1June2008
Left North Hero and Win and Jane at Aqua Vista and paddled along the eastern side of the island to Stevens Point. From here we turned towards Hog Island and mainland Vermont as we paddled towards Missisquoi Bay. The wind and waves really picked up as we made the crossing - the spray cover on the boat did an excellent job keeping the water on the outside! We fought across choppy 2-3 ft waves in a strong cross wind - it made 1 hour feel like 5 - sore arms!
We joined the Missisquoi River via the West Branch and began to paddle upstream towards Canada. The current is relatively sluggish as this end of the river drains into Champlain via a large wetland area - there is a heron rookery here and we saw a few million of them hanging about. The river is murky and deep - lots of things swimming up to the surface - not quite sure what they were, but this area is renowned for bass, trout, and just about everything else. Could have been the kraken for all we know...or perhaps "Champ" - Champlains version of the Loch Ness...
Made camp on the sly at a DOT maintenance shed on the side of the river - weird.
Weather: warm-ish, low 60's, overcast and partly cloudy - on the edge of raining all day.
Wildlife: canada geese, tons o' herons, beaver, fish, a rotweiler (that promptly peed on Cranky Pants - now he truly has Cranky Pants...), and birds - too many and varied to list!
"Something we were withholding made us weak
until we found out that it was ourselves
we were withholding from our land of living
and forthwith found salvation in surrender."
~Robert Frost
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