AMC Paddle: Quinebaug River-Southbridge to W. Thompson, CT

It's springtime and paddling season has officially begun.  The forecast for today was sunny with temps in the mid-60's.  Of course the temperature in the water would be much colder, requiring a layer of neoprene, just in case.  Fortunately, nobody fell in.

I had never paddled the Quinebaug River, so I was looking forward to this trip, especially since we would start in Massachusetts and end in Connecticut. All told, there would be 8 paddlers in 2 canoes and 4 kayaks.

We start our day in the Big Y Supermarket parking lot.  Dick and Dave will be in the lead canoe.

I take a quick look at the put in and catch my breath.  That water is moving pretty quickly.  That set the stage, because there was plenty of quickwater on this paddle.  I took a video (below) to give you a sense of the rushing water.

There were two planned portages on this trip.  At this point I am pulled over into an eddy looking upstream at our first unplanned portage.  There was no getting around that tree across the river.

We made it to our first planned portage at the south end of the Quinebaug River Reservoir in West Dudley (the next town over).

Looking downstream, the river is beautiful.

Looking upstream, you can see the dam beyond the bridge (which is why we had to portage).

We chose to lunch in the quiet along the riverbank rather than near the noisy road at the next portage.  Elaine, Abby, Pat, and Ed all dig out their lunches.

The bank was grassy as opposed to muddy and there was plenty of room for boats and people.

I wanted to get a picture to show you I really was paddling down the river, but I only took my camera out when the current slowed.  It was a long stretch of paddling after lunch and by this point all the quickwater was behind us.

The river emptied us onto West Thompson Lake in Thompson, Connecticut. If you look carefully, you can see 3 of the other boats working their way to where I am, at the boat launch.   We traversed a little more than 1/2 the lake to get to this point, but it continues to the dam to my left.

I thought I read that this was a "leisurely 7 mile paddle".  Clearly, I have to stop skimming and read more carefully.  The total distance was 12.06 miles and we were paddling about 4:37 (including portages, but not lunch).  It was 62 degrees at 3:20pm when I arrived at the take out, and as you can see, the day ended as beautifully as it began.