First day out!

Sightings: beaver, geese, mallard ducks, great blue heron, cardinal, chickadee. Heard turkeys.
Sunrise: 6:30 am
Temp: 45 F
Moon: 3/4 moon, setting in the south.

We are both excited to get the kayaks out. When I leave the house at 5:40 am, the moon is still out, and I've only had a few hours sleep. I'm wondering if this was a good idea.
I meet Kris at our common meeting point - by the bridge just after Bissell Road. I'm late, Kris is on time. Normal! We put our kayaks in, both promising each other that if one of us flips our boat, we will not be declared a wuss and can go home. It's cold.

We head east, towards the sunrise. The water is really high after the flooding rains of last week which makes navigation easy for us. No weeds, dams or logs to maneuver around. Nice. We head up the Bantam River towards Little Pond, stirring up a few beaver, ducks, geese along the way. The world around us is a mix of orange, red and yellow, muted sweetly with fog coming off the water.


Under the Little Pond trail bridge, under the boardwalk bridge and into Little Pond. The sun is just coming up. One lonely photographer is on the boardwalk with his tripod, watching the changing light I'm sure.


Kris and I spot a swan and track him for maybe five minutes. His wings are posed in such a way that you can almost visualize sitting on his back like one of those swan boat rides you see in amusement parks. He is majestically white, looking mighty strong. We grant him plenty of personal space. This is our halfway point, so we turn back down the river.

Almost at our endpoint Kris spots a very small beaver working dilagently on a dam. He looks very young and is oblivious to our approach, like a young child engrossed in play. He finally notices us and quietly slips under the water, but without the trademark tail-slap of his elders.