Waterbury Reservoir - Waterbury Center Day Use Area

This is the queen of access for the Waterbury Reservoir; they have everything but a snack bar. Lots of parking, canoes and kayaks to rent, grassy area for picnics and Frisbee, sandy beach, excellent bathrooms and even a place to wash your boat before and after launch.
Washing your boat is important when you are changing water to prevent the spread of invasive species.
You get to pay for the privilege, $3 per adult, but it is nominal compared to the benefits. The area is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The rest of the time there is a gate and you have to walk in with your gear about a quater mile (and there are no facilities open). Here's is a schedule of day use fees at Vermont State Parks.

Grassy area and beach.

Potable water is available and there is a
boat washing station.

Umiak Outfitters rents canoes and kayaks.

His and her bathrooms.

Here's a map to take you there.


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The Resurgence of the Connecticut River

Originally aired 6/21/12 on Vermont Public Radio.
By Tom Slayton

Tom Slayton - photo from VPR.

Canoeing down a river, you hear the rapids long before you see them. The small ones whisper and the big ones rattle and roar. 
I canoed the fast-moving upper reaches of the Connecticut River recently with the Vermont River Conservancy. It had been almost 30 years since I had paddled the upper Connecticut, and I had forgotten how much whitewater there is in that stretch of river - and how beautiful it is. 
We paddled under a pure blue sky with the bright, bright greens of June in the forest on either side of the river. The water was quick-flowing, clean and clear. The bottom was sometimes rocky, sometimes sandy; you could see it clearly through four and five feet of water as we were swept along. 
As we approached the end of the first day's paddle, Lyman Falls, we could hear it rumbling from far off. It's an old, shattered power dam with hazardous chunks of concrete and nasty bits of iron rebar sticking out. They impede the river's flow and make passage tricky. You definitely don't want to get hung up there. 

But no problem, really. Our guide, Noah Pollock, had scouted the falls and found a clear passage on the left-hand side of the dam. All we had to do (Noah assured us) was stay to the left as we approached the dam, and we'd shoot through that left-side breach. 
And sure enough, we did. We quickly ferried back across the river to the Vermont bank and - Voila! - we were at our campsite. 
We established our little tent city in a field where Indian paintbrush and wild daisies bloomed. Then there was supper cooked over an open fire, music, singing, and laughter into the evening. S'mores for some, a few sips of whiskey for others, and finally to bed, snug in our tents, falling asleep to the rumbling music of Lyman Falls. 
If anything, the upper Connecticut is in better shape now than when I first paddled it 30 years ago. The Vermont River Conservancy, the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, and the Vermont Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, among others, have cooperated to conserve land and watersheds, build campsites and improve access for paddlers to the Connecticut and other rivers. 
These organizations and others have truly made a difference - they've helped turn the Connecticut River from a neglected open sewer to a delightful recreational resource that serves paddlers, fishermen and women, and anyone who loves free-flowing water. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude. 
We began our next full day on the river early, splashing through a long series of brisk rapids, marveling at the natural beauty around us. Towards the end of the day, we saw not one, but three bald eagles soaring above the river. 
We took it as a favorable omen. For the river.

Voices for Fish or ... Paddlers in Hot Water

Demonstrators take to the water to protest against Vermont Yankee

By JOSH STILTS / Brattleboro Reformer
September 17, 2012

Marlboro residents Rose Watson and Laura Berkowitz share their boat with an unnamed protester during Saturday s Safe and Green flotilla. More than 100 anti-nuclear activists gathered along the Connecticut River to tell the owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to stop dumping the reactor s thermal discharge into the river. (Josh Stilts/Reformer)

VERNON -- Dozens of protesters flocked to the Connecticut River Saturday afternoon to condemn the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and its owner, Entergy, for the reactor's thermal discharge.

Organized by the Safe and Green Campaign, approximately 125 anti-nuclear activists boarded boats, canoes and kayaks at different points along the river and then gathered in a small alcove in Hinsdale, N.H., directly across the river from the Vernon reactor.

They sang songs and held signs that read "Entergy our river is not your dump" and "Cool IT" and "No place for nuke waste." They also chanted and dropped ice cubes and ice blocks into the water as a small gesture to cool the river, which they claim is being overheated by Vermont Yankee.

Paddling a Walrus

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
OK, that opening has been used before, but it sums up my feeling standing beside the car. It was a beautiful day on the lake, perfect for pushing a canoe across the 1-2' waves, enjoying North Beach and Apple Tree Point. But alas, no canoe this fine day. It was kayak time.
Ben, a paddling pal of the Vermont Paddler, was bitten by the paddling bug and is now ready to dive full-fledged into the paddling addiction. He is looking to buy a boat.
"No, I don't want a stinkin' canoe," he said. "I want a kayak."
So the search began for a kayak to suit his needs: big lake paddling, rivers and camping. Originally he was all about durability and an Eddyline Journey from Canoe Imports seemed just the thing. 15' 5" 49 pounds of thermoform plastic that offers great rigidity and will take a beating. 
Yeah. No. Too heavy.
So we start looking at boats. He likes the P&H Cetus but not that much. Besides, it weighs as much as the Eddyline. (Yeah, longer, lighter material ... didn't matter).
We we're about to head (gasp) out of Vermont to increase our choices when a small Vermont company came to mind: Walrus Kayaks. Heck fire, they're right there in Winooski. 

The Fontaine Flop

I have got to try this.

Really.




I wonder if it can be done solo.

Seven Lengths of Vermont

Connecticut River: Paddle Buddy meets the Actual

Published by Seven Days BY LEATH TONINO [09.05.12]

Leath Tonino and his father, Richard. Photo from the author.

It was Friday night, and my dad, whom I hadn’t seen since we’d come off the river a week earlier, was in a cheeky mood. All twinkle-eyed, he kept saying, “I don’t want to influence the article you’re writing about our trip, but you might consider throwing in phrases like ‘handsome bowman,’ ‘fit and dedicated 61-year-old father,’ or even something as simple as ‘excellent paddle buddy.’”

I told him I liked that phrase — paddle buddy — but that my inclination was to focus more on the river than on us. The river, I thought, is the real character in this story. Or maybe it’s more like a community of characters: the sexy, curvy lady; the old man in a smoke-colored suit; the Zen priest; the marathon walker; the sleepy, yawning child.

“If I were to write about you at all,” I told my dad, “it’d probably be in the service of describing the river, the subtle ways it works over dinky little humans like us.”

He nodded. A week at the office swimming upstream against emails, meetings, assignments and stress had undoubtedly taken its toll, but the memory of our time on the real river was still fresh. He’d partaken in the flow. The silt was under his fingernails. “Which is just to say,” I went on, “that I’d probably write about the time I thought you’d died.”

“You mean when we flipped in the rapid and the canoe shot into the air and I got sucked back up into the whitewater and disappeared?” he said, excited.

The Dry Suit

A dry suit is glorious. It is an expensive body suit that covers from toes to neck. Swimming is a dry event. It adds flotation no matter how much air is burped out of it. There are tight rubber gaskets at the wrists and neck, the latter making it feel like someone has a stranglehold. 
When the sun is out and the temperature is over 60 degrees it is hot to wear. Yeah, Goretex, breathable fabric ... it's still hot. When the water is 35 degrees and the air 60, it's better to bake. If it gets too hot, stop and go for a swim. That'll cool you off in about 60 seconds. 
The Vermont Paddler loves his dry suit. It extends the canoe, kayak and standup paddleboard season by months. Two years of use and finally a germ of a thought came to mind; isn't there some maintenance involved with this $800 piece of gear? The search was on and quickly an article came up on Paddling Light, a site devoted to lightweight canoe and kayak travel. Simple enough to tend to the fabric and zippers, but what of the gaskets?
There's an article on Cerberus that is pretty comprehensive. These folks do canyoneering where they also hit the water, often on purpose. Scrambling up sharp stone walls using ropes and such is way more abuse than the typical Vermont paddler will inflict on a dry suit.
Still, good tips to keep from tearing the essential gaskets and how to reinforce high-wear areas on the suit. If you have a suit and you require gasket replacement, Canoe Imports is the best choice in the northern half of Vermont, if not the state.
See you on the water.