Selden Against the Wind

I head out into the big river through the breach in the North Cove bar. It is somewhere near low tide, but the water is just high enough to make it out without wading. Three Great Egrets, a Great Blue Heron, and an Osprey are nearby.

I have misjudged the current. Expecting something a little more slack, there is a stiff downriver current. This is probably due to the low tide and the river having to descent that extra few feet. I cross over to the east side of the river on the old route of the long gone Ely Ferry. This side of the river is just a little wilder and shadier with lots of forest to peer back into. There is a steady 10+mph wind coming straight down the river. This with the current slows me to a crawl, especially where the river gets redirected by the bedrock bank.

The Selden Channel gives me some relief from the current, but the wind is still there. The Osprey are active and busy around their nests. I flush a surprisingly colorful Great Blue Heron from one of the side channels. Then, there is a large splash behind me...wrong place for a turtle, but there is a bunch of old beaver sign. I pull over and wait. And, a beaver surfaces and begins with its beaver behavior - swimming slow circles or side to side. They have bad eyes, but no doubt it can see my shape, and catch my scent. I wait and watch, but it is not going to climb out of the water until I am gone. 

 

I get back to the big river at the top of the channel. There is not much in motorboat traffic, so I opt to return in the main channel. I have the current with me, but as it happens, the wind, which would have been at my back, has dropped off. I paddle down the island until crossing the river at the bottom of Eustasia Island. I follow the west shore back.