Dodging the Wind

The rain let up during the night and while the day started cloudy, partial sun was the prediction. But, it is windy and I head up to the Mattabesset River, which lies low and well surrounded in most places with plenty of trees.

There is quite a bit of wind in the parking lot, but the 15 foot drop down to the river makes a huge difference. On the water it is near calm even as the tree tops sway. Every so often, a few acorns plop into the water from the overhanging oak trees.  I head upriver.

 

There were half a dozen "canoe cars" in the lot, but they seemed to have all gone down river. I have the upper section all to myself and I can't say more than it is, peaceful. There are newly fallen leaves on the surface of the river, leaves that would not yet have fallen except for the wind. Most of the trees are just barely starting to change. The bow of the canoe catches the floaters. The usual silent cutting of the bow is replaced with a noisy spatter. It is pointless to clear them as it would just happen again within 10 yards. 

A half hour out, I come to a bank to bank deadfall. It would not be hard to lift over, but I know what comes next - a couple sandbars that have to be waded, a short portage through an old trestle, and then a stretch of fast water that I cannot power through at this normal water level. I turn back.

I pass the put in and continue down river. The trees eventually fade away and it becomes open marsh. There is more wind, but it is not too bad. I find a new beaver lodge about a 1/4 mile upstream of the Tepee Lodge site. It is small and probably home to a nonbreeding pair. I don't spot any nearby feed sites or scent mounds, but some of the construction branches are fresh cut. It cannot be much older than two months anyway, based on the flood waters of July that flooded out all of the lodges.

 

I stop and inspect what is left of the Tepee Lodges. I find a leg bone in the original. It's beyond my zoological knowledge, but it could be either a deer or goat - there is hobby farm with goats not too far upstream. The bone is dense and solid and probably was deposited when the beaver were building the lodge, and they might very well have put it there. I retrieve a lost Mallard decoy across the river. It is an odd folding design made of neoprene that I've never seen before. With that, I head back.