Lower Wood River - July 7, 2024

Heading out

It has been years since I've paddled the lower section of the Wood River. The first trip that I have record of was July 3, 2010 with Henry, but I know that I paddled it before that. The last time I was here was May 19, 2012 on a camping trip with Jim. Not sure why it took me so long to get back.

The Wood River arises in Sterling, CT and flows 25-miles to the Village of Alton where it merges with the Charles to form the Pawcatuck. It received Wild and Scenic River status in 2019. There are two sections of the Wood River that are popular with paddlers – the upper Wood River from Route 165 in Exeter to the Wyoming Dam with a portage at the Barberville Dam, and the lower Wood River from Switch Road to the Alton Dam with a portage at the Woodville Dam.

One of several blow-downs

I was the lector at 8:00 mass, so I wasn’t sure I would make it in time for the 10:00 shuttle. Fortunately, I did. We put in at around 10:30 from the Switch Road Wood River Access. In the first section the Wood River is… well… wooded. There were a couple of blow downs that we had to maneuver around, and one that we had to portage. The river was at a nice level - 150 cfs, 2.5 ft. on the Hope Valley gage.

The river opened up as we approached the deadwater from the Woodville dam. The banks were lined with white and yellow water lilies, purple pickerelweed, pink swamp roses and white swamp azaleas – very pretty. 

Below the Woodville Dam

We took a break for lunch at the Woodville Dam before portaging the dam. Below the dam there is a short wooded section, but then you enter a large marsh which is the deadwater for the Alton Dam. We stopped at the rope swing for a swim before continuing down to the take-out at the Alton Dam.

We saw a lot of other paddlers on the river, but none of them had on PFDs. I guess they don’t watch the NBC 10 News.

The crew at the put-in

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My Pictures

Hope Valley Gage