I revisited a favorite paddling spot today with some friends from the Paddle Killingly Meetup Group. It’s the Salmon River, down in Moodus, CT.
Access is from Sunrise State Park. Big name, but a neglected place. It’s the site of a former resort. The property has been owned by the state for a decade and open to the public for only a few years. There still isn’t even a sign out on the road, so not many folks know about the place. That’s what makes it a nice quiet place to meet with friends and go paddling.
There are three prongs to my paddles here. One is upstream to the falls and fish ladder up at Route 151 at Leesburg. The second is downstream and up Pine Brook as far as I can get and the third is a bit further downstream and up the Moodus River as far as I can get.
The last time I saw an elephant at all was in Uganda in the 1970s. That one was standing in the middle of the dirt road between me and my bunk in the drivers’ quarters late one dark night. On foot and not willing to walk around him through the tall grass, I elected to retreat back to the tourist hotel and call for the driver to come pick me up.
This one, spotted securely fastened to a big bushy plant overhanging the waters of the Upper Highland Reservoir in Goshen, Massachusetts, was much smaller. I figure he’s part of someone’s geo cache game or something of that sort. I did not disturb him.
This was the first paddle outing of my Northeast season, with friends from the Western Mass Kayak Meetup Group. With temps near 70 and bright sunshine for the first time since I arrived up here a week ago I was more than ready to get out on the water.
All of the pix are below, just click on one to open up a slide show of larger images. For other elephant sagas, start HERE.
Even a mom has to take a moment to scratch that itch, as this Sandhill Crane on a nest clearly shows us. She’s at Okeeheelee Park South in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Here are some more photos from the day:
To see the rest of the Itches, start here and just keep working backwards.
Yes, the headline’s misleading. I didn’t actually get to sample any of the Sticky Licky Ice Cream Store’s wares. It wasn’t open when I stumbled on it last week, ever on the lookout for recycled gas stations.
This place is across the state from me, over in Fort Myers Beach.
Yes, the same Fort Myers Beach that was ground zero for Hurricane Ian on September 28, 2022. There’ve been no posts on the Sticky Licky Facebook page since then and its website is inactive.
Gone for good? I don’t know. There is a sign for a remodeling company posted on the property. So either a new business is going to relocate there or the place will be repaired and reopened for ice cream licking. I generally don’t care what uses are made of these former gas stations, but my vote is for the sweets.
This place is on the mainland portion of town, and not out on the barrier island. Some damage yes, but not demolition. I drove along the coastal island road a bit and it looks like New Jersey did after Hurricane Sandy, just flattened.
Even so, just a block away from here I saw a huge sailboat that had been blown out of a canal into someone’s backyard.
My main concern to be honest is what happened to the pink elephant. I know what happened to at least one of the large rocking chairs. I spotted it in a parking lot across the street.
Below are a couple shots from last week and a few photos of the place in its heyday, courtesy of the Facebook page and Google Earth.
And below that are some shots from my paddle on Telegraph Creek with some friends from Connecticut, the event that got me over to the Fort Myers area to begin with.
I went out to one of my favorite places for a short paddle the other day. Winding Waters is one of those treasured pockets of nature restored years ago by Palm Beach County’s Natural Areas programs.
I like it because a very leisurely paddle around the whole place takes only a couple hours and bird life is generally plentiful. It is, in fact, the only place in South Florida I have ever seen Snail Kites.
Formerly called Everglades Kites, these smallish hawks subsist entirely on apple snails. They don’t migrate, but move around a lot, basically always on the prowl for a good snail supply.
Spotting one that day seemed a bleak prospect at first though: “No kites and no limpkins,” said a hiker with a huge camera who was getting ready to leave as I was unloading the boat.
Not a good sign, I thought. Both of those birds depend on apple snails.
However, I was pleasantly surprised about two-thirds of the way through my trip when I spotted a dark bird with that distinctive white band across the tail.
And after that I saw three or four others.
Made my day. Enjoy the photos. Click on any one to scroll through the larger versions.
I haven’t added to this series lately. Here’s one from several months ago. Ran across it today when I was cleaning up some computer files. It’s a green heron.
A few days ago I noticed a big blue heron in the next door yard picking up some sticks and flying off. I figured he or she was just refurbishing one of the big existing blue heron nests I’ve seen over in nearby John Prince Park for a couple years.
Not so! I soon realized this one was just making a short flight to the top of small tree just across the water behind my house. I looked closely and sure enough there was another adult over there also.
It’s visible with the naked eye and within long-lens range for photos. Two blue herons are building a nest in that tree.
So I have watched for several days and the activity continues. There is some obvious nest building going on over there.
Time will tell if it becomes a happy home with youngsters. I’ll keep you posted.
Some photos from today are below. I’ll have to do some manual focusing in the future, I see.
A couple years ago I noticed that a bunch of the old shade tobacco barns on some acreage near Bradley Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, were being torn down.
Here’s a portion of the huge Amazon shipping terminal that has taken their place.
The Urge to be Someplace Else 