JOURNAL

Steve Grant Steve Grant

Paddling West Thompson Lake

An advocate of free-flowing rivers, count me among those who think we have far too many dams choking our rivers, even our brooks, thousands of them just in Connecticut.

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Steve Grant Steve Grant

A Peaceful Morning Paddle

Paddled the 361-acre upper basin of the Moodus Reservoir in East Haddam this morning. It was one of the few bodies of water of any substantial size in Connecticut that I had not previously explored. Needed to see this lake.

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Steve Grant Steve Grant

Exploring the Pequabuck River

Explored the Pequabuck River by kayak yesterday, something I’ve wanted to do for years. A tributary of the Farmington River, it enters the Farmington just north of Meadow Road in the town of Farmington, having drained 58 square miles in Bristol, Burlington, Farmington, Harwinton, Plainville and Plymouth.

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Steve Grant Steve Grant

A New Look At Henry David Thoreau

In her new biography, “Henry David Thoreau, ” Laura Dassow Walls documents nicely and in detail how deeply engaged with his community Thoreau was, hardly the hermit that is the image many people have of him.

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Steve Grant Steve Grant

The Annual Christmas Bird Count

I met Steve Kotchko along the banks of the Connecticut River in Wethersfield several weeks ago to participate in the 118th National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count.

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Steve Grant Steve Grant

Disappointing Fall Foliage Color

I’ve said many times over the years that the fall foliage color is never truly bad, that, yes, some years the leaf color is better than others, and, yes, some years maybe it is not as dazzling. Well, this year is one of those off years. There is color to be sure, and there are some spectacular trees out there – there always are – but overall, the season is a dud.

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Steve Grant Steve Grant

Paddling on an Autumn Morning

Until yesterday morning it had been at least 40 years since I’d paddled on Pachaug Pond in Voluntown, in southeastern Connecticut.

Wow, has it changed.

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Steve Grant Steve Grant

A Winnipesaukee Week

Spent a recent week kicking around Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire for the first time in years. My daughter, Allison Sterner, her husband, Sean, and their boys, Cy, who will be 5 in October, and Andy, who turned 2 in May, had a cabin maybe 100 feet away from the one Susan and I rented.

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Steve Grant Steve Grant

A Woodland Wildflower Walk

The Henry Buck Trail in American Legion State Forest in Barkhamsted, CT, is such a good spot for spring wildflowers. The strange thing is that until now I had never hiked the entire trail, and it is only a little more than 2 miles long.

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Steve Grant Steve Grant

A Must-Do Hike

I’ve thought for years that the Steep Rock Loop Trail in the Steep Rock Preserve in Washington, CT., is one of great hiking trails in the state. It has it all – a hike up to an outlook with long views of forest and farmland, a nice mix of mature forest species, wildflowers, birds and a long section of the trail following one of the prettiest rivers in the state.

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A canoe returns some of the buoyancy of life.

— Edwin Way Teale, late 20th-Century Connecticut naturalist and author, from “Circle of the Seasons”