Essex to Selden

It is calm with a bright overcast sky when I set out from Essex. The tide is coming in, but it is still quite low, a fact that is not really noticeable except at the narrow gap where I go from the North Cove into the big river.  There, a minor current is flowing in to the cove.

I turn upstream.  A lone kayaker is out in mid channel. They know how to put some speed into the kayak, which is clearly a full length touring model and not one of the stubby barcalounger types. They are doing a couple miles per hour more than I am and I will soon lose sight of them.

The daily thing of note is the number of Canada Geese with goslings.  I spot five sets in the first mile with the goslings appearing to be anywhere from a week to three weeks old.  I will spot another five sets as I continue.  The Geese with older goslings are just starting to join up with other broods - the grade school period where two or three sets of parental Geese run herd on twelve to fifteen goslings - safety in numbers and flock indoctrination.

Near the old Brockway Ferry route, I cut across to the east shore, which is more interesting, being less developed and developed much earlier than the west side. And then up into the Selden channel.  It is very calm and quiet and I have not seen anyone on the water aside from the kayaker and a powerboat that passed just as I left the cove.

The birds are all perching except for the swallows.  I even pass a Black Vulture perching in a nearby snag.  Silhouetted against the overcast, I though it to be an Osprey until I got up close.

Plunk!  Something has jumped off the river left bank.  Too much "plunk" to be a turtle, I pull up and wait for the beaver to surface.  It swims an arc behind me as it tries to figure out what I am. Besides their sense of smell, beaver slap their tails to get intruders to jump, which helps them size up the threat.  It slaps its tail and dives.  I wait.  Then I hear it rustling off through the brush just out of sight behind where it had jumped into the river.

There is a couple camping at the upper campsite on the island. Their dog barks at me.

I round the island and return along the rocky shore.  There is always the chance of more disturbance from powerboats, but no one seems to be about.

The wide area below Brockway is getting a very light wind.  It's not enough to impede, but it always creates a clunky non-rhythmic chop.  I follow the east shore back to the old Ely Ferry where I cross back to the North Cove.