Through the Maze, Again

S doesn't have a lot of free time, so we head across town to the friendly neighborhood marsh. The tide is high enough to use the refuge launch and duck the motorheads.  We head down the shoreline just to check out the trees where the Egrets and Night Herons like to perch.  There are at least ten Snowy Egrets with just a couple Night Herons.  Then, we head back and take the channel that leads across the marsh, making frequent diversions around the many islands and exploring a couple of channels as we go.  

The tide is high and still rising. It is in the upper 70's with a steady SW breeze and mostly clear sky. 

We head into the Nell's Island maze where we flush a good number of juvenile Night Herons, a couple mature Yellow Crowned Night Herons, and three Great Blue Herons.  We make it through the maze with only one bad turn. It is pretty good bird watching considering the high tide that keeps most of the Herons back in the grasses.

Back in Nell's Channel, we cut across the channel and head into an opening that I've not tried before.  Usually, such things peter out, but this one just keeps going and we paddle a meandering circle coming back to Nell's Channel not to far below were we started.

On our way back to our start point, we divert briefly to the Central Phragmites Patch where we flush three Black Crowned Night Herons. 

The Quad Islands

It's too nice of a morning to not go out. It's also too nice of a morning to put in where the motorboat types are.  I set out on the Housatonic from the Park Formerly known as the Feral Cat Park.  A couple years ago, the town removed the dilapidated picnic shelter that housed dozens of feral cats. The cats are gone as well.

The tide is coming in and the river current is reversed.  I crab across the main channel to Pope's Flat, follow the edge of that island down, cross over to Carting Island and follow that shore.  I find an embedded glass jar and stop to collect it.  If I remember right, this is this is the only embedded bottle that I have found in the Quad Islands.  The location is directly across the channel from the lower pair of fuel storage tanks at the power plant - 1000 ft from the lower tip of Carting Island.  It is 8 inches deep and seems to be a condiment or instant coffee jar.

I head down to the draw bridge and there, I decide to spend my time in the islands and avoid the motor traffic. 

Between Carting and Peacock Islands, I flush a pair of Green Herons.  Great Egrets are perched in nearby trees with a Great Blue Heron, and I get overflown by three or four juvenile Night Herons. 

Green Heron between Carting and Peacock Islands

Coming down the west side of Peacock, I poke into a small creek drainage.  I haven't been in here for a few years.  I flush about twenty Night Herons and a couple Great Egrets, a bit of a surprise for me.

I head back out, and run a circuit through the islands before cutting across from Pope's Flat back to my starting point. 

Salmon River

I put in at the bottom of Salmon Cove.  It is a beautiful day, one of the best of the summer.  The sky is a clear and stark blue.  The temperature is about70F as I start and there is a pleasant breeze out of the north. What surprises me is the level of the water.  It seems to be about 2 feet higher than I what I expected it would be.  Some of the pond lilies and pickerel weed leaves are submerged.

The vegetation is particularly lush this summer.  We haven't had any mid-summer floods this year and the marsh plants seem to be loving it.  Pickerel weed is still in bloom as are many of the other plants that I don't know the names of... lots of reds and purples today. The wild rice is not ripe, but it seems to be doing well. The wild grapes are long gone - In case you are wondering, they taste okay but there seems to be only a day between when they are hard and bitter to when they go soft and flavorless... not worth any effort to collect. 

Pickerel weed with bees

The water is high enough to cross the beaver dam below Dibble Creek, but there is a solid wall of cattails that object and I can't get within 15 feet of the dam.

The view looking skyward past the overhanging trees is remarkable with the sky such a clear and brilliant blue. 

There are quite a few Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets.  I'll spot 10 or 12 of each during the trip. 

I head up the river to the Leesville Dam, leaving the main channel to go around the backside of a couple of the islands.  There is almost no current until just below the dam and ALL of the boulders that are in the river channel are well under water. I find wapato in bloom among the cattails in the smaller channels.

I return using the culvert route.  

I head into Pine Brook.  There was a large patch of wild rice in here that was wiped out by mid-summer flooding two years ago.  The water was high enough to submerge the rice plants and they did not go to seed.  Last year, there was almost no wild rice.  Today, about a fifth of the original patch has wild rice growing on it, which I think is pretty good considering the limited seed source. 

Pine Brook - the light green water plant is wild rice. 
Where the canoe is in this photo will eventually be all wild rice.

Just before the top of the cove, an adolescent Bald Eagle overflies me.

I cut across the top of the cove and head up the Moodus.  Just past the submerged beaver dam, I spot concentric waves coming from the bank.  Something that I did not see dove.  A few second later and a large beaver about 15 yards up slaps its tail and dives.  I pull up and wait to see if the beaver will come back up.  With bad eyesight, beaver often resurface and swim slowly at a distance while trying to catch a scent and figure out what disturbed them.  It doesn't come back up, so I continue up to the blocking deadfall a couple hundred feet below the mill pond dam.

On the way back, I spot a second smaller beaver.  This one stays on the surface for awhile, and with the wind in its favor, it surely caught a snootful of my scent. 

Wapato

As I head down the river left side of the cove, a mature Bald Eagle takes off from an overhead tree and crosses the cove.  A single down feather is shed mid air and I watch it for awhile before deciding that it is going to take all afternoon for it to settle to the water. 

 

 

The Path Leads to Small

 

I put in at the old stage ford 3/4 of an hour before high tide.  There is little current, if any, and all of the shallows are no longer shallow.  It is in the upper 60's with a east wind and an overcast sky of cumulus clouds with a prediction for some rain in a few hours.

Green Heron

The other day, I read an article of quotes about mountaineering, and it gave some food for thought, as such things often do.  I have had a fairly constant outdoor life although of varying activities.  Mountain climbing, skiing, hiking, backcountry mountain biking, kayaking, rafting and canoeing.  I pursued these outlets with more than a fair amount of enthusiasm, at least to the point where a good amount of physical fitness was required.  I learned fairly early, that the most important thing that was going to happen was that I would learn something about myself, with each and every trip.  I also learned that competition was, at least for myself, detrimental and took me off of whatever path I was supposing to be following. 

The Long Cut

The end result of the physical training and effort that each activity required was not to prove to myself or anyone else that I was anything special.  Quite the opposite, the most satisfying result of my outdoor pursuits was to prove to myself that I was an insignificant piece of the natural world.  The days that I remember are the ones when I felt the smallest and weakest and most overwhelmed by my surroundings.

Remains of a sawmill dam ca 1860

When I got below the railroad bridge, I took the Long Cut into the upper end of Bailey Creek, and then returned through the Sneak.  It was a very bird quite day with just a couple distant Osprey.  The high tide put the wading birds back away from the main river. I did see a few Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets.  There were a good number of small brown Gulls - no doubt youngsters.  The high water was approved by the Kingfishers, which stood out as the action bird of the day.  I spotted a Green Heron just above Clapboard Hill bridge on my way down. 

Female Kingfisher

East River at Very Low Tide

I took M to the East River.  We put in from the old stage ford as I usually do.  The tide was all the way out and it was lower than normal.  We waded almost all the way to the first bend. Then, after a couple hundred yards of floating, we waded the entire Gravel Flats.  This part of the river is mostly a gravel or cobble bottom, fortunately.  

It was fine day - temperature in the upper 70's, a little humid, mostly sunny with a light south wind.  There were some people crabbing, but no other canoes or kayaks. There were a good number of the speeder crabs that people fish for.  The tame Ducks that live above Clapboard Hill bridge were chasing fiddler crabs. 

Below the railroad bridge, we continued past the Sneak, which was way too shallow to make it through.  Spotted some Great Blue Herons, Osprey, a few Willets and Yellow Legs and a single Short Billed Dowitcher where the East and Neck Rivers meet.  

We paddled up Bailey Creek, passing the Sneak again as it needed about 20 more minutes of rising tide to make it through. So we paddled to the culvert, which is too low for passage no matter what the tide, then came back.  The Sneak looked passable, and it was, just barely.  It did require some stinky poling to get through the shallowest section... rotten egg decomposition smell... as you should expect from a marsh. 

It was an easy paddle back, and of course by this time, we had deep water all the way.  

Hunting Bird Day

I set out from the town formally known as Pettipaug.  The tide is bottoming out so I head out through the marina as the preferred exit from the North Cove will be a wade for the next hour.  It is going to be about 85F today, but it is very humid and already feels warmer than it is.  It is partly cloudy with little wind and a chance of rain or thunderstorms in the afternoon.

I head up the west shore, but the temptation to paddle in the shade of the forest on the other side of the river is too much.  I cross over on the old Ely Ferry route. I flush 2 juvenile Bald Eagles while heading up the shoreline.

Adolescent Bald Eagle

Juveniles often appear larger than adults because they have longer flight feathers, and both of these fit the bill. I find a third standing in the water near Joshua Creek.  The main river is active right now.  Fish are rising to the surface and several times a large striped bass comes clear out of the water.  The Osprey and Great Blue Herons are taking advantage of this.  I come across a Heron about every 1/4 mile, and most of the Osprey that are flying by or perched in nearby trees have a small fish in their talons.

The Selden channel is calm and quiet. In fact, at one point I hear the Essex steam engine, which is a half mile away with 200 feet of forested hill between us.  I see several Osprey in the channel and an immature Hawk - either a Red-Shouldered or a Broad Wing. At the top of the channel, I decide to turn back and stay in the channel instead of going out onto the main river. Having the channel to myself is just too good.

 

Note how the Osprey's eyes can rotate to look straight ahead - a handy trait when diving for fish

The wide part of the river near the former Brockway Ferry crossing is choppy again.  Although this section is 3000 feet wide, there is a lot of rip-rap banks, cliffs, and sea walls and wakes rebound back into the main channel.  The result is that you get small waves meeting at an angle from different directions.  There's no rhythm to it and it makes the paddling laborious. As soon as I reach the natural shorelines below Brockway Island, the phenomena disappears as the gravel, sand and spartina shorelines dissipate the wave energy.

 

Wither a young Red Shouldered or Broad Wing Hawk, perched above an Osprey nest 

I get 2 more adolescent Bald Eagle sightings in North Cove - that makes 3 juveniles and 3 adolescents for the day.  It was a good trip, but I am glad to be off the water...it's not the heat, it's the humidity. 

Wood River

Wood River.... 

I start at Alton Pond.  The last half mile of the Wood River is behind a dam just 20 yards away.  It joins the Pawcatuck down that way. It is a perfect day right now, but it will become a bit too warm for my liking this afternoon, so I got moving just after 9:00. I'm going upstream.

The Wood River breaks up into three sections that each can be paddled out-n-back, or I should say, most of each section can be paddled.  All three sections get faster and shallower as one nears the upper reaches, to the point where one has to wade some. But by that time, you'd find that you already had a good trip. The length can be paddled downstream in a day as well.  This section is the longest of the three.

I follow the weed-free and serpentine channel up through Alton Pond. It takes just a few minutes to get into the river proper. The pond weeds give way and the plant life is dominated by native plants.  Pickerel Weed is in bloom as are the Pond Lilies and many marsh shrubs.  One of the best reasons to paddle this river is that the plant life is so rich.  A half dozen Osprey are in the area near the pond.

Pickerel Weed

After leaving the pond, the river meanders through swamp and marsh.

About 45 minutes up is the portage around an old dam at Woodville.  It's about 150 yards from a rough spot on river-left, across a bridge, and back in on river-right. After a short bit of pond, the river narrows and begins twisting.  I spot a large snapping turtle hauled out on deadfall and manage a photo before it slips into the depths.  This upper section is narrower than below and also has a good amount of dead wood in the water, so it is a busy bit of paddling. There is less open marsh and much more forest or swamp, so it is shady.  Today, the water level is down, although not desperately so.  There is more maneuvering around deadfalls than normal and several shallow areas.  I only have to wade once, just two canoe lengths at that.  

I come across a raccoon swimming in the river.

Somewhere before, but pretty close to the fishing access areas, the river gets too shallow to bother with. As I said at the beginning, by the time you get to mandatory wading, you've already has a good trip.  

I turn back with a light current at my back.  I find the snapping turtle hauled out on the deadfall where I first saw it, and it slips into the deep to let me pass. 

It is definitely getting warm as I near the pond.  It is a good time to finish for the day. 

The Inside

Wheeler Marsh
A perfect day, with the tide still rising for at least 2 hours when I put in.

I use the rough refuge launch avoiding the upstream state boat launch and the weekend horde of boat drivers that I find ... depressing.

I weave the bottom of the marsh.  The tide is high enough that the mudflats are submerged and there are plenty of route options.  Early into it, I spot a Clapper Rail, which dissolves into the spartina before I can get my camera aimed.  I explore a few dead ends for the sake of exploring, and because they are there. By the time I get over to Nell's Island, the water is high enough to pass through the Maze.   

There are a great number of Night Herons - both immature and adults, and they are well dispersed and mostly back a few feet from the water's edge.  They flush from the spartina as I get close. At the bottom of Nell's, I flush a dozen Snowy Egrets that were all standing in a small area. Somewhere in there, I flush 4 Short Billed Dowitchers, and spot a second Clapper Rail.

I explore a couple of channels as I head into the Maze.  Both are dead ends and I return to the main entrance channel and follow it in.  I find a great twisty channel coming off of one of the ponds.  It stays 10-15 feet wide and goes on a long winding route before arriving at a familiar spot.  I hope I can find it again, but that isn't always the case.

I exit the Maze and take a couple of my favorite interior "sneaks".  Flush a couple Black Crowned Night Herons from the Central Phramites Patch, push my way out through the reed mat, and head down to open channels that will take me back to my start point.  There, I talk with a bird watcher for a for minutes.  

Skunked

We put in on the Menunketusuck River.  The canoeable section is all salt marsh - shaped like a trident with the river in the center and two meandering arms that makes for a couple hours of paddling.  The forest fire smoky haze has finally cleared out and the skies are blue with a temperature in the upper 70's and a light wind.  S hasn't been out in the canoe for over a month.

Right after the first bend, a first year Little Blue Heron flies over.  One of the main reasons to come here is to see Little Blue Herons and Glossy Ibises.  

As we get down into the widest part of the marsh, it seems that we aren't going to have a great bird day.  There are quite a few Snowy Egrets and Great Egrets, a couple of Cormorants, a few Willets and more Yellow Legs, which have returned from their nesting sites.  There are also a good number of Semipalmated Plovers.  But, there don't seem to be any Glossy Ibises or Little Blue Herons (other than the one we saw earlier).  Our bird trip is getting skunked.

Osprey scolding a Bald Eagle

We check out the length of the west arm, finding just Egrets and the mentioned shore birds.  We come out and head down to the railroad bridge. Again, Egrets, shorebirds, and on a Osprey nest box,  a young Osprey strengthening its wing muscles by flapping.  The East arm is the same, until we return when we hear and then spot a mature Bald Eagle.  It takes the usual perch over the opera singer's house.  An Osprey comes in to give it the business - showing the Eagle that it is being watched.  The Eagle's perch not only gives it a 270 degree view of the marsh, but also a clear line of sight to the Osprey nest box.

With that, we head back out.  We get a good close-up view of an immature Little Blue Heron working the bank.  It might be the same one that overflew us on the way in. 

Immature Little Blue Heron - note the two-toned bill and greenish legs

Indian River

I put in at the harbor for a short trip that I don't do too often.  The smoky haze is beginning to clear.  The temperature is in the 70's with sun and some wind that has just come up.   But, since I am heading into Gulf Pond and the Indian River, the wind will not be a problem.

I would normally have gone over to the Wheeler Marsh, but yesterday a child fell off of a dock in that area and drowned.  The authorities are searching for the body and don't want anyone in the area that doesn't need to be there.  It's a shame, but people confuse docks with sidewalks and that they are not, especially in a river with 3 mph tidal currents.

The tide peaked just a half hour ago and the pond is topped up, although there is still plenty of clearance on the two low bridges that I have to go under to get to the Indian River.  The pond holds a good number of shorebirds when the tide is out and it becomes a big mud flat.  Right now it is a few birds - Egrets, Cormorants, mostly.

I paddle into the Indian River by passing under the artificially narrow railroad bridge, which surely dates to steam engine days.  Again, there are Egrets with a few Osprey, a few Yellow Legs, and a couple Great Blue Herons.  There are a couple of flocks of Sandpipers - maybe 30 or 40 in each.  They fly in formation, rising up and settling down not far from where they started.  I get a good look at them on the way out... either Semipalmated or Western Sandpipers.  I'm not good enough at the game to tell them apart. 

Back in the harbor, I pass gomer trying to tack his 25 foot sailboat out of the narrow passage.  The channel is only 100 feet wide so with each tack he progresses about 30 feet.  He weaves in and out of moored boats with no room for error.  It's ridiculously irresponsible.  Finally, someone drives up and offers him a tow.  I return to my put in unscathed.

The Meanders

I don't think too many people canoe this stretch of the river, I imagine they never really consider it.  

I put in at Rocky Hill, just upstream of the ferry, which holds maybe 3 or 4 cars.  It is actually a barge with a tow boat that ties up to the side.  The ferry route has been in use since 1655.

Today, there is no perceptible current with the river level being lower than normal.  River level dictates the current in this section and it can really move during high water. The nearest gauge is at about 2-1/2 feet.  I've been here when the gauge was at 13 feet, and there was no doubt that a canoe trip at that level would be a fast one way trip. The sky is hazy with forest fire smoke.  This has been going on for 3 days. The fires are in Canada, a long way off.  The weather is low 80's and calm.

What draws me here is the big meanders.  It reminds me of some of the rivers in Minnesota that I grew up around.  Just downriver of the put-in are a set of forested hills - a clever disguise for the glacial moraine that is underneath.  The moraine was an ice age dam that backed up the water in the Connecticut River valley forming Glacial Lake Hitchcock with the drainage channel at that time a bit to the west.  I think that was roughly where the Mattebasset River runs. So, today's trip is on the bed of an ice age lake. The lake drained about 10,000 years ago.

Upriver of the put-in is a series of big meanders wandering through a wide flood plain.  The first meander takes just short of an hour to paddle before the river bends in the other direction. The flood plains within the meanders are excellent farmland as it gets flooded and recharged with new soil every year.  The west side of the river in this first meander also contains a large archaeological site.  This was a summer camp and the site of some early pre-contact farming, including corn.  I imagine that there would be more sites on both sides of the river as it is just too convenient for such utilization.

It is a quiet and peaceful trip up to Glastonbury. I see no other boats until I reach the Glastonbury Boathouse.  I explore a small man-made cove on the west side of the river, and take a look into creek that comes in on the east side.  Then, I head back.  

Most of the day, there has been a Kingfisher in sight.  I spot a half dozen Great Egrets all congregated on the east shore, and a mature Bald Eagle just downstream of them.  Otherwise, several Spotted Sandpipers and a few Woodpeckers.   

Deep Soak

I put in on the Pawcatuck. It is calm and 70F with clear skies, and nothing about that should change other than the temperature, which will rise to the mid 80's. 

One person is at the launch site and he is fishing.  I put the canoe in the water and turn upstream.  In five minutes of paddling, I pass under a railroad bridge. At this point the river turns away from the road and heads out into the Great Swamp. It gets quiet pretty quickly.  

The water is lower than usual for most of my trips here.  It is probably only a matter of a half foot or so, but the difference causes some narrow patches of silty-sand to be exposed.  On most of my trips here, the water runs right into the shoreline shrubs. There is almost no current, only the lean of submerged water plants suggests the flow.

Just below Burdickville, I spot a mink running on the right bank.  I get my camera ready, and although I miss the fully exposed running photo, I know that the mink will give me another chance.  I have never seen a mink that could resist coming back to take a second or third look. 

I make the awkward portage of the Burdickville dam ruins.  It is always awkward, no matter what the water level is, but it is only 30 feet.  There is more current above Burdickville and it slowly picks up pace the farther upriver I get.  The river bottom becomes cobbles, boulders and gravel. It's ice age stuff - all rounded from being tumbled under the ice.  The pitch pines start to show in force as well.  Below the dam ruins, it was mostly oaks and swamp maples.  Above, there are glacial sand deposits and dunes that pitch pines like to grow in. This part of the river has a lot of downed timber in the water to maneuver around.  The game warden types do some clearing, but they keep it to a minimum as the downed wood is good for fish.

I spot the first Osprey of the day.  It has been a very quiet day for birds with just a couple Cormorants, this Osprey, and 2 Great Blue Herons. But, this is a narrow river running through a very wide swamp with a lot of good habitat - everything does not need to be on the river.

I turn back as the Kings Factory Bridge comes into view.  The water is shallow and fast at this point and I would have to wade to get higher.  As it is, I am about 7 miles out and feel totally deep soaked in the surroundings. 

I take out after 14 miles and 4-1/2 hours of paddling.  I saw no one else other than two people fishing from the Burdickville bridge. 

 

  

Return of the Juveniles

I head across town to the state boat launch, my usual put in for a visit to the tidal section of the Housatonic.  I get the last parking spot. I put my canoe in the water as fast as possible and head down to the marsh and away from the "boat mall".

The tide is almost all the way out.  My route in the marsh will be very limited, but I knew this already.

Common Terns are common right now.  They do summer in this region, but they haven't been in the marsh until recently.  I imagine that their nesting is over and they are coming here to feed on the plentiful tiny fish that are recently hatched. There are 15-20 of them perched on the last dock before the marsh.

Juvenile Yellow Crowned Night Heron

The other bird of notice is the juvenile Yellow Crowned Night Herons.  Today, my sightings of the juveniles outnumber the adults maybe 3 to 1.  I'm sure the actual numbers are more even, but the juveniles are probably more likely to be at the water's edge as they learn to hunt. There are also a good number of Great and Snowy Egrets.  I imagine some of them are juveniles, but I don't know how, or if, there is a way to differentiate them from the adults. Yellow Legs are also back in the marsh after nesting up in the Hudson Bay latitudes

Probably a Semipalmated Sandpiper

I head back early.  The idea of having to take out amongst a small army of motorboaters has nagged at me while I've been out. I have little in common with any of them and taking out at a launch full of them is like finishing a long canoe trip in a shopping mall parking lot.  Maybe someday I will be big enough to overlook this, but that day is not now.

To the Shephaug Cascades

 It is just too nice to not be outside.  It is in the 70's with a light north wind, low humidity and a blue sky. The trick will be to avoid the crowds.

I put in at Pond Brook, which is actually a pleasant and somewhat secluded cove, the result of the main river being dammed in the 1950's.  I head out and then down river, rounding the point where the Shephaug River joins.  The Shephaug arm is one of the best stretches in the reservoir with maybe half of the shoreline being forest preserve, and most of the well-spaced houses being up and away from the water and often hidden in the trees.

It is already past 10AM but even so, there are only a few bass boats. It's a general rule that the typical motorboat owner can't get it together until noon, even on a weekends.  

As I cross the shallow bay near the halfway point, I scan the trees for Eagles, which often perch here.  Finding none, I put my head down and motor on, just as a scratchy whistle comes down from high. I look up and there, about 500 feet up, is a mature Bald Eagle gliding south. 

I make good time up to the Shephaug cascades - hour and a half for just short of five miles. The water is murky in the last quarter mile and I figure that it is mostly runoff silt from recent rains. The water here is also several degrees colder than that downstream, where there is definitely a good crop of algae growing. In fact, it would be a chilly swim. 

I turn and head back, stopping at the old railroad culvert.  It is shrouded with overhanging tree branches, and as I push in, a Great Blue Heron flushes from those very branches, not eight feet away.  

I continue out and at the shallow halfway bay, find the Eagle perched in a tall snag well up the hillside.

Just ten minutes after noon, a pair of waterski boats come by...right on cue.