4 year olds first trip - pawcatuck, some questions
Posted by Alastair Cairns on 10/2/2021, 11:15 pm
Hi there. I'm planning on taking my son this coming weekend on a very brief overnight on the pawcatuck.
I'm an experienced canoe camper with many long trips under my belt but I haven't canoed a stroke in Rhode island, despite living here for years. I've always gone somewhere further afield, but now with my kid starting to show interest, I'm wanting to do a very easy first experience for him. He's been in canoes before but never camped, and I think he's got a couple consecutive hours on a canoe in him.
I've looked at the resources available, thinking of either:
1)canoeing upstream from the Bradford mill landing, and heading to the Burlingame sites.
2]Canoeing downstream to those Burlingame sites from Bradford/jay cronan fishing access. Looks like there's a portage here .. is there any later downstream put in to shorten this for my kid?
I've also walked to the Carolina campsite before, but don't see a logical route there with a 4 year old... Too tricky? Correct me if I'm wrong on that.
Any thoughts or recommendations? These sound reasonable for an easy paddle? My questions are twofold. One, am I fine paddling upstream from Bradford mill basically solo?
Two, I'm quite confused by the status of the Burlingame canoe campsites. Some websites indicate a permit is required, others say they are first come first serve, others seem to indicate they no longer exist but wink wink you'll be fine. Will I be fine relying on these sites? My kid will learn to camp correctly and leave no trace, but I don't want his first experience to be us being hassled by a ranger.
Re: 4 year olds first trip - pawcatuck, some questions
Easiest is to put in at Bradford and paddle up to Burlingame - no shuttle required.
You could put below the Alton Dam on the Wood River and paddle down to Burlingame. Take out it a Bradford, so a shuttle is needed for this option.
Shuttle is also needed for the Carolina Campsite - put in at Lower Shannock Falls and take out at Jay Cronin/Richmond.
I am not aware that permits are needed for the campsites. There was a time when permits were needed for large groups at parking areas, but they haven't done that for years.
Re: 4 year olds first trip - pawcatuck, some questions
Probably a little late seeing this...Erik has some good advice. Another option for the Carolina campsite is to paddle upstream from Jay Cronin, although that is a pretty short trip. Bradford to Burlingame is better, in my opinion.
If putting in at either Alton or Jay Cronin and going downstream, there is the broken Burdickville Dam to contend with. There is a fairly straightforward Class II chute right of center. Portage route is on the left. It's not bad, but its not great...some rock walls to clamber over and down.
I hope you had a good trip if you went already!
-Chuck
Re: 4 year olds first trip - pawcatuck, some questions
We are going to go next weekend, weather permitting. I'm quite excited, I've had him in a canoe before and he loved that, and he's tickled about the idea of camping with me.
You've both reinforced that the Bradford to Burlingame seems like the obvious easy choice, not too long, no portages, flat water, and from what I've seen the sites look nice and there's enough that capacity won't be an issue, especially this time of year.