Stonington, 6.23

[gyork]

Skip report, go straight to slideshow.

Doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been there before, the anticipation of paddling in the premier East Coast destination cannot be denied. M had a spur-of-the-moment week off, and Mother Nature willingly obliged to provide a decent window of a Tuesday-Friday sojourn. We could’ve chosen Naskeag over WBS, but opted for the latter, despite the additional Mile. The 4.5 hour drive up was accompanied by scattered showers, though the forecast had promised decent weather. Once on the water, we didn’t experience any precipitation the rest of our stay.

       

 

During the 5 mile paddle to basecamp, we saw threatening clouds to the south and west, but were able to "outpace" them. After setting up tents, we opted for the ~mile-and-a-half hike around the island, and were surprised, midway, that the island had experienced a slight dusting of snow that would later disappear, with temps in the high 60s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were intent on having a nightly fire, and the voicemail permit# I had been waiting 2 days for, had finally arrived.

 

M has taken her campfire cooking to a new level, and we enjoyed, over the supreme days, mushroom/onion/cheese/garlic/green bean tacos, mushroom/onion/pizza, fried egg/cheese biscuit “sandwich,” and mixed, milk/dark chocolate pancakes with homemade syrup for dessert, all whipped up in the cast-iron skillet.

 

We had a subdued IT for the warm, sunny days in Stonington; a “dime tour” of the archipelago was split into 2 nickels, Wednesday and Thursday, southerly and northerly, respectively, with prolonged lunchtime stops on Steve and Potato, filled with food, sketching and napping. The short, beautiful loop hike on Green was a first for me.

        

 

A highlight of our day #2 paddle was a stop at the town dock, where we greeted Maria (MITA), and, almost simultaneously, met the daughter whose father generously donated their island, our basecamp, to MCHT! The senior couple had motored into town to enjoy an ice cream cone nearby, and, of course, we followed suit.

 

Before we knew it, Friday was upon us, and we needed to leave our island paradise for home, retracing our initial route, happy not to encounter fog that had been forecast for that morning.

 

[EEL]

Gary, has the yellow school bus gone to that great dry dock in the sky?

Ed

[gyork]

Certainly not, Ed, and I suspect it shall serve as my casket, once bulkheads (the front hatch has a small leak to the cockpit and is in dry dock [?wet dock], awaiting a suitable window for aquaseal repair) are removed.

[kate]

One of these days I'll manage to camp on that island. Seems to me to be the supreme location in an area rife with excellent campsites. I doubt that my meals will be quite as good as yours were....