Massachusetts paddle

Submitted by B-rock on Wed, 08/07/2019 - 19:45
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Trip Planning and General Discussion

I'm wanting to do a 2 or 3 day trip on my kayak in Massachusetts. As I'll likely be solo, and have not been on the CT river yet, I have some concerns.

Is it a fairly slow moving river in Mass? Is it upstream navigable so I can go down and them back up or vice versa?

I'm looking to camp at one of the amc campsites, do a good bit of fishing, not too concerned about covering long distance on this trip.

GregBW's picture

GregBW

Wed, 08/07/2019 - 23:00

I just finished a paddle from White River Junction to Holyoke on Monday. The river tends to be very slow moving for several miles leading up to each dam, maybe 10-15 miles are basically a mill pond. There was a decent length of river with some current after Turner's Falls, but I'm not sure where exactly the current stopped. I think there was still some current for a while after the Whately Oaks Campsite. The dams tend to release late in the day, so you may get more current then. I slept at the Whately Oaks campsite, which was very nice. Both Whately Oaks and Hatchery Brook have a nice staircase up the bank to the campsite. Hatchery Brook is near a railroad yard and is noisy during the day at least.