The Last Trip

I thought back to the last canoe trip. Dad did the portage down the hill, a mile of portage down 400 feet of hill. We put in behind the Burial Island and he took his position in the bow. That might have been the first time that he was in the bow and I was in the stern, but that is what time does.

Twenty feet from shore, he says, "I'm done."
I reply, "What?"
His balance not what it used to be, especially in my narrower canoe, "Let's go back."
"You want to go back?"
After a second, he says, "No, let's go." 

I showed him around the East Marsh and the Burial Island, showed him the beaver lodges and the dozens of scent mounds built by the Big Lodge beaver. We had a great time. He wasn't up for the 400 feet of climbing to portage home, so I left him at the corner store with donut, while I walked home to fetch the car.

The day will see no more than 60 degrees. It's cloudy with a slight threat of rain and a north wind of 10mph or so. I set out from my usual spot on this river. The water is low - the big river is fairly low for this time of year and the tide is just beginning to come in. On my last trip here, I was paddling through the forest with three or four feet of water below me. That would've been about eight feet more water than today. But, that was the motivator. I wanted to see how the beaver colonies were fairing with the water back to somewhat normal levels.

The first find was a well built bank burrow near a collapsed bank burrow that I was familiar with. I suppose that the colony rebuilt in the same neighborhood.

The Tepee-2 lodge looked like it might be in use. It is hard to be sure as it looks a little rough, but being summer, it doesn't need to be winterized yet. The original Tepee lodge, some twenty feet to the south, has deteriorated to a big donut of woody debris no more than two feet tall.

At the turn to go up the Coginchaug, I find the legendary waders. Some hunter made the mistake of standing in the mud for too long. He left his waders behind. I work on freeing them for about five minutes, but move them not a fraction of an inch. They are hopelessly permanent fixtures. ...and, someone was recently surprised to find out that I did not wear sandals while canoeing.

The Coginchaug big lodge

The big lodge in the Coginchaug is in good shape and there are recent scent mounds both up and downstream of the location. It is a very large lodge and it is possible that the colony did not get flooded out with the high water that I mentioned above. I continue up as far as the power line where I spotted a pair of young beaver during the flood. I do not spot a lodge in the area.

A somewhat rare white Cygnet

I head back. At the bottom of the Coginchaug, I can see that the tide is in and the water is about a foot higher - a bit faster rise than I expected to see.

Birdwise, several Great Blue Herons, a few Osprey, a few Kingfishers, a few Mallards, a pair of Swans with a white Cygnet, a lot of Swallows and the usual number of Red Wing Black birds.