Canoe Morning.

8-1-17 VERMONT: We got the canoe out of the barn for the first time in ages, lashed it to the top of the Subaru and headed for the boat launch at the confluence of the Ompompanoosuc and Connecticut Rivers. The launch site is next to the remains of a washed-out bridge over the Ompom. First we paddled downstream, passing under the Route 5 Bridge and then under the Railroad Bridge to get out into the Connecticut.

The water was very clear and still before the wind picked up from calm to a gently breeze and riffled the surface. There are a number of flat, reedy islands in the wide, shallow estuary. We paddled around a few of them looking for birds or other wildlife. We saw a couple bunches of female mallards.

We decided to go up the Ompom, so headed back to the launch site and past it to a big, shallow reedy lake. There were more ducks and a blue heron stalking along the water’s edge. Going under the I-91 Bridge, we disturbed a colony of swallows and entered the Canada geese domain. There were at least three dozen, avoiding us in the cattails. When we got to the Route 132 Bridge, we turned around and headed back to the launch, pulled the canoe, put it back on the car and headed to town on errands.

New blooms: gentian.


Early in the paddle, the water was as still and clear as glass, here at the railroad bridge where the Ompompanoosuc joins the Connecticut.

Mallards all busy grooming.

One of several low, reedy islands in the shallow Ompom/Connecticut estuary. There's a handsome farm on the NH shore.

Train whistling by as we paddle back to the Ompom.

Great blue heron at the edge of the water.

Canada geese.

Paddling through the reeds.