Paddling Cape Cod, Summer 2011: Part II

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Wednesday: (Alan, Bruce, Don, Tom)

Herring River - We paddled the Herring River from the Rt. 28 launch up stream to the West Reservoir. We portaged into the reservoir then back to the Herring and over to the East Reservoir before heading back to Rt. 28. We finished with a short paddle down to the inlet and back to the take out.

Google Map

Today we had a guest paddler, Tom, a friend of Alan’s. Tom worked in Philadelphia as Water Commissioner and met Alan on the annual Schuykill River paddle. Tom had paddled the Herring River before and knew it well. Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of this paddle as my camera’s batteries died and I didn’t have spares with me.

As you can see from the map, the Herring meanders, passing through an open grassy marsh, reminding me of rivers I’ve paddled in Florida. Taking the west branch, we eventually reached the West Reservoir dam and fish ladder. After exploring on foot for awhile, we decided to portage the boats from the river to the reservoir. The map shows the West and East reservoirs separated by a road. We thought we might be able to go directly into the East Reservoir, but could not. So we portaged back to the west fork of the river and from there to the East fork before heading back to the launch point.

Aside from the company, this was my least favorite paddle of the week. And dumping my boat while trying to get out at the portage was embarrassing (Isn’t there ALWAYS a crowd around when you do something clumsy like that?).

Thursday: (Alan, Bruce, Don)

Mashpee River - We paddled the Mashpee River from Pirates Cove, up the Mashpee River and then around Popponesset Bay, Popponesset Beach and Pinquickset Cove (marsh).

Google Maps

This was a nice paddle. We launched at the Pirates Cove Boat Ramp and headed out on an overcast day. The sky was a dramatic mix of light and dark clouds; kind of a Florida summer sky. It looked like it could rain, but it never did. We paddled the river and the bay stopping for a lunch break at Popponesset Beach.

Friday: (Alan, Bruce, Don)

Barnstable Harbor – We launched from Grays Beach in Yarmouthport, out to Barnstable Harbor, across the channel to Beach Point on Sandy Neck, stopped in The Cove, followed shore to Barnstable marsh and then south to the Barnstable port and then east along the shore back to Grays Beach

This was the most interesting paddle of the week and my favorite. Interesting because we arrived at our launch point just before low tide. All of that green on the map is covered with water and paddleable at high tide but is ankle deep at best at low tide. We started from a launch point in Yarmouthport (lower right on the map). We found our way downstream to the

marsh where we kept bottoming out. It soon became clear that the only way across to deeper water was to get out and pull the boats towards Beach Point. This was not a problem as the water was warm and the bottom firm sand and grass. Our goal was the beach ahead in the photo above. You can just barely see a lighthouse in the distance. The sky was blue and sunny and the surroundings absolutely beautiful.

We eventually got to deeper water and crossed the channel toward Beach Point. We then paddled along the shore toward the lighthouse and rounded into the Cove where a small remote village of weathered gray Cape Cod houses, all on stilts nestled

on the shore. At the far end of the cove, beyond the last houses, we went ashore for lunch. Bruce went on an explore to see what he could see while Alan sat astraddle his boat in the water

(it was brand new - don’t think he wanted to scratch it by pulling it up on the rocky beach), and I had sustenance on the shore.

I found the return to our launch point at Gray’s Beach a bit disorienting. I hadn’t tuned into the fact that we were now at half tide. I’m not sure what I expected, but the marshy area we walked across was now a wide open expanse of water. For

whatever reason, I just couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Thank god Bruce had a map. local knowledge and just a better sense of direction than I do. I might never have gotten home on my own. The photo above shows the area we waded across just hours before.

This was the last paddle of this trip and it was a great one to end with. Many thanks go to Bruce and Linda for hosting Alan, Lisa and me for this extraordinary adventure.

Alan, Linda, Lisa & Bruce

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Yackman Note: Concerned about the time it would take the report to load as one page, I decided to split it into two pages so that I could include more pictures and maps.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Paddling Cape Cod, Summer 2011: Part II