Trip Overview:

Sumner Falls to Bellows Falls
October 1, 2016 – October 4, 2016
3 day spent on water
30.9 miles paddled.

The three of us met in Windsor Vermont for the start of the trip.  Jim and Al planned to arrive a couple of hours before me.  On arriving, they would put their kayaks in at Sumner Falls.  I planned to meet them five miles to the south along the river, at the Harpoon Brewery.  I was able to put in at the Path of Life Garden, adjacent to the brewery, the same spot at which they had pulled out thier kayaks.

 

The plan worked great.  I found them having lunch at Harpoon, and they graciously had a welcoming beer waiting for me.  While they finished lunch, I went out to gear-up in the parking lot.  On their way out of Harpoon, the guys stocked up with Sweet Spot for dinners at the campsite.

The forecast was for showers, but we got lucky and it didn’t rain.  Our destination was the Bellows Falls Dam.  The dam was still thirty miles downstream, but we could already feel its presence slowing the river.  The slow water, coupled with very still air, had us floating on glassy reflections.

 

The wildlife we saw along the river included numerous herons.  We were also lucky enough to see a bald eagle take off from a rock in the river.  We spotted it as we were about to pass under a bridge.  Paddling slowly, we passed under the bridge, getting closer.  When we were within seventy yards or so, the eagle, being perched on a rock maybe thirty feet from the Vermont shore, took off.

A few hours later we pulled out at Wilgus State Park and made camp on the river.  We were well stocked for dinner.  There was a choice of Al’s Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken, or my chili.  We went with the chili.  It was lamb, duck, and chorizo sausage.  None was leftover.  I am hopeful this chili will be a contender at Aunt Joan’s chili cook-off next summer.  This competition is fierce.  My niece Isabella, makes a mean dessert chili.  It is hard to compete against that!

 

Sunday morning we set out from Wilgus, heading for Hoyt’s landing.  There were rain showers while we were staging the cars in the morning, but it didn’t rain while we were on the river.  Another day of calm wind, and again, we were paddling through reflections.

 

We took a couple of quick breaks.  One was on a small, treeless island, another in an opening on the shore.

 

After a few hours of paddling we saw another bald eagle.  It was nesting in a tree on the New Hampshire side.  We stayed over on the Vermont side of the river, and watched it through binoculars while it was preening its feathers.

Pulling out at Hoyt’s Landing at about 2:00,  Al had to head back home, and Jim and I went back to camp.  After dropping off the kayaks we drove in to town for some burgers to cook on the campfire.  We put back in at about 6:00 just to fish and play some guitar on the river until it got dark.

On Monday Jim and I put in at Hoyt’s landing, to head for Herrick’s Cove, and then Bellows falls.  We planned that Jim would stop at Herrick’s Cove to explore and fish, while I would paddle on to Bellows Falls.  We had a car staged at Herrick’s, and Jim would meet me down at the falls.  For the third straight day, there was little breeze, reflections, and at last, the sun started showing through.

 

For three days, we floated through reflections.  The hope for experiences like this was the primary reason we started the project.  I can’t think of a time that I was more in tune.