Two Bits of the Connecticut River


Spent last Sunday and Monday paddling bits of the Connecticut River in Springfield and Easthampton, MA.  For the Springfield section (about 70 miles above Long Island Sound) I launched from Bondi's Island in Agawam, MA under cloudy skies.  The launch there offers little in the way of  facilities but gets the job done.  With the wind being calm the river reflected Springfield's skyline (above) and the stately Memorial Bridge...
...before occasional light rain put an end to such reflections.   It was between this bridge and the railroad bridge beyond that a tornado formed back on June 1st, 2011.  An article by Brian Brenner in Engineering News-Record titled Strange Doings on Memorial Bridge includes a link to a camera recording of the tornado's forming.  Brenner's article also mentions the bridge having been featured in an advertisement for the casino MGM Springfield.

Downstream, on the Springfield side, the Mill River enters in a concrete setting.  The land around this spot was once known as Usquaiok...

Pynchon Point named for Springfield's first European settler William Pynchon is at the confluence of the Agawam (aka Westfield) and Connecticut rivers...
The Native American word Agawam is said to mean "place for curing fish".  According to historian Charles Henry Barrows in his The History of Springfield in Massachusetts for the Young, the Native American sachems who sold some of this land to Pynchon made their marks on the document as follows; an arrow, a canoe, a bow, and a feather.  Barrows also included an imaginative drawing of natives and settlers in birch-bark canoes plying the river, and titled it "The Site of Springfield As The Indians Knew It"...

The area was and is a transportation crossroads with the north to south running Connecticut intersecting the Chicopee River flowing in from the east (providing further access to the Quabaog, Swift, and Ware rivers) and the Agawam (aka Westfield) River flowing in from the Berkshires to the west.   

From Pynchon Point I ascended the Agawam River where a bald eagle flew down the river's middle and right above my head.  The nearby Big E fairgrounds provided occasional voices from its public address system.  Some fall foliage and a small island...

About 2 miles up the Agawam a bridge construction project at Route 147 provided a reason to turnaround...

Returning to the Connecticut I headed downriver to Willys Island...

...and further to Six Flags amusement park where some folks were swinging high in the sky...
...while others climbed to the apex of the roller coaster...
...screaming during a rapid descent...

The calmness of Pecowsic Brook entering the Connecticut was more to my liking...

As the rain became steadier I left the river and found accommodations in West Springfield.  

The following morning after the rain had stopped, I drove Route 5 up to the Oxbow Boat Launch in Easthampton (about 15 miles upriver from Springfield)...

The well-built facility is located just a bit inside the Oxbow from the river.  Leaving the Oxbow I headed across the river to Hockanum Flat with Mount Holyoke in the distance...

On the sandy beach at Hockanum were several creative signs reminding folks not to litter.  This was my favorite...

The river passes between the 878' Mount Holyoke (east side) and the 822' Mount Nonotuck to the west.  Mount Nonotuck is said to have the Native American meaning "In the middle of the river" which is how it looks to paddlers approaching from the north...

The exposed rock cliffs below Thermopylae on the river's eastern shore...

The river's confluence with Bachelors Brook provided a great spot for lunch...

The scenic brook allowed ascent up to this beaver dam...

Once back on the Connecticut I headed upriver and hugged the west side where the former Mount Tom coal plant once loomed.  The facility looks to be completely gone with the exception of this dock...
 ...which looks to have been the cooling water inlet.

Proceeding past the Oxbow entrance I found this inlet too tempting to pass ...
..and it brought me to two ponds, Magnolia and Triangle, which were created when gravel was taken for the construction of Route 91.

Back on the Connecticut I rounded Mitch's Island...
...and got my best view of the Summit House perched atop Mount Holyoke...

Returning to the Oxbow an eagle perched atop a power transmission tower caught my eye...
...and he stayed put even as an Amtrak train passed beneath him...

On my next visit to this area I'll explore more of the actual Oxbow where the Manhan and Mill Rivers enter.

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