Recreation
Read about all of the seasonal joys of river recreation: fly fishing in the spring, frostbite sailing in the winter, kayak and canoe trips, riverside bicycle tours, and camping.

Casting About: The “Eighty-Eight”

December 1, 2024

I’m going to introduce you to an effective fly that I doubt you have ever heard of, nor are you apt to find it in any fly-tying book, fly-fishing catalog, or in any fly shop. It’s called the Eighty-Eight....

Central Watershed Outings: An Apple a Day

September 1, 2024

Visiting scenic orchards of western Massachusetts while enjoying fall foliage, a quintessential New England combination, is a favorite autumn tradition of mine. It’s a great opportunity to support local family-owned farms, which are becoming increasingly rare....

Casting About: Farmington River, Part Two

September 1, 2024

In the previous issue (Summer 2024) we looked at the fabulous dry fly fishing found in the “year-round” Trout Management Area (TMA) on the upper West Branch of the Farmington River in Connecticut. In this issue, we broaden our view, taking in the two other TMAs on the upper Farmington....

Casting About: The Farmington River

June 1, 2024

Fly anglers are dyed-in-the-wool optimists, forever believing the next cast or the next bend in the river holds the fish of a lifetime. It is a creed we live by, and in no place does it spring more eternal than on a blue-ribbon trout stream such as Connecticut’s Farmington River....

The Connecticut River Raft Race

December 1, 2023

With all the decorum of a college fraternity on house party weekend, the annual Connecticut River Raft Race will celebrate its 50th anniversary on July 20, 2024....

Casting About: The Salmon River

November 30, 2023

South of Marlborough, Connecticut, south and west, a river runs. It is not a large river, yet it holds a large place in many an angler’s heart. They know these bright waters, and wade its riffles and runs, dreaming of trout dancing on a fly line....

Fly-Fishing the Headwaters

September 1, 2023

Some of the finest fly-fishing in all of New England takes place in the headwaters of the Connecticut River, in Pittsburg, New Hampshire....

Mount Sugarloaf

September 1, 2023

Last fall I set out once again to witness the magnificent foliage of Mount Sugarloaf in the late afternoon light....

Casting About- New Column Starts with Fall Issue

June 1, 2023

In the Fall issue of Estuary, Ed Mitchel will begin a regular column on the fine art of fly-fishing throughout the Connecticut River watershed. The column, entitled “Casting About,” will feature stories from Ed’s long association with the fly-fishing world, including the best environs for fish, equipment, attire, and skills required, as well as the best places to go for the best results....

Farmington River Fun: Recreation for Everyone in the Valley

June 1, 2023

From the observation room at the top of Heublein Tower on Talcott Mountain, you stand almost 1,000 feet above the Farmington River. The magnificent castle was a summer retreat promised by Gilbert Heublein to his wife, Louise, and opened to the public in 1974. Today, it stands just off the New England National Scenic Trail and has one of the best views in southern New England....

Tour de Lyme

March 10, 2023

Octogenarians to tykes unite and pedal the pavement and trails for a good cause....

Team Drive

March 1, 2023

Way back when, Smith College’s different look and a different outlook....

Tour de Lyme

March 1, 2023

Octogenarians to tykes unite and pedal the pavement and trails for a good cause....

Ride the Connecticut River on Two Wheels

August 31, 2022

My husband, Paul, and I love to explore by bicycle, and we love a water view. When you can combine the two, it’s a recipe for a great day out. The Connecticut River affords many attractive options. In this article, I describe one on the lower Connecticut and one in New Hampshire and Vermont....

Brattleboro Hinsdale Bridge

May 31, 2022

A greenway with historic bridges and an island park, community connections to businesses, social services, recreational trails, and revitalization of downtown Brattleboro, Vermont: these are among the many benefits associated with a long-anticipated new bridge at the Connecticut River Route 119 crossing between Brattleboro and Hinsdale, New Hampshire....

Rowing

December 1, 2021

Dating back to the 1800s, it’s been an image tied to the Connecticut River: rowers in shells—long, impossibly slim boats—cutting through the water, powered by four or eight students, each hauling on an oar and steered by an ever-encouraging coxswain....

Duck Hunters

December 1, 2021

The Hartford portion of the Audubon Christmas bird count is unlike any other in the Connecticut River Watershed....

Autumn

September 1, 2021

Fall is for walking, and among the many attractions in the lower Connecticut River Valley are the numerous and varied trails in the 1,000-acre Preserve, which one can enter from the north via Ingham Hill Road in Essex, where there is public parking....

Deerfield River

September 1, 2021

With a largely undeveloped watershed stretching from the Green Mountains of Vermont to the Berkshire Hills and Pioneer Valley in western Massachusetts, the Deerfield River is one of New England’s most picturesque and historically significant waterways....

Fort River

May 31, 2021

The Fort River Birding and Nature Trail is a well-engineered, universally accessible trail that opened in 2014. It allows visitors of all abilities and ages to experience the diverse habitats and wildlife....

Questing

May 31, 2021

You walk into a dark grove of trees, chanting the rhymes of a poem. You note the bundles of five needles and long cones that mark these as white pines. And then it is on to the next clue, and the next....

Rail Trails

March 1, 2021

Diverse rail trails help preserve the central Connecticut River watershed’s rich railroad heritage. After many of the region’s railways, including the extensive Boston and Maine Railroad network, discontinued during the twentieth century, conservation and community organizations created trails on the abandoned corridors....

Sailing into the Wind

March 1, 2021

Among my favorite memories is when my sailing camp got the whole day to race against each other in different sailboats....

Cold Weather Safety

November 29, 2020

“Maybe better that we die because then we won’t be embarrassed.” So muttered I to my duck hunting partner as the outgoing tide took our eight-foot pram and us, shivering and soaked to the skin, out from the mouth of the Connecticut River towards the grim waves of Long Island Sound on a freezing winter day many years ago....

Turners Falls Area Winter Birding

November 29, 2020

In March 2019, a flock of 20 tundra swans made an unexpected overnight visit to a historic canal at Turners Falls, Massachusetts, one of the Connecticut River watershed’s finest winter birding destinations. The swans, which breed in the Arctic and overwinter on the mid-Atlantic coast and other regions, delighted fortunate observers before departing the next morning....

Early Morning Row

September 1, 2020

The best time to row is early in the morning when the water is quiet and the only people on the river are morning fishermen and crabbers....

My Secret Ledge

September 1, 2020

When I go there now, two or three times every week, I walk to the end of one road and trudge up a broken old woods road into the state forest....

Headwaters

September 1, 2020

The first thing that hit me was the smell—a damp, woodsy, uplifting aroma that can only be described as the scent of Christmas. After several hours in the stale air of my car, the pungent aroma of balsam fir was invigorating...

Nature’s Heart

September 1, 2020

Everyone has a favorite place in nature. Ours is a rocky outcrop rising 300 feet above our village on the Connecticut River. Native Americans called these ledges above the stream valley Tomheganompakut, meaning “at the Tomahawk Rocks.” The hard, granitic schist was the source of their stone axes, or “Tomhegan.”...

Cycling the Valley

June 1, 2020

There’s good reason that magazines such as Outside and National Geographic have repeatedly recognized Northampton, Massachusetts, and the small communities surrounding it, as one of the best places in America for outdoor activities. The three counties hugging the banks of the Connecticut River in Western Massachusetts boast easy access to dozens of state forests and parks, a national scenic trail, dramatic views and, of course, the ever-present river, threading through the center of the Valley....

Take Me Fishing!

June 1, 2020

Can you take me fishing?” If you are a parent who fishes, that request from your child may prompt the proverbial happy dance. Most anglers pray that their kids will follow in their waders. However, if you can’t tell an improved clinch knot from a Windsor, or a yellow perch from a bullhead, you probably would rather be asked where babies originate....

My Love Affair With Kayaking

June 1, 2020

When I was nineteen, I moved from Texas to Massachusetts to attend Hampshire College. I had lived my whole life up to that point in a hot, flat landscape, so when I moved North, I wanted to get to know the landscape as intimately as I could....

Watery Wilderness

June 1, 2020

The Connecticut River meanders for almost 200 miles from north to south along the entire border between Vermont and New Hampshire. It’s a gentle river, beloved by paddlers of all abilities for its unspoiled shoreline, abundant wildlife, and ample public access points....

Whitewater Paddling

June 1, 2020

There is perhaps no better way to enjoy the outdoors—particularly the parts of it inaccessible by roads—than by canoeing or kayaking our rivers and creeks....

Home Waters

June 1, 2020

The first time I fished the Scantic River with my father, a great blue heron soared directly toward us through a gauntlet of sycamores, only yards away, his wingtips stretched seemingly from bank to bank. I can’t even remember how many fish I caught that day, but since then this small tributary of the Connecticut River has become my seventy-year-old father’s favorite stream....