Searching for New England Hydropower

I put in near the bottom of the Connecticut River with the plan of heading up Mill Brook. It is a fine day with a light south wind and 70 degree temperatures.  The tide will peak in about an hour, so I will have some assistance on my way out.

It is quiet aside from a lot of Osprey and Marsh Wrens. As for the Egrets, they aren't making any noise. I head up the back channel, through the narrows at Watch Rocks, then up the phragmites hallway to the Lieutenant River. The current is still flowing upriver when I get there.

A well flooded Mill Brook

It is an easy paddle up the Lieutenant. Boulder Swamp is deceptively well flooded. Only two sizable boulders show above the water. The way it looks now, the name makes little sense. Of course, at mid and low tide, it is a maze to paddle through.  

A well blocked Mill Brook

Mill Brook comes in at the east end of the Boulder Swamp. At low tide it is about as much wading as it is canoeing. At high tide, the first third of a mile or so is easy paddling. My purpose today, was to reach the lowest millpond. I did this once before and although it required a bit of wading, it was a good enough trip to repeat. Today however, the brook is blocked where the mill race rejoins the brook.  A tree that beaver had girdled, a year or two ago, has finally snapped off of its own accord and blocked the channel. I could portage past it, but I know what lies ahead, and the idea of repeating it coming back out doesn't make much sense.

Eaglets at the Boulder Swamp nest

Back in Boulder Swamp, I spot the Eagle nest. Even though I know where it is, it is a tough nest to spot and I never find it except when I am coming down from Mill Brook. There are two Eaglets in the nest. The adults are nowhere to be seen.

I head out to the main river when I get down to the bottom of the Lieutenant.  Then, I follow that shore down and through the channel known as the Back River, which it is not, a river that is. I spot several Snowy Egrets and I suspect that one or two of them might be immature Little Blue Herons as I don't see the tell tale yellow feet of a Snowy. There are several Great Egrets ling the Back. By now, the ebb tide has formed and it is an easy paddle to my take out.