Quinebaug River - Putnam to Brooklyn - January 20, 2018

Earl heads downstream

One of the first trips that I did with Mike and Chuck was the Quinebaug River from Putnam to Dayville. It was the spring of 2006. I had just bought my solo canoe, and was pretty much a complete newbie. Little did I know that it would be the first of many trips that I would do with these fine paddlers. 

The Quinebaug River arises above East Brimfield Lake in Sturbridge and flows generally southeast for 60 miles through MA and CT to Norwich where it joins the Willimantic to form the Shetucket. Since that first trip with Mike and Chuck, I have driven past the Quinebaug many times on my way to other rivers.  When I saw that Earl had posted a Quinebaug trip on the Flatwater Message Board, I decided it was time to go back.

Ice at the take out

We met at 10:00 at the canoe launch at Simonzi Park (80-82 Kennedy Drive, Putnam, CT 06260), and decided to extend the trip past Dayville to Riverside Park (18 Day Street, Brooklyn CT 06234) – a trip of about 11 miles. The river was a nice level – 700 cfs on Putnam gage, and the weather was warm – almost 50°. 

The run was uneventful from Putnam down to Dayville. About a mile past Route 101 is the Rogers Dam, which we portaged on the right. We played in the easy rapids below the dam before continuing downstream. Along the way we saw various ducks, a bald eagle, and a golden eagle - a first for both of us. We couldn’t find the boat launch at Riverside Park, so we ended up taking out below the power lines a little upstream, which involved a long carry back to the cars. Still a fun trip

Quinebaug River from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo.

Links:

My Pictures
Earl's Pictures

My Video – Earl below the Rogers Dam

Quinebaug River Paddle Guide

Putnam Gage