Connecticut River oxbow 3/22/09

The two kids and I met my brother and his partner for our first paddle of the season on the oxbow off the Connecticut River in Easthampton MA. We had decided to meet at 1:00 in order for it to warm up a bit, we were wrong. The weather was windy, cold and raw but we brought plenty of clothes and decided to go out anyway.

We didn’t get far and it took awhile as we had to fight a strong headwind as we headed Northwest. I’ve done this paddle before and it’s really fun for the kids because the river is flooded and you get to paddle in the trees.

Pretty soon we were forced into the woods because the open water was still covered with ice. A man in a racing canoe passed us and said hello. Sally saw an otter, I looked but all I saw was a tail so I’m sure it wasn’t a beaver and it looked pretty thick so it was probably an otter and not a muskrat. She brought her new binoculars and she and Brad looked at the geese and ducks on the ice while we held onto trees and each other to keep from getting blown away by the wind.

We decided to head back mainly because I didn’t want the kids to have a miserable time and not want to go paddling again. We soon were back at the boat ramp and headed home in the warm car.