chapter 324

Battenkill River

7/30/2013

just a lovely kayak ride

link to  BATTENKILL folder  (many more pics)

I had fished and floated this beautiful clean flowing trout stream coming out near the Vermont border near Arlington 40 years ago. Had forgotten just how outstanding the mostly forest covered experience is. This segment is an hour and half 6 mile paddle with brisk current or take a several hours leisurely ride. Must at least document for grandson Luke since it's only an hour from home. 

This is just the beginning of my coverage as the upper section out of Arlington and Manchester VT is apparently where you must avoid getting dumped in the drink and lower section goes down to the Hudson River.

The beautiful little Cedar Waxwings are all over the place. They perch especially near the ripples where the insects are hatching then go into combat swooping and diving through the air catching flying insects. I will have to stand stationary in mid stream to catch those aerobatics on camera. Paddling with one hand to avoid overturning and making camera adjustments with other hand, I only caught one crude shot on the fly.

It looks like they clipped the wing of this Mayfly, but no biggie: it's whole adult life stage is only 24 hours.

Always love to find Common Mergansers. Many here as they dive for fish in this good cold water fisheries habitat for Brook Trout, Browns and Rainbows. This is a catch and release artificial lure only public access trout stream NYSDEC.

The take out at Eagleville yields a nice mountain scene by the covered bridge.

Down by the oxbow there's an accumulation of water washed stones with this view looking upstream.

Yes, in fairness to journalistic integrity I must confess this is a multiple use recreation area. Beware of a multitude of prime time tubers. Not that tubing is bad, but a few dozen thrill seekers can change the vibe, especially for the fly fishermen.

I must admit, I was inspired by That Tree ,the incredible display of cell phone photography of a common subjects around us. Also after watching the survival instincts displayed on the Discovery Channel's Nkd and Afraid series, it didn't seem so onerous to challenge nature for just a few hours. 

Charlie Chan's advice came to me more than once on these journeys when I was fighting the current.  "Life like feather on stream, must go with flow."

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