Pettipaug

I start in Pettipaug's North Cove. The tide is going out, but the breach in the bar still has enough water to get through. It is a fine day and this being a Sunday, there will be little solitude, no matter where I might have gone.

Osprey - note that the Osprey can look straight ahead -
binocular vision is handy for diving attacks on fish

I cross the river straight away and head down. The shoreline from Hamburg Cove down to the first entrance to Lord Cove is excellent. The land is too low to allow anything other than a couple seasonal cabins, and those landowners have done an excellent job at removing invasive plants and replacing them with native species. Instead of a phragmites choked shoreline, it is a variety of shrubs, small trees and cattails. The shore is about half sand beach and half spartina bog stuff. There are several Osprey, as usual. There are a few nests, but some of the Osprey come up from downriver, where there are thirty or forty nests.

Once I get behind Nott Island, it gets quite peaceful as the big boats stay to the main channel on the far side. Once below the island, I do get bounced by a few wakes, but there is more than enough time to see them coming. I enter Lord Cove and circle Goose Island before heading back up river.

Snowy Egret - black bill, yellow rain boots

I head up past Ely's Ferry, and recross the river at the bottom of Brockway Island. Then, follow the shore down to the big marina where there is a good low tide entrance to the North Cove.

Haddam-Higganum Section of the Connecticut

The weather is excellent although I need to go inland to get away from the wind. I put in at Haddam Meadows. Now a state park, the meadows were croplands and pasture going back to the colonial period. About  mile long, the meadows are classic low river land that would be revitalized each year with spring flooding of the Connecticut River.

I head upstream, against the current and the northwest wind, staying close to the river-right shore using it as a buffer against a 10 mph wind with some gusts. I've only paddled here once before and that was several years ago - I have pretty much forgotten everything.

Higganum Creek

The river-right (western) shore is quite nice. The long meadows eventually give way to a forested shore. There is a 2-lane road and a defunct railroad that are too close to the river to leave room for any houses. I must have misread the landscape when I was last here. The far side of the river is clearly a large wetland held behind a treed river bank. 

I work against the wind and current up to Higganum Creek, which enters under a decrepit railroad trestle. The creek is sheltered from the wind and makes for good paddling although after a quarter mile, I come up against shallows and a blocking deadfall. I turn back and drift down doing a quick survey of the creek bottom. I find a few pieces of broken ceramic, but nothing significant.

I cross the river aiming for the top of the wetlands. Hoping to find an entrance into the contained marsh, I follow the river-left shore. I only find 2 draining channels and both of them are narrower than the canoe. Once below the marsh, I head out to Haddam Island, follow that down to it's lower point, and then cross over to the broad sandbar that lies off of Haddam Meadows. The water is about 2 feet deep when I am still 200 yards from shore.

Farmington

I start upstream from the new bridge at Old Farms Road. It is the first time that I've put in here. There are several good spots to launch if one isn't too picky. This location is better than the nearby spots with a crushed rock trail leading down to the water.

When the new bridge was being built, an archaeology survey turned up an early Native American encampment dating 12,000-13,000 years old. That was a good find as that was near to when people were first entering the region as the ice age glaciers receded.

The day is mid-70's with a south wind that doesn't matter much as the river is fairly well protected. The sky is partly cloudy with large non-threatening cumulus clouds.

I don't paddle here as often as I once did, and I've forgotten just how pleasant and simple the river is; there are logjams or beaver dams to crawl over, it's just get into the canoe and go. The river has 10-foot high banks on either side with a thin veneer of forest to enclose it all. The veneer, of course, is rather poor habitat for anything other than song birds and it is backed by golf courses, play fields and some remaining farm land.

The river is a little higher than normal but not so much that it makes any difference. The current is a 2:1 (paddle 2 hours upstream, return in 1 hour), which is normal and about as good as it gets. 

The remains of the aqueduct pillar can just be seen back in the forest

It takes me one hour to get to the Farmington Canal Aqueduct ruins. The canal was finished in 1835 and the aqueduct was 270 ft long and 50 ft above the river. It was ready to go just a few years before railroads would make it obsolete. 

I reach the old mill dam ruins in 1-1/2 hours. There is a short 50 yard portage to get around the dam, but that is not in the cards today. I play for a few minutes in the eddies below the dam, and then turn back for an easy downriver return.

Animal Farm

It's Memorial Day weekend. Rule 1 - start early. Rule 2 - Avoid where the motorboats go.

I put in at the Green Chimneys launch with a plan of paddling up to Patterson and back, a total of 13 twisting miles of prime beaver habitat. I is about 65F, but will rise into the lower 80's. There is a threat of thunderstorms in the afternoon, but right now it is absolutely clear skies and the air is still.

Rule 3 - first one up the river sees the most wildlife. There are a couple of cars in the lot, but they have kayak racks. Kayakers generally don't get very far in the Great Marsh. Great Marsh Rule  #1 - You have to get out of your boat if your going to get anywhere. This is beaver territory, so dams and fallen trees are standard, and kayaks just don't work well for clambering onto beaver dams or over logs.

I start off. Before I get to the first pond, the word is peaceful. It is still and quiet, and the swamp is lush with spring growth. A Great Blue Heron watches me approach. The sunny clear sky casts deep shadows from the surrounding forest. Yellow irises are in bloom all around. I find only one small stand of purple irises.

I pass six people. Three are fishing, three are wandering about just below the forest section. They warn me of a couple Swans as they head out. I paddle through a low spot  in beaver dam and find the Swans soon enough. They have seven Cygnets - quite a good hatch!  The Cob hisses at me while the Pen keeps the Cygnets behind her. I swing as wide as I can and move on.

The forest section is fairly open and although I have to weave around a few deadfalls, there is no need to step out of the canoe. I spot two pairs of Canada Geese with a total of seven Goslings. I also find a hen Wood Duck with 13 Ducklings. Woodies clutch nest - hens will dump their eggs in an established nest leaving that hen to tend all of them. This one has one or two broods that weren't hers.  I ease up and they find a side channel to head up. The hen will feign broken wing and decoy predators (or canoes) away from the ducklings. I try not to get that started whenever possible. I spot two muskrats and one mouse, which was swimming surprisingly fast across the river.

The powerline portage is still required - a large pile of fallen trees block the river. It's just a muddy 30 footer, but it will stop 99% of the people that paddle this far. Then, it's a quarter mile to the only bridge.

The portage

The upper marsh starts with the bridge. After a hundred yards of forest, it opens up into a broad marsh where the only trees are dead grey sticks - a forest that the beaver started drowning out at least 20 years ago. But first, I am greeted by a black bear swimming across the river about 50 yards ahead of me. It looks like it might be 2 years old or so, just old enough that mom isn't with it anymore.

Clean bear

There's no one other than me in this section of the river. I see four snapping turtles, sized from small to almost big. The bullfrogs are twanging away as well. I find a solid beaver dam about a mile below Patterson. Most people won't get past it even though it has to be one of the easiest beaver dams to cross. It is solidly built and easy to get out and stand on. I meet some people on the water between here and Patterson. 

I have a nice talk with a guy at the Patterson put in. He is here working his hunting dog, but he knows his way around canoes. With that, I head back. I find everyone I had met on the water parked at the beaver dam. They ask if there is a way around it, and I shake my head.  I cross over and head on.

At the portage, I surprise a dozen people as I emerge from the weeds. They ask if there is a way around it, and I shake my head. I tell them it is just 30 feet of grassy mud, but I know they won't go any farther. I climb back into my canoe and head off.

I find the Swans inside the forest. I get hissed at twice this time. I pass a few more people on the way out. There's not much wildlife near the river with all the traffic. But it was an exceptional day.

Plover Migration

We started early enough, heading downriver to the marsh before the coming heat of the day. The tide is coming in, but the flood current was still slow. It is sunny with little wind, and already nearing 70F with a prediction of 82F by early afternoon.

S wanted to see some birds, and the Wheeler is the best option right now - lots of bird and little driving.

I am a bit surprised not to see some Yellow Crowned Night Herons as we get to the marsh. We head up Beaver Creek, where I've seen many in the last few trips. Sure enough, we begin finding the YC's. By the time we paddle out we have sighted about 15 of them.

Red Wing Blackbirds are all about. We see some Mallards, but with the tide still low, our sight lines are short. We can't see across the top of the spartina and most of the Ducks are out in the middle of the grass away from the channel. 

Near the refuge launch, we spot the Swans with their 4 Cygnets. The male puts on a bit of a threat show, raising its wings over its back and pumping up a bow wave with powerful kicks of its big feet.

American Golden Plovers

 

We cross the marsh towards Nell's channel. Now, we spot a good number of Golden Plovers. The first dozen is gathered on a small piece of remaining high ground. As we continue, we keep spotting more, mostly in groups of 15 or 20, but occasionally solos. By the time we get to Nell's channel, I figure it to be about 75 Golden Plover. The Plovers migrate from South America to the Arctic where they nest. While many of them go up through the middle of the continent, we always get some each spring. Their return trip is over the ocean and I can't remember ever seeing any in the fall.

American Golden Plovers

Going up Nell's, we watch an Osprey harrass a couple Egrets and a Night Heron. No doubt, the nearby Osprey nest has recently hatched chicks, and anything that eats meat is being warned off.

Back in the river, we ride the flood current up to our start point.

Thunder

I put in at Indian Well, one of two possible starts for this section of the Housatonic. Downstream is a the 1870 Shelton Dam, and upstream is the Stevenson Dam, completed in 1919. The reservoir is quite small by modern standards and runs a current which can be quite noticeable during high water although today it is pretty much nonexistent.

It is cloudy, with a very light wind and a temperature around 70F. The weather report has a chance of thunderstorms and there has already been a couple of light sprinkles that did not last long. I head upstream with a plan of going dam to dam, taking in the entire section of the river.

About 30 minutes out, it begins to rain hard enough that I dig out the rain gear that lives in the bottom of my pack. It rarely sees the light of day. After a few minutes, it is raining enough to be called a hard rain. I don't mind and in fact I enjoy rain paddling, up to the point where electricity comes into play. Much of this trip is in between high ridges, but as I approach one of the open areas, I hear a couple of distant thunders. I decide to head back where I have a bit more shelter. The rain increases and there is more thunder, so I land on a small beach. There is 200 feet of forested ridge above me, so I feel reasonably protected. I bail some water out of the canoe and then roll it over, as otherwise, I will have to bail it again when the storm passes. I stand on the beach and watch it rain. It dumps like crazy for about 10 minutes - all that is missing is hail. We get some excellent rolling thunder. Rolling thunder is common here. It will start far off to one side and the rumble will travel across the sky to the other side. It is easy to see where the old folktale of elves bowling in the sky came from.

All in all, it makes for a surprisingly good canoe trip.

I'm onshore for 45 minutes before the thunder moves off. As I continue, the rain stops and the river becomes glassy smooth.

The last mile before the Stevenson Dam can have a stiff current when they spill water out of the next reservoir. I'm curious to see what the river is doing with the recent heavy rain. I pass the shelf without any trouble (this is a shore to shore shallow shelf where the current gets accelerated, enough so that at times it is impassable in an upstream direction). Just as the dam comes into view, there are three horn blasts, no doubt signaling the release of water. Sure enough, one of the gates has been opened and a good dump of water is starting. With that, this is a good point to turn back.

 

 

A Good Day

I'm putting in at Pilgrim Landing, the easiest start for Lord Cove. D, who lives right across the street, is out mowing his lawn. He's an interesting guy - we've talked many times before, and he publishes a nice magazine about the Connecticut River, "Estuary". And yes, I am a subscriber. We have a good talk, a little about Lacrosse, which he coaches, and a little about the good spring migration in the Wheeler Marsh.

The morning fog has risen to become a low overcast which will not, for very long, hold its own against the sun. It will soon be sunny and about 75F with a moderate wind out of the south. The tide is almost at its peak, so the return trip will have some current behind me. 

It is a good day.

Before I pass the first point, no more than a couple hundred yards, an Osprey and a mature Bald Eagle come into the scene, in full territorial squabble. The Eagle, obviously the aggressor, retreats to a tall evergreen. The defending Osprey makes several noisy swoops to get the message across, and then returns to its nest on nearby Goose Island. Halfway through Goose Bay, I spot a pair of mature Baldies sharing a perch. They split up, but eventually both head up to the next bedrock finger. (The cove has a distinctive series of narrow tapering bedrock ridges that descend off of the hillside into the water, with a few hundred yards between each ridge). When I catch up, they are once again sharing a branch.

 It is a good day.

This marsh was overgrown with phragmites and a few years ago the government came in and eradicated over most of the marsh. Now, there are 2 to 3 foot high cattail spears filling in the whole area, as it should be. Nesting is clearly on. It seems that every time an Osprey flies by, it is being harassed by a Red Wing Blackbird. I spot several Marsh Wrens, doing the pop-up and flutter down while singing dance. They seem to have just arrived as I see no nest building from them.

It is a good day.

I follow the east shore, taking in some of the tiny bays and backwaters that push in against the hillside. In time, I get up to the big Eagle nest that stands almost in the farthest reaches of the cove. I don't see any activity in the nest, but it is still possible that there are eaglets tucked down in the cover. The adults are not in sight. I head back out following the west side of the marsh, again checking out the dead end side channels.  I pass under a very large Bald Eagle, and by the size, it should be the female that belongs to the nest. It really is obvious just how large she is. Every year that I've observed her, she has raised 3 Eaglets to fledge. I spot 3 pairs of Canada Geese with a total of 10 goslings.

The Big Female

It is a good day.

I finish with six Eagle sightings, all matures, and it is probably four individuals.

It was a good day.