Cumberland, Lincoln & Central Falls, Rhode Island
The small white water just passed Martin Street Bridge was a prime example. In the beginning of June we would run the quick water just up stream of the bridge down the middle of the river. Hitting the rip after the bridge head on and getting a wave of water passing over our decks about chest high. By the end of the month though the quick water had to be run on the Lincoln side of the river and the rip was no more than a quick drop. Another area we saw a great change in water elevation was at Pratt’s Dam. Our first trips in June, we could paddle down the Lincoln side of the fork in the river and approach the dam from the holding pond at the culverts. Each trip we watched the water levels drop to almost five feet and the right fork in the river was closed off to us. Thanks to nature a nice eddy is formed at the culverts on the Cumberland side of the river for easy portage around the dam. Wildlife on the river seemed to change with the month. In May we saw deer on every trip, this month they must have been in hiding with their young. The mute swans are still cruising around Valley Falls Wetland but their nest is abandoned. The kingfishers have returned in three or four locations along our routes. One of my favorite birds, they have a tropical type of sound to their song and watching one dive into the water after a unsuspecting fish is a real treat. We saw larger rafts of Canada geese and mallards along the river with their young. There were more sighting of great blue heron, cormorant, redtail hawks and one wild turkey. In the coves along the river you could watch sun turtles swim just below the surface and if we were quit, paddle up to a 30 pound snapping turtle floating on the surface. The Blackstone has life and doing well.
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We typically like to run guided trips with
no more than eight people on a trek but during the month
of June we had to guide a couple of trips with groups of
ten and twelve. During the month our trips ran from Kelly
Island to the store and the old favorite from the store
to Valley Falls Wetland and back. Like in May we got to
watch nature’s way of changing the valley, not in
the vegetation so much but the water levels.