Great Swamp - May 18, 2019

Running the beaver dam above
the South County Bike Path

Chuck was supposed to lead to RICKA trip at Great Swamp today, but with reports of many downed trees, he decided to cancel. Instead, we did an early morning power-paddle of the route to scout it for a future trip. 

We met at the take out at Biscuit City Landing at 8:00 for the shuttle up to Taylor's Landing. The day was warm with a slight breeze, which we knew we would feel a lot more on Worden Pond. The river was at a nice level – 6.5 feet, 45 cfs on the West Kingstown gage. 

View of Worden Pond from the
Stony Point campsite

The trip itself is a Rhode Island classic. We put in on the narrow Chipuxet River, and weaved our way through swamp grass and over beaver dams down to Worden Pond. At Worden Pond, we paddled along the northern shore to checkout the campsite at Stony Point before continuing over to the Pawcatuck River.  

While the Chipuxet River feels like a marsh, the Pawcatuck River feels more like a jungle as it twists and turns though a hardwood forest covered with wild grape and poison ivy vines. We took a break to check out the Impound at the Great Swamp Management Area before heading down to the take out.

Pawcatuck River approaching
the Usquepaug River 

It took us just under 4 hours to complete the 7-mile trip. The upper section of the Chipuxet was clear (except for one beaver dam at the South County Bike Path bridge), but there were a lot of blow-downs on the Pawcatuck between Worden Pond and Biscuit City. We were able to paddle over or around all but one, which required a short portage. In lower water there would be a lot more portages.

The trip was uneventful except for one swim – me. I was just downstream of the put in when I leaned over to go from kneeling to sitting, and over I went. Not the place I would expect to have my first swim of the year, but you never know.

First swim of the year - you never know!

Links:

My Pictures

West Kingston Gage

Biscuit City Landing

Taylor's Landing