The Homestretch of the "Great Indian Road"

The plan was to meet a friend at Hoyt's Landing in Springfield, Vermont on Saturday and paddle another section of the Connecticut River.  However, I arrived late afternoon on Friday and had just enough daylight, after setting up camp, to ascend the Black River from its confluence with the Connecticut River at Hoyt's Landing.  After paddling about a mile and a half of the shallow river I came to the end of flatwater...

After turning around, I passed under this roadway bridge and noted a kiosk (opening photo) located near it...

The kiosk (The Toonerville Trail Kiosk) stayed in the back of my mind until late the following day when I would stop at the bridge and read it.

In the meantime, my return trip to Hoyt's Landing brought me past this spot where the river looked to have played a game of ringtoss...

Emerging from the Black River, I approached Hoyt's Landing as the daylight was dwindling...

Finding my tent in the dark at Tree Farm Campground was a little tricky, but once found it provided dry shelter from some overnight rain showers.  The campground is only 15 to 20 minutes from Hoyt's Landing.

On Saturday morning, I was joined by Capt'n Dangerous of the Adirondack Pirate Paddlers...

and we headed down the Connecticut River into a steady breeze out of the south...

Our destination was the "Great Falls" aka Bellows Falls.  Along the way we encountered belted kingfishers, an errant television set, and this strange periscope looking device...

A little ways above Herrick's Cove we came under the gaze of this bald eagle perched near an impressive nest...

Arriving at Bellows Falls, the view looked strange without the old and scenic "Arch Bridge" which stood at this spot for many years...

Boaters wishing to continue downriver would need to takeout at Pine Street to begin the portage around the falls...

At this point we turned back up river to our takeout at Herricks Cove.  However, before leaving Bellows Falls, we got a wave from this young fellow who'd gone a little heavy on the hair-gel...

After the return shuttle and loading of boats, we ventured into Springfield to take a look at Comtu Falls (said to mean, in Abenaki, "Great Noise").  The Black River drops 110' in about 1/8th of a mile there.  The drop is accomplished in 5 separate falls.  The one just above the Park Street Bridge looks to have the steepest drop...

This video on YouTube (shot from this location in the days following Tropical Storm Irene) gives more than adequate credence to the name "Great Noise".

It was after the Capt'n and I had gone our separate ways that I returned to the aforementioned kiosk and found this text referring to the "Great Indian Road"...

I tried to imagine some of the Abenaki people traveling by foot and canoe from the upper reaches of Lake Champlain to Otter Creek, across the Green Mountain Watershed to the Black River, and then perhaps the climax of the trip at Comtu Falls.  Once they'd reached the location of the present-day kiosk, they must have been relieved to know that they'd reached the "homestretch", and only an easy paddle by canoe lay between them and the Connecticut River's "Great Falls" (perhaps called Ktsipontegok in Abenaki).  The once majestic falls there must have held a special place in their hearts for it seems many Abenaki chose to be buried there at the end of their days.  One such account from the year 1856 can be found on the internet by Googling The Last Abenaqui Chief at Bellows Falls, Vermont.
Sadly the falls have lost much of their greatness in the same way the Merrimack's Pawtucket Falls in Lowell has.  In both cases, the biggest portion of flow was diverted to a canal, leaving the falls a shadow of their former selves.

This photo shows the original course of the river as it is today and how it sees only a small percentage of the river's flow...

Once back home I read of petroglyphs that are said to be etched into the rocks near the point where the original falls ended.  They may be just below the pictured Vilas Memorial Bridge on the west side of the river...

The blog "Historic Iroquois and Wabanaki Beadwork" has this post about the petroglyphs.

If the area of the falls was known for the many burials there, it might make sense that the pertoglyphs were located close to the end of the rapids (perhaps symbolizing the end of life's difficult journey).

So, the Capt'n and I had unwittingly paddled the homestretch of what for some must have been a long, arduous, and memorable journey.


The trash encountered on both the Black and Connecticut Rivers...

There were 11 recyclable containers and 11 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as plastic bags.  YTD = 5752