The Black Hall River

S woke up and decided that we should go canoeing. Our drive coincided with a massive traffic jam. People that live in the greatest city in the world spend great effort to get out of that city all summer long, go figure. 

We get off the long parking lot well before our intended destination and, instead, put in from Neck Road near the mouth of the Connecticut River. The extra time in traffic and wandering around has played to our advantage and we have a rising tide. A small fleet of plastic kayaks and paddle boards arrives, but I know well enough that they won't get very far from wherever they started. We turn and head up the Black Hall River.

It's been at least a year since I've been up the Black Hall. The tide counts for sure on this river with some mud flat lower down, and three narrow bridges to pass under. During the tide change, the current at any one of those bridges can be enough to stop you. 

Osprey, Great and Snowy Egrets are about in the salt marsh as we head in. The Osprey have fledged at this point, so there are fewer Osprey in this area, where there are some thirty nests. Once the young are mobile, they wander farther for feeding.

The current pushes us through each bridge, with the third one being a fast one. There are several Osprey up in this area. The river here is narrower and enclosed by more forest than marsh. It is still a bit shallow, but passable if we stay in the main flow. We're in no hurry anyway as we need thirty or forty minutes of tide before we can get back through the last bridge. I recognize the end of the road - where the river gradually narrows to nothing. We turn and head back having has more than the last 2 miles completely to ourselves.