To the Shephaug Cascades

 It is just too nice to not be outside.  It is in the 70's with a light north wind, low humidity and a blue sky. The trick will be to avoid the crowds.

I put in at Pond Brook, which is actually a pleasant and somewhat secluded cove, the result of the main river being dammed in the 1950's.  I head out and then down river, rounding the point where the Shephaug River joins.  The Shephaug arm is one of the best stretches in the reservoir with maybe half of the shoreline being forest preserve, and most of the well-spaced houses being up and away from the water and often hidden in the trees.

It is already past 10AM but even so, there are only a few bass boats. It's a general rule that the typical motorboat owner can't get it together until noon, even on a weekends.  

As I cross the shallow bay near the halfway point, I scan the trees for Eagles, which often perch here.  Finding none, I put my head down and motor on, just as a scratchy whistle comes down from high. I look up and there, about 500 feet up, is a mature Bald Eagle gliding south. 

I make good time up to the Shephaug cascades - hour and a half for just short of five miles. The water is murky in the last quarter mile and I figure that it is mostly runoff silt from recent rains. The water here is also several degrees colder than that downstream, where there is definitely a good crop of algae growing. In fact, it would be a chilly swim. 

I turn and head back, stopping at the old railroad culvert.  It is shrouded with overhanging tree branches, and as I push in, a Great Blue Heron flushes from those very branches, not eight feet away.  

I continue out and at the shallow halfway bay, find the Eagle perched in a tall snag well up the hillside.

Just ten minutes after noon, a pair of waterski boats come by...right on cue.