HOUSATONIC RIVER paddling, MA
May 26, 2014 - WOODS POND & HOUSATONIC RIVER canoeing from Lenox Station, MA. A plastic dock now replaces the muddy put-in that I had to put up with last time I was here - a bit high for kayakers tho. The river upstream passes thru wildlife refuge & state forest land, mostly undeveloped. A dam downstream of the put-in creates Woods Pond & very little current is noticed paddling upstream for the first couple of miles. Many backwaters along the way. 5 miles to Decker Landing access. Electrical lines & power station of the Electric Power Research Institute - interesting but jarring. Turned around a couple of miles above the New Lenox Rd bridge. Abundant birdsong, bullfrogs doing the bass lines. Beaver, muskrats, goslings, wood ducks, mallards, bald eagle, yellow warblers, least sandpipers, oriole, cardinal, red-winged blackbirds, hawks, water snake. A few blackflies in the morning but absent l...