Retreat Meadows Access to Prospect St. Access via Wantastiquet

Starting Date: 
Friday, July 24, 2020
Starting Location: 
Retreat Meadows Access
Days On The River: 
2

Retreat Meadows Access to Prospect St. Access via Wantastiquet

Beautiful time of the year for this trip.

- Dropped off truck at Prospect St. then drove adventure car with gear and canoe to Retreat Meadows Access.
- Loaded and dropped into the cove area, left the adventure car roadside
- Pro tip - to get out of the cove and to the Connecticut River, look for the dam ruins and pass through at that point, otherwise passage is too shallow to go. Took most of the first leg of the trip just figuring out how to get out of the cove.
- Canoed past a cool waterside restaurant, the town of Brattleboro, and lots of boats (lake-like atmosphere)
- Pro tip - you know you found the campsite by seeing a trail off the water with a campsite sign hanging on a tree
- Camped overnight - pleasantly surprised to find a picnic table and outhouse, also a rake and some wood gathered.
- Pro tip - access from the water to the trail up to the site was a little tricky - keep items in canoe under 30 lbs per bag and make your life easier by one person handling items on the shore while another stays on a log to load / unload. Note - the log you used the day prior may not be there the following day - you may have to improvise with logs.
- Other pro tip - there is a highly active red squirrel at this campsite that literally makes noise all night - bring ear plugs if you are a light sleeper.
- Continued down the river - so many cool things to see - lots of wildlife.
Pro tip - to pull out at Prospect St., we went around the island at left on the south side before the dam, and then under a tiny bridge.
Other pro tip - we generally found navigating via physical map and cell phone (google maps) as the most effective way to find everything.
- Pulled the canoe out, loaded gear in the truck, truck went back to start for the adventure car, left truck at the start, drove the adventure car back for the canoe (racks setup on this vehicle) then drove back to the start again, bought epic cheese at the artisan cheese store by Retreat Meadows Access then went home.

Great trip! Beautiful sunsets. Nice spot.