2017 Year End Review

Thursday Night Tville

2017 started off with a New Year’s Day run on the Housatonic, and ended with an early December trip to the Slatersville Reservoir. In between, it was another great year for paddling.  

I did 56 trips this year, which is a little below my 7-year average of 58 trips. I did a few new trips including the Housatonic, the White, and Great Swamp. As always, I did a lot of RICKA trips, and helped to organize the Flatwater Training at Stump Pond and the SUP Night at Lincoln Woods. I also did several trips with the CTAMC including the Upper Millers, Westfest, and several Thursday night runs at Tville; and one with the NHAMC - the White. Here are some of the year's more significant trips:

January - New Year’s Day on the Housatonic, Assabet – Maynard
February - Fife Brook
March - Branch Rive Icebreaker, Assabet – Acton to Concord
April - Upper Millers, Otter Brook
May - White – Granville to Stockbridge, Tville, Great Swamp
June - Thursday Night Tville, and more Thursday Night Tville
July - Lower Deerfield, Pawcatuck – Shannock to Richmond, Point Judith Pond, Wickford
August - River Bend Farm, Lower Deerfield
September - Pawcatuck – Alton to Bradford, Seekonk, Westfest
October - Lower Pawtuxet, Piscat Drawdown
November - Upper Millers, Assabet – Acton to Concord
December - Slatersville

Here are some of my favorite trips from 2017 from RICKA Movie Night.

RICKA Movie Night - Erik Eckilson from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo.

I got to paddle almost every day of my summer vacation in Narragansett. 


Scenes from a South County Vacation from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo.

In  addition to the RICKA Wilderness Overnight, I also did a great Columbus Day Weekend camping trip on the Upper Connecticut River with Bill, Tommy and Mena.  


Camping on the Upper Connecticut from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo.

I did a little more hiking this year, mostly with the Papa Joe Hiking group:

Mass Central Rail - Holden, MA
Nonet Woods - Dover, MA
Bearsden Conservation Area - Athol, MA
Mount Pisgah - Berlin/Northborough, MA
Noon Hill - Midfield, MA

In terms of my resolutions from last year, I didn’t do so well on rolling practice, but I did get some camping in. Resolutions for next year;

Practice rolling – I’ll keep including it until I do it.
Do at least one camping trip – hopefully two with one in the spring and one in the fall

Overall it was another great year, and there are still plenty of rivers to paddle, plenty of trails to hike, and plenty of places to go camping. Bring it on!