We took a quick lunchtime tour of the Connecticut River in Portland today to see how high the water was. Thankfully, the lack of rain and the very slow snow melt in Massachusetts and Vermont has kept the river under control.
We wanted a more dramatic photo so we hiked halfway across the Arrigoni Bridge between Portland and Middletown. The river was certainly moving fast and there was lots of debris but it had come up only 6-7 feet. Minor flood stage in Middle Haddam (the closest depth gauge south of Portland) is 7 feet and that's just about where the river was.
We made a quick visit to the marina and the crew was moving the docks into place, ready to put them in the water as soon as the new pilings are installed. We're sure that will take some time and that will probably delay us from getting the boat in. But, we still have some minor things to do so we'll be kept busy.
The bottom of this stairway is usually about 5 ft. above the water
The spring freshet is the only drawback to winter storage at Portland Riverside. In the almost 30 years that we've had a boat here, we've only floated off the poppets once and that was in 1988. We were on the boat as she floated and we started the engine and, when it looked safe, we motored down the driveway very slowly and tied the boat to one of the buildings. They came and got us with a rowboat.
That year, the crew towed every boat that could float out into the river and anchored them, ours included.
A number of times over the years we've had water come up far enough to get into the shed where we're stored but not quite far enough to float us. We keep a pair of waders in the garage for the next time that happens.
April 2007 - the last time water actually came into the shed
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