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While most folks were paddling in the Adirondacks this past weekend, I had committed to a short paddling trip on the Connecticut River. The premise of this trip was the need to field check a stretch of river for a potential "historic" canoe trip for Fort #4 in Charlestown, NH. Our original plans called for a leisurely 3 day, 2 night journey. By the time we began, constraints shortened it to an easy overnight. Unfortunately, we didn't even get that.
The section of river we chose begins just upstream of the Cornish, NH/Windsor, VT covered bridge and travels down to the boat launch on the VT side of the river near Fort #4; outside Springfield, VT. I'd just gotten the newly updated river map and had spoken with folks at the land trust about camping sites after receiving some good information from this forum. With all that knowledge in hand, I figured we'd have a good run.
Before continuing, let me explain a cultural phenomenon known as "Indian Time." If you're unfamiliar with the term, it's essentially means that whatever time you set for something, the reality is it will be later; in this case, much later. I was doing this scout with my Abenaki friends and while we set 11 AM as our departure time (I was pressing for 9 AM) we actually got on the water just before 1 PM. Not a great beginning as we saw in the end.
Overall, the river is pretty straightforward. The upper section was low in places and we had to get out and drag our canoes through some short stretches. About 4 or 5 miles in the river began to remind me of the Upper Delaware River where it's the border of NY & PA. While it was mostly either raining or a driving drizzle, we managed to see 5 bald eagles and a couple of beaver working throughout the day.
Just before 4 PM the rain let up and we came in sight of Hubbard Island; our destination for the evening. Paddling down the channel between the island and the NH shore, we came upon the first group of people we'd seen all day. I enquired of the "leader" if he was familiar with the campsite on the island. He looked at me a bit incredulously and said, "well, there's a sign but I don't know how you're going to get up to it." I mentioned that the individual I spoke with at the land trust assured me that it was just a short "hump" up a little hill but it wouldn't be an issue. The gentleman just laughed and again replied, "I have no idea how you're going to get to it."
Hmmm, not the answer we'd been hoping for.
About a minute later the sign came into view and it was attached to a tree about 40' up a steep, sandy soiled embankment. The land dropped directly into the water so there was no landing either. While I didn't have an instrument to measure the pitch of the hill, conservatively I'd say it was at least a 70 degree uphill angle. With no landing area, place to store canoes, steps or stairway up, it was pretty much a lost cause. While I've stayed at some difficult to access sites, this one requires you to have within your DNA the genes of a billy goat. With a couple of physical infirmities spread out amongst the group members, we consulted the map and decided to head down to the next site that the map indicated was only a mile away.
Well, one mile morphed into two and I honestly think the real distance between sites is closer to three but by the time we found it my mind might have exaggerated it just a bit. Nonetheless, this site had it's own set of challenges. While you can paddle to the shore and exit your canoe without any real effort, once you've done that you're met with a step up that's approximately 5' in height. The soil is clay and there is spring water running over the step creating a snot slick challenge to getting up it. Someone has placed old climbing rope around a tree so you can pull yourself up but it's still an adventure in slipping, sliding and clawing yourself upward. Once above the step there is a small level and signs that clearly indicate no camping is allowed there. Instead there is the "Stairway to Heaven" that the SCA has constructed to reach the campsite. One of the guys came down after about 5 minutes saying he still hadn't reached the actual campsite. Since there was no place to haul canoes out for the night and the physical challenges within the group hadn't disappeared since Hubbard Island, we decided this too was not a place worth camping at.
By now it was 5 PM and we had a decision to make. We were only 7 miles to the boat launch where our journey would end. Since this was, for the most part, an experienced group of paddlers we agreed it was best to paddle it out. By now the sun had come out so there would be a nice sunset, giving us extra light before darkness truly descended. Most of us have also done a significant amount of night paddling so we were willing to put paddle to water and finish up the route. Just before 7 PM we saw the lights of traffic and the bridge that spans the river just upstream of the boat launch. By 7:15 PM we were unloading our canoes at the launch and planning for a post shuttle pizza.
All in all, we'd paddled 22 miles that day which was more than a couple of our intrepid group had ever attempted. In the end, if nothing else, these few things were reinforced for me...
1. Don't rely on Indian Time to get you on the water when you want to be there. If we'd started by even 11 AM we would have been off the water before
dark.
2. Never rely on maps or the information provided by polite individuals over the phone. There are too many variables to fully trust it. Get out and field check it yourself.
3. Regardless of the weather or time of day, there's always wonderful things to experience out on the water.
That's all for now. Take care and until next time....be well.
snapper
The section of river we chose begins just upstream of the Cornish, NH/Windsor, VT covered bridge and travels down to the boat launch on the VT side of the river near Fort #4; outside Springfield, VT. I'd just gotten the newly updated river map and had spoken with folks at the land trust about camping sites after receiving some good information from this forum. With all that knowledge in hand, I figured we'd have a good run.
Before continuing, let me explain a cultural phenomenon known as "Indian Time." If you're unfamiliar with the term, it's essentially means that whatever time you set for something, the reality is it will be later; in this case, much later. I was doing this scout with my Abenaki friends and while we set 11 AM as our departure time (I was pressing for 9 AM) we actually got on the water just before 1 PM. Not a great beginning as we saw in the end.
Overall, the river is pretty straightforward. The upper section was low in places and we had to get out and drag our canoes through some short stretches. About 4 or 5 miles in the river began to remind me of the Upper Delaware River where it's the border of NY & PA. While it was mostly either raining or a driving drizzle, we managed to see 5 bald eagles and a couple of beaver working throughout the day.
Just before 4 PM the rain let up and we came in sight of Hubbard Island; our destination for the evening. Paddling down the channel between the island and the NH shore, we came upon the first group of people we'd seen all day. I enquired of the "leader" if he was familiar with the campsite on the island. He looked at me a bit incredulously and said, "well, there's a sign but I don't know how you're going to get up to it." I mentioned that the individual I spoke with at the land trust assured me that it was just a short "hump" up a little hill but it wouldn't be an issue. The gentleman just laughed and again replied, "I have no idea how you're going to get to it."
Hmmm, not the answer we'd been hoping for.
About a minute later the sign came into view and it was attached to a tree about 40' up a steep, sandy soiled embankment. The land dropped directly into the water so there was no landing either. While I didn't have an instrument to measure the pitch of the hill, conservatively I'd say it was at least a 70 degree uphill angle. With no landing area, place to store canoes, steps or stairway up, it was pretty much a lost cause. While I've stayed at some difficult to access sites, this one requires you to have within your DNA the genes of a billy goat. With a couple of physical infirmities spread out amongst the group members, we consulted the map and decided to head down to the next site that the map indicated was only a mile away.
Well, one mile morphed into two and I honestly think the real distance between sites is closer to three but by the time we found it my mind might have exaggerated it just a bit. Nonetheless, this site had it's own set of challenges. While you can paddle to the shore and exit your canoe without any real effort, once you've done that you're met with a step up that's approximately 5' in height. The soil is clay and there is spring water running over the step creating a snot slick challenge to getting up it. Someone has placed old climbing rope around a tree so you can pull yourself up but it's still an adventure in slipping, sliding and clawing yourself upward. Once above the step there is a small level and signs that clearly indicate no camping is allowed there. Instead there is the "Stairway to Heaven" that the SCA has constructed to reach the campsite. One of the guys came down after about 5 minutes saying he still hadn't reached the actual campsite. Since there was no place to haul canoes out for the night and the physical challenges within the group hadn't disappeared since Hubbard Island, we decided this too was not a place worth camping at.
By now it was 5 PM and we had a decision to make. We were only 7 miles to the boat launch where our journey would end. Since this was, for the most part, an experienced group of paddlers we agreed it was best to paddle it out. By now the sun had come out so there would be a nice sunset, giving us extra light before darkness truly descended. Most of us have also done a significant amount of night paddling so we were willing to put paddle to water and finish up the route. Just before 7 PM we saw the lights of traffic and the bridge that spans the river just upstream of the boat launch. By 7:15 PM we were unloading our canoes at the launch and planning for a post shuttle pizza.
All in all, we'd paddled 22 miles that day which was more than a couple of our intrepid group had ever attempted. In the end, if nothing else, these few things were reinforced for me...
1. Don't rely on Indian Time to get you on the water when you want to be there. If we'd started by even 11 AM we would have been off the water before
dark.
2. Never rely on maps or the information provided by polite individuals over the phone. There are too many variables to fully trust it. Get out and field check it yourself.
3. Regardless of the weather or time of day, there's always wonderful things to experience out on the water.
That's all for now. Take care and until next time....be well.
snapper
