The Ends

With 16 feet on the Hartford gauge on the Connecticut River, I head to the Mattabasset,  The Mattabasset backs up when the Connecticut River is high, and with that gauge reading, the Mattabasset water level will be about 10 feet above normal.

The carry to the water is two canoe lengths shorter than normal.  The water is out of the banks and in the lower sections, it will be possible to paddle through the river bottom forest and the large cattail marshes. But, I head upstream to start.  It is easy paddling with no current, and I pass the usual tough spots where the current is normally a problem - the gravel bar, the railroad trestle (which is normally a portage), and the highway bridge, where the current is often amplified in shallow water.  I get a good close up view of a Red Shouldered Hawk just upstream of the highway bridge. I get to a full span deadfall just before the double bends. 

I would have been able to get higher, but the deadfall is too much of a mess to deal with, especially since I left my saw in the car.  Not to go too "sour grapes", but the double bends above are good traps for floating deadfalls and I can easily convince myself that the bends would not be passable.  I turn and head back. I feel engulfed by the forest, particularly when the canopy spans the river, with trees over and around and their reflection beneath.

After I pass my put-in, I make a few excursions into the forest, cutting the meanders and finally coming out into the Great Meadows.  This is a cattail marsh that is about a mile across.  Today, it is an open pond, and I cut across it direct to the railroad bridge on the Coginchaug River. Again, the upstream paddle is easy with little current.  I pass over the logjams that can be problematic in normal water levels.  Above the logjams the river narrows with some fast water that usually stops the progress.

Today, while the water is still fast, it is wide enough to maneuver and eddy hop.  The river seems to have a pool and drop characteristic, although the main issue is to safely maneuver around several strainers.  I get a few hundred feet above the Newfield Street bridge before running up against a full span deadfall at a sharp bend where there are old stone abutments from a former road bridge.  I turn and head back.

Abandoned bridge just below the Newfield Street bridge

Crossing the Great Meadows "pond", I get the wildlife show for the day.  A Bald Eagle is chasing an Osprey, which no doubt has a fish in its talons.  This goes on for a couple minutes before I see a silver sparkle fall to the water.  A second Bald Eagle, which I had not seen, comes from behind me and lands in the water to take the fish.  As the first Eagle flies away upstream, without making  stink, the second Eagle flies past me in the opposite direction, I have my doubts about it being a team effort.  It might be that the second Eagle was hanging back waiting to take the spoils.  I got a photo of the second Eagle, and it looks like none of them ended up with a fish.

I return by way of the forest, only using the river channel when the terrain forces me to,