I put in on Pond Brook, head down the cove that it has become, turn down river, and round the point to head up another river. It is sunny. It is calm. The water is as smooth as it could be.
I don't see any birds until I am 45 minutes out. It is a flock of Mallards.
I get to the Moneybags's house. When I first paddled in here, this spot held a dilapidated building that might have been storage for some road or farm machinery. After Moneybags bought the lot, there was about a year of earth moving followed by building, more earth moving and more building. The Moneybags's built themselves a big ass house/mansion, kind of in a style that suggested that they had never been here. In fact, I've never seen anyone there except for grounds keepers. The window blinds are perpetually closed. The barbecue pit, the pool, and the patio unoccupied. Each summer a waterski boat, a pontoon boat, and two jet ski things arrive. They never move. They even put in a small beach, which washed away in the first big rain. They installed drain tiling and put the beach back in. There are no beaches in this part of the river - it is valley with steep glacial till hillsides. The shoreline is boulders and cobbles. The Moneybags's are one with nature. They have fake plastic Swans and a fake plastic fox to scare Geese away. They have those spinning wire bird scaring doohickeys on top of their boats. Today, there is a large flock of non-migratory Canada Geese at the Moneybags's estate. They are eating grass and pooping amongst the plastic fox and plastic Swans. A Gull perches on top of the pontoon boat, a quart of white bird shit splattered all over the navy blue fabric. The environmentalist in me approves.
I reach the cascades in an hour and a quarter - a record time, which is due to the calm water. Canoes do move faster in smooth water. There's not much water coming through the cascades today. I take a short break, then turn around and head out.
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