The day will warm from near freezing to the lower 40's. It will be sunny and near calm. A good day for canoeing.
I figured that that the East River might be open now that we have had a week of warmer weather. I stomped through the snow from the edge of the road down to the river bank. The snow was hiding the uneven ground and I had no inclination to lose my footing and get pile driven by the canoe during my short carry.
The river was open with thick slabs of ice stranded on the bank and in the cattails. This part of the river is tidal freshwater and just like in the salt marshes, the tidal water saturates any snow that collects on the river ice, building a thick layer of soft ice in short order. The snow on either side of the river made for a spectacular scene.
There were quite a few ice slabs in the Gravel Flats, but it was no problem to weave through them and continue. The Gravel Flats is a ice choke point due to shallow water an slow currents.
The other choke point in the upper river is the Sawmill Bends, and here the ice was jammed and impassable. It would be possible to portage on the right side through the cattails, but I knew that the ice would be jammed up against the Clapboard Hill Bridge. That would be a 1/4 mile drag that would have to be repeated on the way out, likely with a dodgy exit and entry from the canoe to the river bank. It is better to give the rive another week.
I headed back up and continued above my start point to check out the narrow upper section. The water was ice free and I made it most of the way to the next bridge. That made for an hour of paddling, so it was time for the 20 mile auto-portage.
I made the 20 mile auto-portage to the put-in under the highway on the Housatonic, then headed downriver at near peak tide.
There is significantly less ice than on my last trip 4 days ago. I made a clockwise circuit, using some interior channels that had cleared of ice since then. I paddled the Nell's Island Maze in the upstream direction. With the spatina down, it looked completely different and I was surprised to make it all the way through without making a wrong turn.
