Wood River

Really, I forget how beautiful this river is.  A few months goes by and I return, and I am stuck by beauty of this landscape. It is a 75 mile drive to get here and worth every bit of it.

It will soon be in the low 70's with sunny skies and little wind.  I put in on Alton Pond, just above the dam which holds the river back. A couple guys are fishing, the nearest one tells me that he just caught a 8-inch trout, which he released even though he could keep it.

I head upstream.  Usually when I am here, there is a good crop of pond lilies, which can be used to locate the deepest channel.  In fact, the pond lilies more or less force one to stay in the deep channel.  Today. it is open water with just a few lilies reaching for the surface but still underwater.  

At the top of the pond, an Eagle glides 20 feet over me unseen until it overtakes me.  It is a large mature bird, and it takes a perch in a tree a 1/4 mile ahead.  Occasionally, I flush a pair of Wood Ducks or Mallards.  I see one Great Blue Heron, on the wing and heading upriver over at the far side of the marsh.

Lots of turtles sunning.  They have climbed up on drift logs or dried grasses at the edge of the water. All of the ones I see are eastern painted turtles.

I do the portage at Wilsonville and continue upriver.   Route finding while going upstream is more difficult in this section.  It is a best bet to follow the current, but there are places where the river flows through dense and impassable brush.  I go astray just once, which is about normal. I spot a second large mature Bald Eagle.

I decide to turn back when I am about an hour and a quarter up from the portage. There is a real current up in this section, and I have noticed that the wind is picking up - it sounded like road noise, but it is the wind running through the tops of the tall pine trees that line the river.

It is an easier cruise back with a nice current, at least in parts of the trip.  The wind is no big deal, only noticeable once I am back on Alton Pond.  What a fine day!