Bantam

I'm not long in the water before realizing that I've neglected this river. It's been a few years since my last visit (only visit?) and while I remember it as a good one, I didn't remember it as this good.

It's a nice day with temperatures in the mid 70's, a less than 10 mph wind from the west and northwest, and partly cloudy sky of puffy scattered cumulus, which lets a lot of sun through.

I head downriver toward the lake. out of the places that I paddle, this might have the densest population of beaver. Just as one lodge disappears from view, another comes into sight. And, the lodges are large - these are mature breeding colonies. 

I meet two women in kayaks and they warn me of a beaver dam before the lake that turned them back. That is the disadvantage of kayaks over canoes. Kayaks stem from seagoing use - one gets in and stays in until returning to shore. People don't think about canoes this way, but they are designed to hop in and out of and carry them when necessary. The dam is about a foot high and pretty much where I remember a dam from my last trip. There is an older submerged dam nearby and closer to the lake, but I can't spot it. 

I head out into the lake. I was planning to explore the Bantam River where it exits the lake, but the lake doesn't match my memory from glancing at the map, which I do not have with me. Later, I find that I overestimated the distances rather wildly, passing the lake exit and wandering around the next point. The lake is not half as big as I was thinking.  I turn back when I see that I have to run a long gauntlet of shoreline houses. I just don't have it in me today. However, all of the northern shore is quite nice. Most of it is White Family Foundation Preserve - a large expanse of forest and ponds open to the public with lots of trails. This has a lot to do with the excellent condition of the river, which has few non-native plants.

The noisy beaver lodge

Back in the river, I recross the beaver dam, and then run into the two women again. I have a delightful chat with R and L for about 20 minutes. As I'm telling them about beaver scent mounds and winter food stashes etc. they ask what beaver sound like. "Oh, you heard that too?" I am impressed. There was audible murmuring coming from one of the lodges. I paddled halfway around it to be sure that it was coming from the lodge. I once saw a mother beaver nuzzling a kit - and that was similar to the sound I heard. I don't think 1 in 50 people would have noticed the sound coming from the lodge.

I continue up to Little Pond. I cross 3 low dams and 3 other submerged dams on the way. Spot two Great Blue Herons, a Wood Duck hen with 4 Ducklings, and one Green Heron. I head out of the pond and up the now shallow river, but run into a log jam about a 1/4 mile from the pond. It's a good point to turn around as the river will start traversing a golf course pretty soon, and I remember that being uninteresting. I spot a young raccoon just above the lowest dam.