Birds and planes take flight over the Connecticut River
You’d think that spotting a bald eagle, observing ospreys’ courting rituals and hiking up to a historic castle would have made for a great kayak/hiking excursion the other day, but ducking under a trio of small airplanes that practiced takeoffs and landings wound up stealing the show.
“Wow! This is the highlight of the trip!” Andy Lynn exclaimed, as he and I paddled on the Connecticut River beneath planes that were performing touch-and-go maneuvers at Goodspeed Airport in East Haddam.
It was like the harrowing scene in “North by Northwest” — except the planes that we saw weren’t really trying to run us down. Still, they came in so low I felt I could have clipped their wings by raising my paddle vertically.
This close-up viewing experience took place at the end of a combined kayaking-hiking escapade that began and ended at Eagle Landing State Park in Haddam, on the west side of the river, just below the East Haddam Swing Bridge.
After we launched, I had counted on a powerful current — swollen by recent heavy rains, and carrying logs, branches and other debris — to propel us downriver, but a gusty, headwind from the south scuttled that hope. The breeze off chilly water also made us wish we wore some