not annual) would undo any "taming of the wild" efforts.The shoreline is forested, the banks are shallow silty sand, and behind the forest is farmland, as confirmed by a gas gun that goes off every few minutes to scare birds away from whatever is growing back there. Heading upstream, the river is 800 ft wide and makes a very long left hand bend. The bend is so gradual that I can see the put-in when I am a half hour out. The bend is so gradual that it takes an hour and a quarter of paddling before the river bends to the opposite direction.

There are no river front houses, no river front drives, and there is very little boat traffic. In fact, I will count only five boats above the ferry landing in almost three hours of paddling. I will count twice as many Great Blue Herons, plus one Kingfisher, one immature Bald Eagle, and one Osprey. It is a very nice trip.

Beaver Lodge

An out of place brush pile draws me to the bank. It is a beaver lodge although the actual lodge is hidden from view by brush. The brush pile is hiding the entrance, which is obvious enough if one is close, an excavated submerged channel leading out past the shallows. We have been short of rain lately, and the river is down about a foot or so below its normal level. The brush pile over the beaver lodge entry might be a recent addition to protect the opening. While the news is calling this a drought, it is better described as a dry spell - It really isn't that bad, and nothing compared to what the west is experiencing.

Notice the submerged entrance channel

An hour and a half out, just as the river starts to bend back to the right, I turn around. There is a small current, and it takes one hour to return to my put-in.