On this evening's paddle on Hopedale Pond there will be two options: 1. Paddle up the pond to the stone bridge and turn around before the beaver dam and paddle back, possibly explore a small cove or two on the way back to the put-in. 2. Go past the bridge, through the short rock maze and portage around(about 25 ft on a path) or over the beaver dam into the flooded Mill River basin as far as we can go. We'll plan to be back at the cars before dark. Taking out at the portage, walking the short trail and reentering the river above the dam will require watershoes or some other relatively sturdy footware (no flipflops or bare feet), and may involve some mud. Trip leaders will provide assistance but you should be mostly self sufficient to take the portage. The area above the dam is an interesting trip, much of the formerly narrow Mill River is now a wide flooded area with many trees killed by being flooded for a few years.