Mystic, CT: Through Time and by Four Bridges

   Looking for a place to entertain a group of widely diverse ages?  Mystic , Connecticut fits the bill.  Mystic Aquarium and Mystic Seaport both have activities and displays aimed at all ages.  Nearby are the Submarine Force Museum (free!), nature trails and beaches.

But beyond the attractions, West Mystic is an attractive town.  Grand Federal and Italianate houses line the upper river.  If you’re out on the Mystic River in the morning, you may see rowing crews practicing. 

     We headed out on the river at 5:00PM, having been delayed by a late lunch/early dinner.  The MysticRiver (Hand Carry) Launch is on  River Road, and from there you can paddle up to a dam further upstream, or downstream past Mystic center to Long Island Sound (and beyond.)  Good news , no no-see-ums bothered us, either at launch or later as we came in.

The trip begins by passing under I-95, and its two closed sprandrel arch bridges.*  We paddled down the west side, clinging to shade, admiring the many fine houses.

     Soon we were at the second bridge, a trebuchet styled drawbridge.* Conveniently located there is the Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream Café, which unfortunately did not have water side service.

Trebuchet Drawbridge*, Ice Cream Cafe in green, Condominiums in brick

     Lower Mystic has a variety condominiums, both newly built and located in renovated industrial buildings.  Alongside the condominiums, marinas line the shore.

     Most of the marina boats were pleasure craft, but a few fishing vessels had berths, along with this houseboat, which I doubt sees much movement.

     Our next bridge was a full sized Erector Set Train Bridge,*  which rotates on a giant gear below.

    We headed east of Mason Island.  The private aids to navigation in that area seemed to be in different places than noted on the chart.  This is the shallow side of the river, particularly at low tide,  much more carefree than the channel to the west.

    The smallish bridge to island is fixed* with a clearance of 3 feet, so I suspect this area sees little traffic much of the time. 

    Long Island Sound was once again quiet.  We circled round Dodges Island.  Off in the distance Fisher Island (NY) and Latimer Reef Light beckoned, but we’d started too late in the day for that adventure.

    Instead we paddled back, by  deer on Andrews Island, and back through Mystic center. 

     It’s entertaining to paddle by the ships of Mystic Seaport, though no substitute for visiting the museum.  You can see the figurehead on the Joseph Conrad(top photo).

   Currently, the last wooden whaling ship in the world, Charles Morgan, is on shore being refurbished.  You can climb to the top of this huge ship for an amazing view. 

The Charles Morgan is wrapped in plastic

      When we visited Mystic Seaport last May we did just that, and also had great fun with the simulated tug program.  This time we were surprised to see the slightly incongruous, Theodore Tugboat in the harbor, just for a short visit.

    It was a wonderful evening to be out, so it was no surprise that several other kayaks were out as well.  Just a delightful evening paddle.

 * bridge style names range from somewhat accurate to completely made up.

Summary:  Launch Mystic River Hand Carry Launch, 660 River Rd, Groton, CT.  Small dirt pull off and dirt launch.  Launch 5:00PM, finish 7:30PM, 7.4 miles around Dodges Island and back.  Low Tide about 7:00PM 

Branford Harbor

     The next morning couldn’t have been more different than prior evening.  No rain, not even a cloud in the sky.  No need to paddle around with the radio on listening for reports of thunder.  There was some mist rolling about, but it was light and decorative.

     As to the no-see-ums.  Well, forewarned is forearmed.  We’d simplify our kayak loading and be on the water in no time.  At 8AM, we were the first arrivals at the Branford River ramp, there at low tide.  At 8:02 an entire convoy of construction equipment appeared, and immediately began discussions of how best to repair the ramp before the tide changed.   So the bugs had a small feast while we confirmed that we could park our car and use the ramp.

      Branford River seems to be mainly a storage location for boats.  We passed by two large marinas and I knew of others further up river.  Handy poles marked the boat channel, kayaks can easily paddle outside the channel.

Parker Memorial Park, the beach partially obscured by foreground rocks

  At the mouth of the river is Branford Point, and Parker Memorial Park.  Once a huge resort hotel, it was donated to the town.  The town tore down the hotel and put in the beach.  (Early photos of the area can be found at Branford.patch.com ) 

   Parker Memorial Park is a public beach, but with very limited parking for non-Branford residents. Amusingly Branford’s Recreation Department website states that public parking for the beach is available at the boat ramp.  At the boat ramp, signs say parking is for fishing and boating only.

                We headed along Indian Neck, admiring sights, the granite shoreline

          Variety of seaweeds exposed by the tide

        And cleverly located beach houses.

       As we came up on Jeffery Point we got a whiff of a nearby seabird colony.  Turns out, Spectacle is an island you can navigate by nose. 

       Before we reached Spectacle though we passed by Clam, with its array of modest homes.  And past this classic house on Sumac.

The Connecticut shoreline has no lack of overgrown houses on undergrown islands, though nowhere are they as tightly gathered as at the Thimbles.

         Sumac also had a wide variety of birds on it; a tree full of egrets, blue herons, oyster catchers,  and geese.

                Spectacle was more specialized with cormorants and herring gulls guarding their stick and seaweed nests, while black backed gulls waited in the corners hoping to take advantage of unwary parents.  I did a search to see if Spectacle was an actual bird sanctuary without finding any results.

     From Spectacle we turned west, heading across the harbor to Johnson Point and by a nice flashing buoy.

    And a gander keeping watch over his flock. 

     The goose is keeping watch on the grounds of Killiam’s Point, a retreat owned by a local church.  On occasion services are held by the cross, and I can’t help but feel the goose was inspired to be a good shepherd.

                Long Island Sound was quite quiet, so mostly we kept our eyes to the shore, admiring the great variety of houses, like this English Cottage with fortified cellar to retreat to in case of attack.

       As the clouds rolled in from New York, we headed back to the launch.  There the construction crew was still hard at work getting the area ready for the summer crowds.  They were done with the ramp though, so we could land easily and head off to our next adventure.

Along the Branford River, condos for crabs below, condos for folks above.

Summary:  Branford River Ramp, on Goodsell Rd, off Harbor Rd, Branford Ct.  A large field for parking, 2 portapotties.

An Aside About Access and other Resources: CT

   In researching any trip, finding out about access point is always important.  I often rely on guide books, Paddling.net's launch site map, and internet searches.  

One internet search led me to Connecticut Water Trails, which I mentioned at my Thimble Islands post.  Under Coastal Paddling, Connecticut Water Trails listed only one launch point for Branford, the Stony Creek Dock.  It did not list the public launch on Goodsell Avenue.   

    In Connecticut, unlike Maine and Massachusetts, the intertidal zone is publicly owned.  That doesn’t mean access to the water is unlimited; there is no right to cross private land, or use private docks to reach public water.  And many towns, including Branford, guard access to their beaches by providing a parking area for residents, and no parking anywhere nearby for nonresidents.  So I thought failing to mention the launch on the Water Trails was a part of a plan to concentrate the “general public” in a few areas.  After all, there is also no road sign at the intersection of Harbor Street and Goodsell (in BranFord) stating a public launch is available.    But when I looked on-line to see if Spectacle Island was a bird sanctuary, a link brought me to the Connecticut Water Trail.  Their page for Spectacle Island listed the access point for the island  as the Branford River Boat Launch.  It’s failure to be listed on the Coastal Paddling site is more likely to be just an oversight, as it is listed in the boat launch section.

  And as I looked about the site further I found that Connecticut Water Trails does link to the State of  Connecticut site about public access and a very complete list of access points.

  So I thought I’d list here a few more sites about water access:

  Finding access points in Connecticut:

  Paddling.Net  Launch Site Map

  Connecticut Water Trails:  Be sure to check Coastal Paddling Access  Coastal Access   and Boat Launches

    The site is confusing to maneuver about.

  The State of Connecticut's Coastal Access Guide:  About Coastal Access  Town Search for Coastal Access

  Information about  beach access in general:

  Beachopedia

The Thimbles – Magic islands

    Salmon colored granite islands sprinkled across a green sea.   Fishing boats in the harbor.   Abandoned quarries which once sent granite to New York and Washington to build grand memorials.  A shoreline dominated by huge “cottages” awaiting their summer guests.

     Thus far the Thimble Islands, off Stony Creek, Connecticut sound like Stonington, Maine, but there are key differences. 

     There are many Thimble Islands, up to 365, depending on the tide and the generosity of the counter.  But rather than being scattered across a wide bay, they are concentrated in a tiny region, within two miles of the shore.   Also many Thimbles appear to be dominated by houses with greater square footage than the island possesses. 

      And forget landing on the islands- most are privately owned, festooned with no trespassing signs.

     Outer Island, a National Wildlife Refuge, is open weekends from June to September for a limited number of visitors. It was not open on the day we were there. 

     But access matters less with islands packed as tightly as these.  You can circle about and back and forth along the shore a few times in a couple hours. 

     There was so much to see.  Grand houses were getting ready for summer.  Backhoes and gardeners seemed to be everywhere. 

    It appears palm trees are the new must-have plant.

    Hundreds of terns danced over the sea; it must have been mating season.

    As a young girl, I once was invited to a gathering on Money Island.  Living near a lake, I eagerly awaited winter so I could explore the lake’s two islands.  But this was my first visit to an island by boat.  Money Island is covered with a cluster of small cottages.

Money Island

    It was a magical place, a neighborhood with no cars, a rocky shore to scramble over and explore.  And the tales I heard:  “Garry Trudeau owns a whole island.” “Captain Kidd buried treasure here.”  “Tom Thumb lived here.”

      A few years have passed since that first visit.  And parking by the ramp certainly hasn’t increased.  So the Thimbles are a good place to explore off season.  And our visit wasn’t ideal, there were rain showers, and on shore there were clouds of no-see-ums hungry for guests. 

Count the bugs...

      But still it was worth it, the Thimbles launched my love of islands, which call me out to explore every day. 

Summary:  Launch from Stony Creek (a division of Branford CT) town dock.  No kayaks are allowed on the town beach.  A portapottie is available.   About 1.75 miles in a straight line to Outer Island.

Bear Island used to have a quarry on it; granite from there was used in Grant’s Tomb, the Lincoln Memorial and the base of the Statue of Liberty.   Granite from an active quarry in Stony Creek was used on the Brooklyn Bridge and Grand Central Station.

The Thimble Islands are a part of Connecticut’s Water Trails.

More Information:

Connecticut Water Trails

Thimble Islands Wikipedia