Great Swamp Below Patterson

It is a little cool with a thin sprinkle coming down as I set out from Green Chimneys. The water is high - just a little out of the banks, and there is more current than normal, something less than a 2:1 flow.  2:1 is my own paddling ratio, which makes sense as I almost always do out and back trips, and it means that if I go against the current for 2 hours, it will take 1 hour to return.

The overcast makes this a less than ideal day for photography. 

The two lodges in the first pond look to be in use.  I find a newer and larger lodge at the top of the pond. This new lodge looks large enough to be in use by a breeding pair. 

 

The water is high enough to clear all of the beaver dams without having to step out. I spot a male Bufflehead. That species winters near Long Island Sound and this is the first time that I have seen one in the Great Swamp and I assume that it might be migrating north. I've never been in here during early April, so if my migration guess is accurate, that would explain not seeing them.

I do spot two Great Blue Herons, which were notably absent from my trip here a few days back. I also spot an Osprey.  Osprey are occasional sightings for me in this stretch of river. Otherwise, some Black Ducks, Mallards, and Wood ducks, although not as many Woodies as I saw on April 2. I spot Canada Geese several times.

With the water up, I clear a good many deadfalls that would be much more of a bother. The big deadfall at the top of the forest section is still there. It requires a short portage, which is more fun than in the past because the beaver have been eating saplings and left lots of punji sticks on the muddy path. A chubby beaver slips off the bank. I pull up waiting for it to come up and eyeball me, but it is gone. I also spot a some type of weasel and one muskrat.

I contemplate my turn-around point as after two straight hours of paddling against the current it is starting to feel like work - at least it is good work. I thought I might turn at Pine Island, but continue the rest of the way up to Patterson, just because the conditions are so good.  

Coming back I pass close to a Mute Swan.  The mate is about a 100 yards away, off in the marsh. The lack of aggression suggests that the hormones aren't flowing, yet.

The return is faster for sure, in places. It is a 13 mile round trip taking 4-1/2 hours. The return, with the current, is only a 1/2 hour quicker. I do not see a single person the entire time.

 

Great Swamp Above Patterson

I set out into the Great Swamp from the Patterson put-in. It is calm and partly sunny, maybe 40F, and the water is high enough to just barely creep out from the river channel.  It is definitely not high enough to cut any of the many meanders.

Once or twice a year, when the water is high, I will go upstream to see how far I can get. It is a beating ones head against a wall exercise, as I've never gotten to the first bridge, which is something like a half mile. The typical problem is that there are always some channel spanning deadfalls that are too problematic to bother with, especially when a return trip is part of the plan. 

Upstream of the 311 Bridge

So, I head upstream into the usual twists and turns, and wonder of wonders, I make it to the first bridge. The river opens up some at that point, but only for  a short stretch. It is nice to be in new water that I've never seen before.  I am regularly flushing Mallards, Black Ducks and Wood Ducks....and more Wood Ducks.  This beaver built environment is ideal for Wood Ducks, and by the end of the trip, I will have seen about a hundred of them.This reach of the river is much more of a tangle than any place in the river below Patterson.  The river often splits into two or three narrow channels and I have a few easy step-overs and one well built beaver dam that is about 18 inches high.
 

After that, is a good beaver pond.  I squeeze under a railroad bridge and continue a short distance.  At the top of the pond, the river resembles a flooded meadow with a handful of shallow channels With a few more inches of water, I'd keep going, but what I see is a mix of wading and log crawling.  I turn back.

New Lodge

The distance was not much, if one looked at a map. As the crow flies, it was barely a half mile, but that half mile was a hundred tight turns and narrow gaps to slip through.  The round trip took over two hours.  I continue on past the put-in into river that I know well.  I usually think of this first mile as one of tight meanders, but after that first two hours, I feel like I am paddling the Mississippi. All of the deadfalls and beaver dams are submerged and it is an easy paddle. I continue to flush Wood Ducks and an occasional few Mallards or Black Ducks. One thing I note is that I do not see a single Great Blue Heron. This freezes over in most winters, so they migrate out, and haven't returned, yet. 

I paddle down as far as the hunter's canoe stash, just a bit downriver from Cult Tower Hill. Then, I turn and head back, taking out after just under four hours of paddling.