The Mary Badass

22.4 miles from Wilder Dam to Wilgus State Park After sitting out a chilly, rainy day with my friends Pip and Betty, I put in below the Wilder Dam at about 6:45AM. I was glad to have Pip help me get the boat off the car and down the rocky portage to the river. In…

I am writing this on July 12, 2022 from the comfort of my home. I have so far paddled about 290 miles of the Connecticut River. I have about 120 miles yet to go. I needed to return home for an appointment and am using an extra day to catch up on writing and to…

16.6 miles downriver and 1 mile back upriver! I woke up thinking about the importance of being recognized and having a sense of purpose in life. The campsite we were staying in had a family with three young children at it. These kids wanted to help us do everything. They helped us set up our…

17.4 Miles to Roaring Brook Campsite What a surprising day today was! I spent a relaxing morning writing before packing up to meet a friend and her college-aged daughter who wanted to paddle with me for two days. The timing worked out well in that having them along would help me transition away from having…

14.4 miles from Woodsville to Vaughn Meadow Campsite Today really became a day of going with the flow. We woke in the beautiful home of my friend Nancy Tucker and her husband Jay. They had put me up on my bike trip last fall and it was lovely to get to visit with them again.…

11.1 miles from Barnet-Monroe Bridge Access to Woodsville Access Today was a day for variety. We encountered a little bit of a lot of conditions. We had wind (headwind of course), interspersed with glassy calm. There were wide open lake-like sections of flatwater mixed with some quick-water and squirrelly currents. On some sections the river…

12.5 river miles and one tough portage to the Barnet -Monroe Bridge Access (river mile 131.5) Neither Dot nor I were too quick to get started in the morning. Dot had contracted Lyme disease before leaving home and was on a round of Doxycycline which made her more prone to sunburn. Despite slathering herself with…

about 15 miles and two tough portages to just before the Waterford Bridge Boat Launch (river mile 119) After a lovely breakfast with Carl, Dot and I set off down river. We made plans to meet Carl midway down the Moore Reservoir. It was another lovely windless morning and I hoped it would stay that…

19 river miles to St John’s Boat Ramp (River Mile 106) I thought the theme of today was going to be muck. As Dot and I were putting our boats into the water below the breached dam we were sinking almost up to our knees in some amazing quicksand like muck. I thought about how…

18 River miles and one bear of a portage. We went from Maine Trestle Campsite to past the breached Wyoming Dam (River Mile 87) If anyone wants to follow these sites on a map you can go to https://www.connecticutriverpaddlerstrail.org/crpt7/node/4208 You can follow my trip on their interactive map. Day six started in a lovely way.…