Transitions

From this bend in the river you could turn and paddle against the current toward Canada, or float easily south, finding your way to Long Island Sound.

At the border of Vermont and New Hampshire, the Connecticut River is lined with trees stripped bare by the cold and wind. Most of the colors of fall are gone and the deep rusty yellow and orange that is left behind will turn gray around the time of the New Year.

Ice will form along the banks. Snow will gather, first in the north, and then gently blanket the south like a down comforter being spread across the length of a bed from headboard to footboard.

By March, the snow and ice will begin to melt, the waters will rise making the river difficult to navigate, and a leafy canopy of green will return to the shoreline.

For now, the river goes about its business, slowly carrying the decaying foliage of summer and fall toward the ocean, churning it into fertile silt, depositing it over the tops of farmland along the way, and providing for the wild things that call the river home.