The day is overcast, starting calm with an expected east wind coming on as the day goes. The temperature is in the 60's, with high tide peaking in another 3 hours. Setting out upriver from the highway bridge, I have a gentle flood current at my back.
I stay near the east shore, which blanks out any wind; it is calm water paddling. The first landmark is the defunct coal power plant. It has been replaced and then some by a few gas turbine generators. I hope, someday, to see the power plant razed and the land restored to natural waterfront. Coal is never coming back no matter what the Mango-shit-gibbon says, for the simple fact that it is too expensive to mine and make use of. The six story high coal plant is here for the simple fact that it would be expensive to demolish. The land will likely never be purchased by anyone other than the government as the ground should be toxic, as with any other coal plant. The waterfront by the plant is creosote pilings with some derelict cranes from the time when coal was transported here by barge. There is no use for the wharf structure as the gas turbine generators get their natural gas fuel from a pipeline. The cranes currently host two pairs of Osprey.
It is a peaceful trip up the river. The bird life is a fairly constant presence of Osprey, and along the natural shorelines, Least Sandpipers. The Osprey are fishing and during the trip I get to see three of them dive after prey.
There is almost no other boat traffic with the fishermen working the area near Carting Island. I paddle as far as the uppermost marina, which is a bit above Wooster Island, 6-3/4 miles above my start point. From there, I turn back and paddle the east shoreline back.
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