Looking Astern at 2024

In looking back at 2024 there's no doubt that my most memorable paddling moment occurred in May when I kayaked out to a relatively small island (less than 10 acres) in the middle of the lower St. Croix River...

Over the previous winter I'd read Voyages of Samuel De Champlain Vols 1-3 (translated by Charles Pomeroy Otis and edited by Edmund Slafter) and found Champlain's first-hand account concerning the island. In 1604 a party of 79 Frenchmen built a small settlement there and the island was given the name St. Croix. The Native Americans (Passamaquoddy) are said to have called the island "Mehtonuwekoss" meaning "food storage place".  As I approached the island (photo above) skies were cloudy and the tide was near slack.  I cannot adequately describe the level of anticipation I felt and how that anticipation built with each paddle stroke which brought me closer to my destination.  After landing my boat on the uninhabited island and getting my bearings I climbed the wooden stairway to the island's plateau-like surface...

...and crossed a field of grass and wildflowers to this boulder bearing a bronze plaque attesting to the island's significance...
  

While there are plenty of places in and around New England that Samuel De Champlain visited, it was here on this small island that he actually spent an entire winter.  

A  representation of what the village looked like is on display at the St. Croix Island International Historic Site located on the mainland in Calais, ME within view of the island...

The winter of 1604-05 was longer and more severe than anything these men might have expected.  Fresh water and wood for fuel were in short supply.  An outbreak of scurvy took the lives of 35 settlers and sickened another 20.  Those who died are said to be buried beneath the grass.  As a result of their miserable winter on the island, the expedition's leader, Sieur De Monts, had most of the buildings disassembled and transported to Port Royal in Nova Scotia where they were re-assembled; a more favorable location where the colony survived.  One positive outcome from their experience on St. Croix Island was Champlain's creation in 1606 of the Order of Good Cheer at the Port Royal location..."We spent this winter very pleasantly, and fared generously by the Ordre De Bon Temps, which I introduced.  This all found useful for their health, and more advantageous than all the medicines that could have been used."  Individual members of the order competed in seeing who could bag the best game for weekly feasts during the winters.  The feasts also included entertainment.  As a confirmed "winter hater" I, for one, can certainly appreciate the need for an Order of Good Cheer!

Back on the mainland at the International Historic Site I got a chance to stand next to the larger-than-life bronze figure of Sieur De Monts (Champlain's boss) ...

  

2024 was a good year for first-time visits to other historically significant places:

Deer Island (another island of misery) in Boston Harbor which I paddled out to from Winthrop, MA...

Moswetuset Hummock in Quincy, MA also paddled to from Houghs Neck...

...the Myles Standish Cairn at Squantum's northern tip in Quincy, MA commemorating his and Tisquanto's having landed there (visited by foot)...

...Annawan Rock in Dighton, MA (visited by foot)...

...the Miery Swamp in Bristol, RI where Metocomet's life ended (also by foot)...

...the Reuben Colburn Homestead where the 200 batteaux for the 1775 Arnold Expedition were hastily built alongside the Kennebec River (by foot on perhaps 2024's hottest day)...

 

Over the course of the year I paddled away from boat launches in all six New England states as well as one in Passamaquoddy Bay in New Brunswick, Canada. 

In Maine I scouted a circumnavigation of Verona Island from the viewing platform atop the Penobscot Narrows Bridge, and camped at both Chewonki Campground in Wiscasset and the KOA Bucksport/Ft. Knox.  Also drank in views of a few more Maine lighthouses: 

On the Kennebec River were Squirrel Point Light...

...the Range Lights further upriver at Fiddler's Reach (paddled past)...

...and the Doubling Point lighthouse (paddled past)...

Fort Pownall Light in the Penobscot River (paddled to from Sears Island)...

Experienced these ponds for the first time: Asnacomet in Hubbardston, MA, Coachlace, Mossy, and S. Meadow complex in Clinton, MA.

Enjoyed some fine paddling with fellow paddlers Oz and Roger on the Sudbury River, Denise and company through the lock at Cromwell's Falls on the Merrimack River, and my grandson John on Concord's Walden Pond...

  

Wildlife encounters that will keep me wondering what or who is around the next bend in the river included:

This eagle at Lee Island (Puddlestone Island) in the Kennebec River...

...this buck along the Assabet River...

...and this newly-hatched diamondback terrapin? turtle in the tidal portion of the Connecticut River...

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention an unexpected capsize that occurred early in 2024.  I made two mistakes...first, paddling on a day when solid ice lined both shores, and secondly, allowing my boat to become perpendicular to a strong current.  Fortunately I was dressed for immersion and had brought along a pair of warm and dry gloves. Without such gear things could have gone south real fast.  I was also very lucky not to become separated from my boat. Lessons learned. 

Trash, mostly of a plastic nature, was still there to be found especially behind fallen trees.  I did notice a decline in the number of "nip" bottles.  Recovered 1,644 of the pesky little bottles this year compared to 3,553  in 2023.  Hopefully the decline in numbers is a good sign and not just the result of 2024's lower water levels. 

The oddest and probably most valuable thing found afloat in 2024 was a Concrete Testing Kit in the Assabet River...

...which probably had been tossed into the river by thieves.  Thanks to the laminated calibration certificate found inside the case the kit was re-united with its rightful owner.

Other unusual finds were a plastic bait tub found in the Concord River...

...and a gallon of transmission fluid  also from the Concord River...

May 2025 bring Peace and Good Cheer to all!