Wood River Trip 3

I checked my records and M was clearly overdue for a canoe trip. 

Overnight the humidity dropped and the day came sunny with a nice breeze out of the northwest. We put in just above the Alton Dam for a trip upstream on the Wood River. This was my third time here, but the first time that I've brought anyone with me. This section of the Wood, from the dam to about as far upstream as I've paddled (2-1/2 hours worth) is quite beautiful and varied. Starting upstream from a pond edged with trees and a variety of New England marsh plants, it narrows to swamp and forested stream. Then, there is a short portage, another pond, more swamp and more forest.

In the upstream direction, there are some route finding tricks. In most rivers, these backwater dead end channels are devoid of current. But, this is true swamp, and the river flows through the shrubs and trees. Even though this was my third time here, I managed to wrong turn us into every wrong turn that I made on earlier trips. 

M spotted a few deer, which eluded me other than their tracks which were all over a nearby sandbar that we had to wade. We saw a few Osprey, a few Kingfisher, and one almost mature Bald Eagle. White pond lilies were in abundance as was the pickerel weed flowers, yellow pond lilies, and magnolia. We didn't see anyone above the Alton Pond other than a couple of lost fishermen in ridiculously large bass boat (they were stuck in the mud), and two people fishing at the Woodville dam portage.

We turned back a little short of the logjam portage that I crossed on my last trip. Next time I need to remember to bring my saw as I could have cleared a couple of spots easily.