Woke this morning to discover that the storm wasn’t here yet… Decided to take my chances outside again! After Mass (0800) and a one-hour walk on the Mascoma River Greenway, I drove over to Hartland, VT (I-89, I-91, US-5). Based on exploration I did over the winter, I thought I’d be able to put my kayak into the Connecticut River right where the Ottauquechee River joins it. However, I found that someone had installed a new (closed) gate at the access road. Disappointed, I tried finding parking at a few other places nearby, including the North Hartland Dam Recreation Area (road closed due to flooding) but wasn’t successful. I almost gave up and went home… But then I noticed another, inconspicuous, gravel road near the US-5 bridge across the Ottauquechee - it followed the river and passed through cornfields but didn’t have any warning/posted signs. Decided to act like I knew what I was doing and launched my kayak (1050)… The weather was Jekyll & Hyde (sunny, windy, overcast, cool and warm at the same time) - I guess the edge of the storm was reaching the area. Keeping an eye on the conditions, I paddled downriver towards the lower dam at the two covered bridges next to I-91. At times, the water was smooth as glass. There were lots of birds: several kinds of ducks (I believe I saw some Common Mergansers), herons and hawks. More interesting (or disturbing?) was that I encountered at least two dead beavers. Their bodies were swelled up and floated very easily - I’m guessing someone wanted them off their land… The river had several large islands and I took my time exploring channels on both sides of each. I didn’t see anyone else on the river but there were boats & “floaties” on land in a few places. After about 1.5 hours of paddling (got my upper body tired again), I left the water (storm clouds looking more ominous), loaded up my kayak and headed towards Hanover (1220). Drove north on US-5 until I was able to access I-91 - from there, I used I-89 to get home (arrived at around 1315). All the way, I kept thinking about how it would be great to live with this kind of isolated river section in my back yard! Like so many things I've discovered around here, today’s activity is worth repeating!
