Farmington River - West Branch & Satans Kingdom

[loafer89]

I spent the day with my son on the the Farmington River in Connecticut. We started out on the West Branch of the Farmington River above Riverton near Hogsback Dam.

The water level was very low and probably at a bare minimum for kayaking, but we had fun anyway. I paddled 6 miles to the take out point at Peoples State Forest.

We drove down to the Satans Kingdom area and paddled another 2.5 miles among the many people who were tubing this section of the river.

 

[snowsprite]

Satan's Kingdom is a beautiful stretch of the river. However, the only time I tubed it was a very bad experience. It had rained for perhaps 3 or 4 days and the river was really hopping. We didn't think about the effect on the river (or rather, the effect for me...I'm a really bad swimmer with water phobias that I work hard to keep in check).

Anyway I ended up almost drowning. That river can be rather wild after a few days of rain!

Sprite

 

[loafer89]

I am curious as to what the river is like at a higher level, as right now there is barely enough water on the Farmington to make it worthwhile to paddle, and required a bit of draging our kayak :x

I was expecting a little bit more excitment out of Satans Kingdom, but other than playing tuber dodgem, it was kind of boring.

I can fully understand how the river might be at a higher level though, as I have ran the Housatonic WAY above floodstage.

I also saw fish in a Connecticut river for the first time, along with beer cans, car tires, and garbage :roll:

 

[bvibert]

I am curious as to what the river is like at a higher level, as right now there is barely enough water on the Farmington to make it worthwhile to paddle, and required a bit of draging our kayak :x

The river can get pretty high and fast, when I was a kid we had a similar experience to snowspritect's further down the river from Satans Kingdom. Big rapids, especially for tubes, my Mom was really worried as she waited for us at the other end...

I also saw fish in a Connecticut river for the first time, along with beer cans, car tires, and garbage :roll:

Sad isn't it?

 

[loafer89]

Satans Kingdom had plenty of water at that point in the river, as both branches of the Farmington meet up just above that point. There were some nice rapids, just nothing really frightening, but I was in a strong, well built inflatable kayak, not an inner tube So my perspective was somewhat different.

The Farmington East Branch is sparkling clear and very narrow in most spots, you can see down to the bottom in at least 5-8' were the river is deep. I saw trout for the first time in 10 years of paddling in connecticut. I have NEVER seen any river fish of any kind on the Housatonic, yet now the river has low water to make the fisherman happy :angry: :evil: :x

South of people's state forest there was alot of beer cans on the river bottom, and enough car tires for a few cars. The facilities in people's state forest were outstanding with bathrooms, picknick areas and river beaches

I want to return with high water.