First Day of the Year

I put in at the old stage crossing on the East River. But as often happens in these parts, I talk with a couple of guys who are passing by on their walks out into the forest. They ask how far I am going, and I tell them, "down to the sound, it's not that far." This is not true, but I don't know it, yet.

It is overcast and quite gray. The tide is close to peaking and there is very little wind. Wind, in fact, is the reason that this is the first day of canoeing this year. Since New Years, We have had repeated days of wind with 30mph gusts. The temperatures have been wondering around freezing for most of that time, just cold enough to get ice forming on fresh water, particularly along the banks and in protected areas with little current. But, here at the put in there is very little ice, and I've crossed the brackish section of the river recently and there was no ice there.

A Red Tail Hawk flushes from a tree and crosses the river just as I get started.

There is some ice slabs floating in the river at the irst bend held in place by skim ice that formed during the night. There's quite a bit of ice over the Gravel Flats, but I get through by following a meander of skim ice and only have to push through thicker ice for a dozen feet. The solid ice is about a half inch thick and with a gentle push and some rocking, it's not too hard to open a channel. 

The next bend has some thicker ice to push through, but again, it isn't too bad. But, the bend near the saw mill dam is nearly solid for about 150 yards. I take a side trip though the flooded cattails, getting down half of that distance, but there isn't a let up.  I could get through this section, in maybe a half hour or so, but the real issue is that I need to make it back up to my start point, and as the tide drops, more ice is going to break loose and come downriver, and this section of ice looks like it is going to stay put for the day. That is one of the considerations when paddling in ice - making sure that you can get out/back to shore at the end of the trip. I figure that this section of the river is going to be a portage on the return, and I don't want to do that.

I turn around and head back.  With the high tide, I can get up into the twisty upper section of the river, which braids into two or three narrow and brushy channels.  I find some wintering over Wood Ducks in there, and make it up the bridge above the put-in, and then head back down to the saw mill dam bend, deciding to do a couple laps of this section of river instead of just packing it up. 

On my third lap, I stop in the Gravel Flats.  The Flats are mostly clear of ice at this time, but all of that loose ice is jammed up in the narrows below the Flats... science, duh.