It has been so much fun exploring the waters of the Upper Valley on our kayaks for the article I’m writing for Upper Valley Life magazine.

My two favorite kayaking companions, Jay and Goldie, joined me on an exploration of the area where the Ompompanoosuc River (try spelling that three times fast) flows into the Connecticut.

Since the whole point of paddling, for us is exploring nooks and crannies at the speed of a biological organism, we headed upstream on the Pomp (as it is often referred to locally) instead of downstream on the Connecticut. (Though we do intend to get back there because that part of the CT River does have islands and nooks galore–but we were on a schedule.)

It took a while to get away from the traffic noise coming from Routes 5 and I-91, both of which have bridges spanning this area. But once we left that roar behind, it was so great to be on the river.

There were ducks and mergansers galore, a hunting great blue heron, kingfishers, flocking redwing blackbirds discussing which route to take south, and a jabbering flock of crows that squirted out of the trees on both sides of the river as we paddled along.

At first, we thought the crows were talking about us (they are the guardians of the airwaves, after all) but then we spotted the distinctive profile of a merlin on the hunt.

Those black-feathered yakkers harassed that little hawk upstream and finally off their river.

And then it was really quiet.

When we got back to our truck, there was a Momma duck taking her turn on the welcome-back committee.