Willimantic – February 10, 2018

David running the dam

With another warm weekend in the forecast, I put out the word to see who would be interested in paddling on Saturday. I thought about the Branch, or maybe Shannock to Richmond on the Pawcatuck, but Jonathan suggested the Willimantic, which worked for me. 

The Willimantic River arises in Stafford Springs and flows south along Rt. 32 to Willimantic where it joins the Natchaug River to form the Shetucket River. As I was scouting the river, I saw a car with an orange kayak drive by – unusual for February. It turned out to be Dave Nowak who met us at the put in on Plains Road. We decided to run the section from Stafford Springs down to Merrow Road in Mansfield – about 11.5 miles.

Jonathan running the dam

After running the shuttle, we put-in at the Municipal Parking Lot on River Road at around noon. At this level (4 feet, 300 cfs on the Coventry gage, 1.8 feet, 200 cfs on the Merrow Road gage), this section is just barely runable. About a mile down is a small dam that we ran just left of center. Quickwater continues through a small gorge just above the bridge at the Plains Road put-in. Today actually would have been a better day to run this since the gage jumped a foot overnight.  Oh well…

From there, the river alternates between flatwater and quickwater as it twists and turns along Route 32. We did out best to pick our way through the shallow channels, and stopped at the surf wave at the old bridge abutment below the Route 195 Bridge. It was just starting to rain as we pulled into the take-out at Merrow Road at around 3:30. 

Links:

My Pictures

Coventry Gage

Merrow Road Gage

Willimantic River Alliance