Cattails

I put in at the Lieutenant River. Last time I came here, the lot was overloaded with a local kayak club. Paddling in a group of twelve or fifteen seems contrary to the whole idea of... whatever I'm doing. Anyway, there's no one else here, and there are several different routes to pursue, so one can burn a whole day. The tide is just about an hour into rising, so the water is low, but there isn't much tidal current, yet. The wind seems to be picking up, which I don't remember from the morning weather report. I head down and into the back channel of the Connecticut River.

Approaching the Watch Rocks, there is a Gull circling over a stand of trees and raising a hell of a racket. Getting closer, I spot the dark shadow in the trees - a young Bald Eagle. Maybe I'm the critical mass, but it flies off east toward the Duck River. The Gull and an Osprey chase it until it is out of sight. It seems like a good idea, so I paddle up the Duck River. I haven't been in here for several years, and it is as short as I remember it, ending at a culvert that might just barely have enough room for my canoe, at low tide. I decide to check the map later and see if the road portage is worthwhile.

I head back and down, but pull up short of the Back River. The wind is still increasing, and if it keeps growing, this will not be a fun place to paddle out of. The Lieutenant River has plenty of options, and more tree cover, so I head back in that direction.

The Lieutenant River

By the time I reach Boulder Swamp, the tide has come in enough to make it an easy passage. I head up into Mill Brook, again with enough water to make it a simple paddle, but run out of water at the first bridge, which is normal. The creek needs high tide to get much higher.

Mill Brook

I come back out and turn up the Lieutenant. In this section, the river is a narrow meander through a cattail marsh. Cattails have special meaning in my world. They take me back to adventurous romps with my slightly older aunt and uncles near my grandmothers lake shore house. Today, I daydream about the tunnel that my uncles and I tried to dig under my grandma's house. We were four feet down when she figure out what we were up to. I got to fill the hole in by myself as my coworkers had disappeared to do their paper routes.

The top of the Lieutenant - cattails

The paddle out is all fun and games, as the wind is a steady 15mph with gusts into the 20's. Even so, it has been a beautiful day.