Burr Pond Kayak

On Monday, our homeschool hiking group had a fantastic stroll around Burr Pond in Torrington.  (Wrote about it here.) This afternoon, B and I went back with our kayaks.

The weather was absolutely stunning - clear, sunny, and mild.  We started at the boat launch and followed along the western edge of the pond.

There are a lot of water lilies and other vegetation growing from the bottom.  As long as I am in my kayak, I am fine with that.  I don't really want to touch stuff like that when I am swimming, though.

The great thing about kayaking is the different perspective it offers you.  When we were here the other day, we saw a lot of great things, but out on the water, we could get up close and personal with some of the inhabitants. In fact, one of the inhabitants was not too happy to see us.

Not quite half-way down the western shore, there is an island.  B had seen it the other day and wanted to explore it.  There is a very narrow, shallow waterway separating the island from shore.  B decided to cut through there while I went around.  I met him at a place near the cut-through where he could put his kayak ashore.  As I floated nearby, I heard a loud splash just out of sight, back the way I had come.  I assumed it was a hiker on the nearby path having fun lobbing rocks into the water.  It happened again.  And another minute later it happened again.  By now, I was curious and paddled to where I could see out into the pond.  At the same time, B noticed the sounds and we both realized it was a beaver!  It was swimming back and forth between the island and the shore and periodically it was diving and slapping its tail on the water.  Loudly!  Apparently, he was not happy to see us.

We headed out towards the main part of the pond and drifted a bit to see if we could see the beaver again (and I was hoping for a picture), but no luck.  I hadn't seen the beaver's lodge on the way past it the first time, but when I looked for it, it was obvious.  There was a large pile of sticks on the side of the island.  We didn't want to agitate it any more, so we left.

Beaver lodge.

We continued our paddle to the far end, where a peninsula juts out into the pond.  We didn't do this little out-and-back trail when we were hiking the other day, so we poked around in our kayaks a bit.  It was very pretty and the rocks and pine trees reminded me of Maine.

Again, the kayak allowed B to get up close and personal with wildlife.  This time it was three ducks.  Two seemed to be taking a nap in the sun, but the third was giving herself a cleaning.  They didn't seem to mind having him there until a slight breeze pushed his kayak and he bumped the rock.  He paddled away and they were soon back on the rock.

A little more exploring and we spotted a Great Blue Heron.  They are pretty skittish, so we didn't approach too closely.  While we were watching the heron, I saw an Osprey swoop down into the water.  He must have missed what he was aiming for because he wasn't carrying anything as he flew off over my head.

Great Blue Heron.

It was a great day for a paddle and B said he liked this much better than the Farmington River.  He thought there was more to explore here.  We headed back to the boat launch and took our kayaks out, making sure to check for any plant material and wiping the bottoms.  It was kind of funny then, when a few hours after we returned home, we went to take the kayaks out of the van, and a frog hopped off of the life jacket strapped to the back of B's boat!  Fortunately, we have a small pond just across the road.  We hope our froggy hitchhiker will be happy there.