Trip Overview:

Sumner Falls to Hoyt’s Landing
July 14th, 2017 – July 16th, 2017
2 days spent on water
24 miles paddled

 

Jim and I had first paddled this stretch of the river as our second outing on the Connecticut river.  This section makes for a great weekend vacation with the Wilgus campground and the Harpoon campus, so we invited friends and family to try it with us.  This time the party includes Jim, Laura, and Owen; Lori and Bill; me and Christina; and Bhindi.

We all made it to camp Friday night, after enduring traffic, tickets, and car problems of various sorts.   But that is all worth it once camp is set up and we are sitting around the fire.  Saturday on the river went pretty well.  Though we got a late start as we had to deal with my car’s broken rear window; long story.  After paddling for a couple of hours late Saturday morning we stopped on the Vermont side, at the artist camp The Path of Life Gardens.  We ordered lunch from the outdoor counter at Harpoon, and ate at the picnic tables on the small hill.  We also visited The Cheese Board there, and the Silo Distilery, both are nice shops.   We then went back to the kayaks, and paddled on to camp.

The day of kayaking got bit long for some, but the food back at camp washed away the weariness.   Dinner included shish-kabob, chili, and empandas, and was delicious!

For Sunday we planned that some of us drive up to Hoyt’s Landing for fishing and swimming, and for some of us to kayak the 12 miles from Wilgus to the next pull-out at Hoyt’s Landing.  But it took longer than we expected to break camp, and again we got a late start.  We might have been better off changing the plan so that the kayakers staged the cars to the north.  This would privide options for a shorter paddle, allowing for a relaxed day.  Sticking with the original plan however, we had some anxiety about how late we might get home.  We made it to Hoyt’s landing at about 3:30.  We decided to skip out on our planned picnic lunch, getting on the road at about 4:00.  It worked out fine, but could have been planned better.  The party had been split up since the morning, and we all had some nice stuff for that picnic!  It was a good plan for wrapping up the trip, and was dissapointing to miss out on it.