July 3, 2016 Holyoke Dam-Chicopee- Springfield-Thompsonville
Happy 4 th of July. We are blessed to live where we can breathe free.
On June 30, I swam from Springfield, MA to Thompsonville, CT (just above the breached dam near Enfield). For those interested in scull rowing, the entry point for this swim is a boathouse in Springfield about a mile or so above the Basketball Hall of Fame. Terrific people and great facilities – especially since they ignored me as being a lunatic for wanting to swim in water that could be sculled or rowed or whatever you call it. Also, they took pride in passing me and yelling their comments – I have designed in my mind a hand carried very small mini torpedo paint ball for the future! Nice folks – just different.
This is a tour of most of Springfield – lots of being trapped between Route 5 on the west side and I-91 on the east side. You get the whole picture of 50-100 years of industry and commerce with very little indication of river use for trade or resupply – very few jetties, and almost no commercial docks of any kind. Mostly, rail and highways.
Anyway, for the information of whoever does the printed online version of the access points under CT River Paddlers Trail — this is a correction you should note: the distance posted from this point to the Thompsonville boat ramp is about 5 miles. It is, in fact 9.37 miles (GPS). It is worth noting because of the next swim – please read all the way through to July 2.
This swim is again full of surprises – very very shallow for long stretches. At least half of this swim for the eastern 2/3rds of the river, I could touch bottom. With one very large island heavy foliage and large trees and lots of sand, I decided to try swimming inside to the east side for passage. I could see the full river in the distance beyond the island on both sides when making this decision. However, I went from 3-4 foot deep water to barely 3-4 inches for a long ways. I finally realized that I would need to walk to the west side of the island for deeper water. Even, then it was a while before finding swimmable water. Then it became deeper. This reach was interesting to the extent there were more homes along the way and few bridges as well as a few fishermen.
There was little indication of a much earlier time, partly due to the influence of the old breached dam at Enfield – likely built when small mills needed some water power. The current stays pretty strong throughout this area.
July 2 – From Chicopee-Medina boat launch (great ramp) to the Springfield boathouse. NOTE again: This is shown as about 8 miles in the online version. It is 3.72 miles.
Faster water and fewer shallow places. More fishing and some recreational boating-first I have seen above Enfield. Part of this is also due to the break above Medina ramp entry – the Holyoke Power Dam and rapids.
The stretch below the dam has one very poorly done entry for small fishing boats or kayaks-canoes. Due to low water, and a long stretch of repeating rapids as a result, I am skipping roughly 4 ½ miles from the put in to the Medina boat ramp. If water conditions continue with no rain, I am concerned that this might become a more frequent issue.
Including up to the dam, I am going to be at a take-out above the dam on the next swim at about mile 82.5 (from Long Island Sound).