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

Links:

My Pictures

Hope Valley Gage

Wood/Pawcatuck Camping - May 19 - 20, 2012

Heading downstream

It only takes me a few minutes to pack for a business trip – throw a few cloths in the overnight bag and hope for the best. That was not the case as I prepared for my first canoe camping trip. I spent a couple of weeks getting my gear together.

The trip took place on a pleasant section of the Wood/Pawcatuck Rivers between Hopkinton and Bradford. The plan was to camp at the paddle-in campsites at the Burlingame Management Area. After running the shuttle, we put-in on the Wood River behind Dow Field. The river starts off narrow and we immediately had two large blow-downs to negotiate.

Lee running the first dam

Our first portage was also just downstream at the dam for the old Hope Valley Mill. We portaged on the left and put into the quickwater below the dam. Below the Hope Valley Mill is another low dam at the gauging station. Fortunately at this level (2.5 ft, 180 cfs at Hope Valley; 3.5 ft, 100 cfs at Arcadia), the river was high enough to run this dam.

By this time, we had been on the river for a couple of hours, but had only travelled a mile downstream. We stopped for lunch at the Switch Road Landing before continuing our trip.  Below Switch Road, the river is wooded and scenic. The river turned more marsh-like as it approached the second portage at the Woodville Dam. Below the Woodville Dam is river is deeper with good current.

Setting up camp

As we approached the final portage at the Alton Dam, we could see that a large group of boy scouts was already gathered at the take-out. We carried through the group, along the way learning that they also planned to stay at the Burlingame camp sites. We put-in down the steep bank at the bottom of the dam, and once we got back on the water, regrouped to discuss our plans for the night.

Knowing that the Burlingame camp sites would be crowded, we decided to change our plans and camp a little further upstream at a boot-leg site at the convergence of the Wood and Pawcaturck Rivers. Up a small hill we found a large fire ring and a pleasant pine grove. There was plenty of room for three tents and two hammocks. We set up camp, cooked supper and sat back to enjoy the evening campfire.

Running the broken dam

On Sunday, we broke camp early and began our trip down to Bradford Landing. We ran the broken dam at Burdickville and stopped to check out the Burlingame campsites. While there were some open sites, we all agreed that we made the right decision to camp upstream.

We continued downstream to Bradford which was the official end of our trip. Jim and I decided to extend the trip a little longer and continue down the Pawcatuck to check out the campsites at the Grills Preserve of the Westerly Land Trust just downstream. It was pleasant paddle down, but a little more work paddling back up against the current to our cars. I arrived home by 1:00 after a great weekend trip.

Links:
Wood River gage near Hope Valley
Wood River gage near Arcadia

Wood/Pawcatuck - July 3rd

Had a good time yesterday on the Wood/Pawcatuck Rivers. We had 10 boats – 5 canoes (1 tandem) and 5 kayaks. Trip was about 11 miles with 2 dams to portage (Woodville and Alton) and a broken dam that we ran (Burdickville).

We put in on the Wood River around 10:30 from the Switch Street (Hope Valley) Landing. In this section, the Wood River is… well… wooded. The river got shallow in spots, but there was always plenty of water (50 cfs, 2 ft. on the Hope Valley gage).

The river opened up as we approached the deadwater from the Woodville dam. I was looking for the Mountain Laurel blooms which supposedly line these banks, but we must have missed them. I did see plenty of purple pickerel weed and white water lilies.

We portage the Woodville dam and continued downstream. There is a short wooded section just below the dam, but then you enter a large marsh which is the deadwater for the Alton Dam. Wild roses lined the river in this area. We stopped for lunch at the rope swing before continuing down to the dam.

Beyond the Alton Dam, there is another short wooded area before the Wood River joins the Charles River to form the Pawcatuck. From here, the Pawcatuck is wider and deeper. After a couple of mile of easy paddling we approached the broken dam at Burdickville.  We ran the chute on the right without incident and continued downstream, arriving at the Bradford Landing around 3:30.