Doing the Wash - Great Swamp

I put in on the Great Swamp from the Patterson launch.  It is partly sunny going to overcast with a temperature of 65F and a light wind coming up the river. The water is a little high, but still within the banks.

I head upstream.  Upstream from Patterson is always an iffy plan.  Few people head this way, so there is always a lot of dead wood in the river.  A year or two back, I made it all of the way to the beaver meadow at the "height of land".  The meadow has plenty water, but at the point it is in channels that are too small for a canoe.  The small pond just below the meadow is formed by a 2-3 ft high beaver dam.

Wood Turtle

Things go pretty much as expected for the first 2/3 of the upriver trip.  I end run or slide over all of the downed wood.  It is a slow paddle because I am constantly making tight turns either because of the channel or to avoid the logs. There are a lot of turtles out.  I am pretty sure that many of them are Wood Turtles -  a species of some concern. I flush Wood Duck pairs quite often.

Nearing the high point

About 45 minutes up, the river starts braiding into 2 or 3 smaller channels. The channels are more twisted and usually only one of them is clear of obstructions. Quickly enough, I can't continue without climbing over logs.  I get in three moderately awkward log hops before I get to a spot where I can walk a few yards up and look over the scene.  I can see more logs and an increasingly thinner channel. This isn't going to go today. This part of the river is in the "between" stage - beaver marsh moving towards becoming a beaver meadow.  I turn back.

I pass my start point and continue down river. I have not seen anyone since putting in.  It is peaceful and, as I've said before, one of the most beautiful places that I have paddled. The sky is bigger than in the upper section. The gray sticks stand farther back from the river.  I flush more Wood Ducks.  I don't count but it must be 50-60.  See a couple Great Blue Herons.  Pass a Canada Goose nest that has been built right at the river edge.   There are three very well maintained beaver lodges in this section, and some recent scent mounds.  I usually don't spot too many scent mounds in this area, unlike farther down in the forested section where scent mounds are everywhere.

I turn back when I am a bend or two up from the Rt 22 bridge.  I can hear the traffic and would just rather not look at it.   

I return to my start point thoroughly washed out.  

The Wheeler

I put in at noon.  The tide has been dropping for an hour and a half, it is 60F or thereabouts, there is a 5 mph wind out of the SE and a partially sunny sky is becoming a high and thin overcast.

The blocking drift log in the maze

I head into the top end of the maze, guessing that I have at least an hour to get through before the tide gets too low to pass.  A couple Willets are at the entrance, a few Yellow Legs as I continue, a couple of Yellow Crowned Night Herons, and a Canada Goose sitting on its nest.  I spot my first Marsh Wren, who gives away its position by singing. It is the only Marsh Wren that I see today. The water level is at the sweet spot where I can slip under the drift log that usually blocks the main, or most obvious route.

I exit at the bottom of the maze and head toward Milford Point.  Then, I paddle steady across the lower marsh, which will become mud flat in about an hour.  Quite a few Brandts in the marsh, usually see them closer to the point.  Pass an Oyster Catcher, and when I get to the east shore, either a Red-shouldered or Red-tail Hawk in a tree near the refuge launch. It looks like a young bird, and I'm not good enough to ID with the single view of it.

Brandts - a beautiful Goose

I cross the shallowest section with more than enough water, and head back up river. 

Oyster Catcher

In the Big Meanders

It is in the 60's and sunny with a light and pleasant wind coming down the river. The water is not particularly high and the current is perfectly do-able.  In fact, during high water the current in this section can be scary fast.

I head upstream.  This section of the river is three or four BIG meanders surrounded by flood plain farm land, which it has been for a few thousand years according to the archaeological record that has come out of those fields.

This stretch probably isn't big on most canoeists list, but it reminds me of the upper midwest rivers that I grew up near - the lower St. Croix and the Mississippi.  It can be a very peaceful place.

When I wrote, "BIG meanders", I meant turning slowly to the left for 50 minutes, then turning to the right for about the long, then back to the left.  

I spot a Wild Turkey not long after starting.  I chat with some fishermen - smart alec jokes back and forth.  Midwest humor translates completely here, one of the reasons I like this area.

I spot a pair of Bald Eagles as I near Glastonbury.  One is mature and the other is a first year and they are in a minor territorial spat.  When I cross the river over to the mouth of a big lagoon, I spot an Eagle nest at the far end of the lagoon, with a mature Eagle standing watch.  

There is a 1/4 mile stretch of willow saplings on the river-right bank just below Glastonbury.  I find a set of small beaver tracks as I approach.  The hind feet tracks and tail drag are fairly clear, but they come with the unmistakable scent of castoreum.  The willows are a popular feed zone and anything larger than a 1-inch diameter is rare with hundreds of beaver cut stumps and a lot of peeled sticks.  

New Beaver Buildings

Yesterday, I was blown out by unexpected wind in an area that didn't have any 2nd choices.  So today, I put in on the Mattebasset, which can be paddled in anything short of half a hurricane, if a tree doesn't fall on you, of course.  It is calm and overcast and about 50F, pretty much ideal canoe weather.  The water is a little high, but still well in the banks - there won't be any forest paddling, but I also won't be digging in the mud. 

I start upriver.  A pair of Wood Ducks, a few Mallards, two Great Blue Herons, and a few beaver peel sticks that probably drifted down as I don't see any obvious feed zones.  I get almost to the abandoned trestle.  The water is shallow and fast at this point and while I could get higher, the extra distance isn't worth the amount of work required to get there.  I turn back down.

I continue past my put in.  Another Great Blue Heron, an immature Bald Eagle, a few Mallards.  The Point Lodge has been refurbished.  The lodge has been flooded out a few times in the last year or so.  It was totally submerged on one of my trips.  Usually, beaver abandon a lodge that is flooded for any length of time, and the lodge begins to collapse.  The lodge looks like it has been rebuilt, a good sign.

The refurbished Point Lodge

There is a new lodge at the former Tepee Lodge site.  This is an all new construction put in since my last trip.  Tepee Lodge 3 stands just a few feet downriver from what little is left of the original.  The bank burrow on the opposite bank might also be in use, but I'll have to check back to be sure of that.

The brand new Tepee Lodge #3

I head up the Cognichaug getting almost to the power lines.  I forgot my saw or I would've been able to go higher.  Found another new beaver lodge near the high point.

On the way back I divert down to the meeting with the Connecticut River, just to see what is going on.  Then I begin my return. 

I find a gps watch that has been in the water for a few days at the put-in. 

Blow Out

I planned on a trip up to Lover's Leap.  It is sunny and in the 60's.  

I put in near the steel truss bridge that spans the river. It is windier than the weather forecast.  The wind is coming down the river and it looks dubious, but if I can find enough shelter along the shoreline it might go.

A half mile out, the river bends slightly.  The marginal shelter of the forested shoreline disappears altogether.  The wind is a steady 15-20 mph head on. My speed drops to something like a mile or a mile and a half per hour.  It will take a full half day to do the 6-1/2 miles to Lover's Leap.  If I had to get there, I could do it, but I don't have to get there.  

Time to call it a day. 

The Soak

I put in at Pond Brook to head up to the Shephaug cascades.

It is mostly sunny and mostly calm. Coming out of Pond Brook, it is positively still - a quiet that encourages me to clean up my paddling technique and move as silently as possible. The forest is beginning to bud, but it is still wide open for peering far up the hillside into the trees to ponder on the layout of the old stone walls. In some places, shadows of long fallen trees suggest the direction of the wind in some long ago storm.

I pass a round point - a low bench of maybe 2 acres with nearly identically sized trees - all 6 - 8 inches in diameter.  Something must have cleared the area at one time - perhaps a fire. There aren't any roads, so I doubt that it was cut. Continuing, I pass back into normal healthy forest with all size trees, from saplings to 30 inch diameter maples and sycamores.

After stopping to view the cascades, I pull into shore at the first bend below and sit for a while. It is just too special in all ways to not let everything soak in.  The sound of a small brook at my side and a woodpecker calling off in the trees.  

National Not Living Up to the Expectations of Others Day

I set out on a day I dedicated to "not living up to the expectations of others." But in case you were wondering, S thoroughly approved of this adventure.  

I put in at the old stage crossing.  The tide is coming in, but it hasn't reached this point of the river yet, so the water is shallow with a so-called natural downstream flow. I have to one-foot it a couple times to get past Foote Bridge (stepping with one foot onto a river boulder to un-weight the canoe, which then glides over other rocks). The air is calm, so far, with a temperature in the 40's and a mostly cloudy sky.

I float through the Gravel Flats, just enough water to do that.

Second Year Little Blue Heron

Just below Clapboard Hill Road, I start spotting a good number of Great and Snowy Egrets - an even distribution of maybe ten each before reaching the Big Bends.  The sighting of the day is in the Big Bends - a second year Little Blue Heron.  It is the same size as a Snowy Egret (and first year birds are white) but with piebald white and blue-gray feathers, and lacking the bright yellow feet of a Snowy.  There are also a number of Yellow-Legs, and a few Osprey.

Below the Big Bends I start spotting Willets.   

Willet

There is enough water to make it through the Sneak and so I route down Bailey Creek, then Neck River, and back into the East River.  Willets are fairly plentiful although I don't think they are all in, yet.  I'd guess maybe 3/4 of the full nesting population.  I would think that they started showing up about a week to ten days ago.

The wind comes up and I get some circular gusts (mini-tornadoes).  The weather has definitely got an attitude. It is in my face when I turn back up the East River. Fortunately, the flood current is with me and while I don't speed upriver, I still make good progress.

The wind has really picked up by the time I get back to the Big Bends.  It is 15-20 mph with gusts, and my hands are cold enough that I pause to put on gloves.  Then, it starts to sprinkle.  It is a light rain by the time I get to Clapboard Hill. And it is calm and sunny by the time I get to the Gravel Flats. It feels like I have been out all day, but it is only 3 hours, which is a typical round trip time for me on this river.  It was a good day, and I failed to live up to the expectations of a great many people.