Sunday, May 24, 2020

Covid Camping/Paddling Retreat

Just when it looked like my spring camping/paddling trip was D.O.A. due to Covid-19 restrictions, I had the good fortune to stumble upon the Hipcamp website.  Hipcamp allows private landowners to host campers for a reasonable fee.  After becoming a member my search for sites within my home state of Massachusetts and near the Connecticut River brought me to the "Lovely Montague Retreat" pictured above.  Fate was kind to me as the previously gloomy weather forecast seemingly changed overnight and provided 4 days of dry and sunny weather...every camper's dream.  Even our persistently windy spring took a break.  Drove there on Tuesday afternoon and set up camp in a beautiful meadow with my nearest neighbors being hives of honey bees.

The next morning a short drive had me launching into the Connecticut River across from its confluence with the Deerfield River...

Before ascending the Deerfield I paddled to the General Pierce Bridge...
...and got this look at Smead Island which is below the Turners Falls Dam...

Looked tempting but boating above this point isn't allowed due to potential dam releases.  While the Connecticut/Deerfield confluence was a place of swirling currents, things calmed down considerably once I'd entered the Deerfield where this deer was enjoying some morning sun...
...before noting my presence, and returning to grazing...

Passed under a bunch of rail/roadway bridges before reaching the Deerfield's confluence with the Green River...

Paddled up the Green for about a quarter mile or so before it became too shallow.  About 3 miles further up the Green is this reminder of another type of retreat which occurred 344 years to the day before my trip to the area (an unplanned coincidence)...
According to historians, Captain Turner's force of 150 men on horseback had traveled some 20 miles north from Hatfield under the cover of darkness and keeping west of the Connecticut River to avoid being detected.  In order to reach the Native American fishing village at today's Turner Falls they needed to ford the Deerfield River at Sheldon Brook and the Green River by today's Nash's Mill Road.  Though they did succeed in carrying out their dastardly deed, in which they gave no quarter and took no prisoners, bad karma in the form of Native American warriors caught up with them while making their retreat.  Capt. Turner's retreat ended with his death upon the Green River's west shore. Near the very spot (which I visited by car this past Tuesday May 19) folks enjoyed wading at the Green River Swimming and Recreation Area. They waded within a stone's throw of the above sign...
 
Once back to the Deerfield I continued upriver to the possible ford site near the mouth of Sheldon Brook (which Turner never got back to)...
I try to imagine seeing 150 men on horseback fording the river here first on the way to the Falls and later their reduced number in hasty retreat.  In addition to Turner, 39 of his men perished.  The number of Native Americans killed above the falls may have exceeded 200...many were women and children.

One of the Deerfield's islands hosted an occupied eagle's next...
...with the other parent nearby...

Additionally, this immature eagle was encountered on my return trip down the Deerfield...


Following a good night's rest at my campsite, I again launched into the Connecticut River this time at Barton Cove above the Turners Falls Dam...
...and explored the river up to the majestic French King Bridge...
...making a short jaunt into the Millers River at Cabot's Camp...

Along the way were more eagles...
...near their nest...

Wildflowers such as columbine...
...and bluets thrived on the Connecticut Rivers rocky shores near the French King Bridge...

Over the course of my visit I paddled past some interesting stone-work like this hand-laid culvert...
...showing some light at its end.

This stone pier for a railroad bridge sported one stone different from all the others which caught my eye...
A closer look...

 However the most unusual stone I would see was this one hard by the shore...
Guess it was the wiggly shape that caught my eye.  The more I looked the more curious I became.  Finally went ashore and brushed aside the branches to reveal...
It may be the oldest sign post encountered.  Looks like a deer and a fish both of which are still plentiful around these parts.  It faces to the southwest towards the late afternoon sunshine.  A shamen's work perhaps?

This might be a good spot to list the Native American names for the region they call "Pocumtuck".
The Connecticut River is "Quinneticook"; its great falls "Peskeompskut"; the Deerfield River is "Pocumpetook"; the Green River is "Pukcommeagon"; the Millers River is Pequoiag.

After returning to my camp I located the eagle's nest my host had mentioned being near the river.  It was of rugged construction...
It was the third eagle's nest I'd seen in 2 days...all of them built in deciduous trees.

Enjoyed my final night being serenaded by freight trains coming and going from PanAm Southern's East Deerfield freight yard (photo shows west end of yard)...

At the start of my homeward drive I stopped at the former site of Montague Station and took one last look down the tracks as the tail end of a west-bound freight train headed towards the bridge and the other side of the Quinneticook ...

Very little trash was encountered...



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