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Day 1 – Friday, May 19, 2006
Today’s Team: Jenny Pereira, Lisa Aurecchia, John Monroe, Bruce Hooke, and Juan Mariscal
River Level: 322 cubic feet per second (CFS)(as of noon, at the Centerdale Stream Gage). ‘Normal’ for this time of year is about 70 CFS!
The rain was coming down hard when the team met up at Mowry Conservation Area in Smithfield to set up the vehicle shuttle. It seemed appropriate that a journey focused on water should start in the rain, but we were just as glad that the rain had eased up by the time we’d driven up to Fort Nature Refuge in North Smithfield, the starting point for our trip down the Woonasquatucket. Fort Refuge is an Audubon Society of Rhode Island nature refuge and even in the rain it is a very pretty place to walk. The rain made the greens of the spring forest even greener and every pine needle had a little drop of water at the end. The birds seemed to be quite happy singing in the rain. The song of a wood thrush was especially beautiful.
Our journey truly got underway at a small pond at Fort Refuge that has about as good a claim to being the headwaters of the Woonasquatucket as any other place does. It was still drizzling at this point and the calm surface of the pond was dimpled with raindrops. The outlet of this unnamed, natural pond is a little stream that you can jump across in many places. It spills down over a ledge at the end of the pond and then meanders off through the forest on the start of its journey to the sea. After taking some photographs and testing the stream water for dissolved oxygen (there was lots of it), we also set out on foot, back along the trail that parallels the stream, on our own journey to the sea.
On the access road to Fort Refuge we crossed over the still small but growing Woonasquatucket River and then headed out onto the shoulder of Providence Pike (Route 5). As we were walking down the road we saw a hawk circling high overhead. A little later we heard a pack of crows raising a ruckus about something. Was it the hawk that stirred up the crows?
At the intersection of Providence Pike and Farnum Pike (Route 104) we stopped in at an antique store that specializes in old farm tools and suchlike. They had a good collection of old hand pumps, many of which looked quite functional, and a large collection of old milk bottles that brought back memories of days gone by. After a pleasant chat with the proprietor of the shop we continued on our way.
On Farnum Pike we crossed over both the continuation of the stream that comes down from Fort Refuge and the stream that drains Primrose Pond and the wetlands above Primrose Pond. The latter stream is actually a bit bigger than the stream coming out of Fort Refuge, and so may have a better claim on being “the” headwaters, so maybe we will start on this stream when we next make a Source to Sea trip.
Near this second stream we turned off Farnum Pike to follow an old railroad grade that parallels the river in this area, and in fact, continues all the way down to Providence following the river valley all the way. Sadly, we noticed that this area seems to be popular with illegal dumpers. There were a variety of defunct appliances at the base of the railroad embankment, on the edge of a nice wetland. A little further on, however, there was a nicely plowed farm field.
After a while we had to shift back to Farnum Pike because the railroad grade ran into an active sand and gravel quarry.
By this time the clouds were breaking up and large patches of blue sky were cropping up all over the place. Sunshine! Even so, every drainage ditch and watercourse was bursting with water from all the recent days of heavy rain. One of these streams made a beautiful cascade as it dropped down a hillside.
You see so much more on foot than you do in a car, but on foot you also notice just how fast the cars are going!
In one roadside pool we all stood around and watched a frog for a long time, which was somewhat surprising because usually frogs jump before you see them and all you are left with is a splash and an expanding circle of ripples to tell you where you would have seen a frog if you had known where to look a second or two earlier.
Looking down a dirt road that headed off the main road towards the river we could see water flowing right over the road and some of our group saw what they thought was a beaver going across the road. High water is a big advantage to some creatures!
On Farnum Pike, down closer to Mowry Conservation Area, we crossed the Woonasquatucket yet again and looked across the river at the land that is being donated to the town of North Smithfield. This land is a mix of river-bottom wetlands and a pretty hardwood forest. It will be an excellent addition to Mowry Conservation Area.
At last, our feet somewhat tired from walking on paved roads, we turned down Old Forge Road for the final, short leg to our cars, parked at Mowry Conservation Area. Before getting into our cars we admired the beautiful scenery at Mowry and all the water surging down through the old dam there. Tomorrow, if all goes well, we will resume our journey from here, but this time in canoes on Woonasquatucket Reservoir.
Day 2 – Saturday, May 20, 2006
Today’s Team: Jenny Pereira, Lisa Aurecchia, John Monroe, Bruce Hooke, and Juan Mariscal
River Level: 278 cubic feet per second (CFS)(as of noon, at the Centerdale Stream Gage).
Under a blue sky filled with puffy white clouds we carried our canoes down a path next to the river and got ready to launch them into the growing Woonasquatucket River where it flows into the north end of Woonasquatucket Reservoir (Stump Pond).
As we were getting our gear loaded up and testing for dissolved oxygen, a bass fisherman showed up to try his luck at the mouth of the river. The high levels of dissolved oxygen boded well for the health of the fish that the fisherman was there to find.
A brisk west wind was blowing across Woonasquatucket Reservoir, which made paddling hard at times, but not so hard that we couldn’t enjoy pretty sights like the burgundy red lily pads that dot the shallow north end of the Reservoir. Numerous fishermen and women were out hoping to find fish, both from boats and from the shore.
The portage at the newly rebuilt Woonasquatucket Reservoir Dam was easy. We had a launching ramp to take out on and a nice grassy slope to walk down to the edge of the river below the dam. The high water actually made it easier because we could launch from the grassy area rather than from the rip-rap next to the main channel. Woonasquatucket Reservoir gathers the waters of the nascent Woonasquatucket River as well as the waters of Latham Brook; Reaper Brook, which drains Hawkins Pond and Mountaindale Reservoir; and Stillwater River, which drains Waterman Reservoir, Slack Reservoir, and Sprague Reservoirs. So, here the Woonasquatucket starts to feel like a river, and we would soon find out just how much of a river it was.
Below the dam, the river winds through a narrow, forested valley as it cuts through a major north-south ridge that divides the watershed. Near the deepest part of this valley the river is spanned by the soaring arch of the Stillwater Viaduct. Below the viaduct the river opens up into the small, quiet, aptly named, Stillwater Reservoir. This section of the river can most easily be visited by walking down the scenic trail that parallels the river from Woonasquatucket Reservoir to Capron Pond.
On the water, this is where things started to get interesting. The portage we had originally planned from the spillway at Stillwater Dam to the more easterly of the two channels below the dam was overgrown with poison ivy. However, the western channel, which is the channel below the spillway, looked challenging but canoeable, at least as far as we could see down the river, which was not far. So, we carried the canoes along the Stillwater Scenic Trail and then slid them down a steep bank to the edge of the river. While getting our canoes into the water here we saw what we thought was probably a mink on the far shore.
Immediately below the put-in there was a challenging looking chute in the river with brush and rocks on both sides, which had us worried, but in the end it proved to be less difficult than it looked. None-the-less, we were all elated when everyone came through dry and upright. Below the chute the water was still moving right along, but it was not hard to stay in the channel and avoid the brush on either side. That is until an obstruction loomed ahead. A bit of careful inspection revealed that if we could get past the obstruction we would be headed into a sea of rocks and whitewater that would almost certainly result in either the canoes getting jammed among the rocks or us getting dumped out onto the water, or both (the most likely result!). At the bottom of this cascade was a narrow chute through which the water was surging in a most impressive manner. So much for out attempt to follow this channel down to Capron Pond!
Our best escape route was to haul the canoes through the brush and briars and up onto the shore, and then carry everything over a low ridge to the much calmer eastern channel, which is where we had originally hoped to be. There we floated in a quiet backwater and had a well-earned, late lunch.
Capron Pond was quiet and peaceful, but all too short. At the end of Capron Pond Juan switched to being full-time cameraman and headed off in his car to position himself where he could catch us on video paddling down Georgiaville Pond, which we hoped to be doing in short order.
Below Capron Dam there is another stretch of fast moving water that leads up to a pair of tunnels under Interstate 295. Previous investigation had indicated that it ought to be possible to get under 295. So, we slid the canoes down a steep bank and shot under the Capron Road Bridge, enjoying the exciting ride the river provided here, for about 500 feet, until we got close to the highway. At that point we wisely decided to stop and investigate the situation before plunging ahead into the tunnels under the highway. Standing at the top of the sloping ramps that lead into each tunnel we could see light at the far end, but we could also see waves bouncing off the sides of both tunnels creating a confused mess of turbulent water that we finally concluded was unrunable even if we could find a way to get the canoes and ourselves safely down the ramps, which looked questionable in its own right. So, John and Bruce waded back up stream pulling the canoes, while Lisa and Jenny had the harder job of struggling through the brush on the shore. After a bit of that we had to switch to everyone wading through the brush on shore, with the canoes and the gear in hand and on our heads. At the end of all of this we, our canoes, and our gear were finally back at the pleasant landing next to Capron Dam that we had left a good 45 minutes earlier. It was time to call it a day! We were considerably short of our intended destination but also considerably more knowledgeable about the river, not to mention more than a bit worn out.
It felt like the river was saying “Yes, I am indeed a real river!”
Juan was pleased to hear from us by cell phone because he had started to wonder were we had gotten to, and we were pleased to reach him because he was our ride back to our cars. Lisa was left with the canoes and gear while the rest of us headed off to get the cars. Just as we were pulling out it started to rain, first softly and then quite hard. We were concerned that Lisa would be soaked by the time we got back, but when we got back she had, in traditional style, propped up a canoe to create a nice shelter for herself and the gear so both she and the gear were dry, and the rain had quite nicely stopped again.
Day 3 (part 1) – Sunday morning, May 21, 2006
This Morning’s Team: Jenny Pereira, John Monroe, and Bruce Hooke
River Level: 227 cubic feet per second (CFS) (as of noon, at the Centerdale Stream Gage).
Day 3 got underway at the historic Smith-Appleby House, at the north end of Georgiaville Pond. As we were unloading our canoes a hawk circled over the hill to the east of the house and then slid off to the north across the highway. At the launching site a carpet of small, but wonderfully sweet smelling plants carpeted the ground. Above our heads, as we paddled down Georgiaville Pond, was a cloudless blue sky.
At Georgiaville Dam the water was surging over the spillway and down into a narrow rock-lined channel that could be called the gorge of the Woonasquatucket. This channel is completely manmade, but it is spectacular none-the-less, and easy to get to by walking along the dam from the town beach.
We carried our canoes over the earthen dam and down to where the river emerges from the rocky channel. As soon as we got onto the river we were carried quickly downstream and around a bend, where we were brought to an abrupt standstill by a tree down across the river with just enough clearance under it to pass a canoe – as long as nobody was in the canoe! So, we carefully worked the canoes down along the shore until we could slide them under the tree while we climbed over the tree.
Below the downed tree we had a glorious run down through the woods of Georgiaville. The river was high enough to cover most of the rocks and keep us on our toes, but not so high that it made things too difficult. The canopy of trees spans all the way across the river in many areas here. This run felt like a reward for all of yesterday’s hauling, clambering and wading through water, brush, and poison ivy!
At Whipple Field we rescued and returned a yellow softball that landed in the river just ahead of us. By the time we pulled out at Cricket Field we had seen at least four more such softballs floating in the river, so losing softballs to the river is clearly a common problem at Whipple Field!
There was enough water flowing over the Esmond dam so that we could run it, but it was a little dicey. If the river had been about 6 inches higher we would have cut through the marsh above the left side of the dam and slid the canoes over it there in the quieter water outside of the main channel, but at the current water level the marsh was impassible. At lower water levels the top of the dam is dry in places and so canoes can be portaged right over the dam, but at those water levels the river is very rocky in many places in this reach. At certain water levels this could be quite a tricky spot, and some work on a better portage here would be a good thing.
Going past Benny’s in Esmond there is a small drop that at lower water levels can require you to drag the canoe through brush and over a low wooden weir, but today there was a good channel that took as past this spot. At lower river levels this channel is full of rocks. A little further downstream we had to duck down into the canoes to slide under a couple of low bridges.
In what seemed like no time we were at Cricket Field and our take out. Clouds were overspreading the sky by this time, warning of the approaching cold front and associated thunderstorms forecast for later in the afternoon. We had hoped to end day 2 at Cricket Field and to use Day 3 to paddle the lower river into Providence, but the delays on day 2 forced us to abandon this plan. So, at Cricket Field we loaded our canoes back onto the cars and headed down to Providence to join up with the big group that was gathering to paddle with us down the final mile and a half of the Woonasquatucket River.
Day 3 (part 2) – Sunday afternoon, May 21, 2006
This Afternoon’s Team: Too many to count, let alone list!
River Level: 227 cubic feet per second (CFS) (as of noon, at the Centerdale Stream Gage).
With storm clouds gathering on the western horizon we scrambled to get everyone who had showed up into a boat and onto the river so that we could get back off the river before the storm broke. It seemed like the river was filled with canoes and kayaks by the time we set out. Some people paddled down from Donigian Park, and found the sharp bends in the river challenging at this water level. Most of the group put in at the end of Sims Avenue in quieter water near the Watershed Council office and The Steel Yard.
Lisa and Jenny led the assembled paddlers in a Woonasquatucket chant at Waterplace Park and then we pushed on to the landing at South Water Street, arriving just ahead of the rain. Everyone was quite grateful that it was just rain and that the thunderstorms held off until later in the evening.
Thank you to everyone who showed up for the final leg! It was a great show of support for the Woonasquatucket River!
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Source to Sea on the Woonasquatucket 