Nearly 20 years ago, my dad borrowed two canoes – one from each set of my grandparents – to bring us camping on Selden Island in the Connecticut River. While not incredibly remote in reality, the island is only accessible by boat and has a few primitive campsites that make you feel extremely detached from civilization. My family has been quite a few times since in various configurations, but I haven’t been since early childhood.
In possession of my late grandparents’ canoe since 2019, Morgan and I decided to bring it back to the island for its first visit in two decades. The unique sites sell out extremely quickly, but I set a calendar reminder to book a site the moment reservations opened for the year and scored us an overnight on Memorial Day Weekend.
The day came for our trip, and we loaded up the Prius with gear and the pup and headed south – well, until 45 minutes into the drive my very old car died. Even more than the broken down car, we were really upset that we couldn’t go on the trip we had been looking forward to for months.
Stranded with a canoe and full trunk, my family really came through. My dad came down to lend us his car for the weekend and helped me transfer the canoe and gear over, and my mom and sister met us to pick up my dad and bring him back to Springfield. Our excursion was saved, and I’m so grateful for the supportive and loving family that Morgan and I have.
After making it to Deep River, we unloaded the canoe and paddled over to the island in search of our site. Cooper was thrilled to be back on solid ground and immediately started swimming and splashing with no need for a leash or restraint. After we settled in a bit, I paddled back to load up the canoe and ferry our belongings across the river.
We set up camp, made a fire, and enjoyed some brats and beans. A beautiful sunset across the river led us into the night. To cap off the evening, we were relaxing and playing some Pokémon by the fire when Morgan commented that she felt like we were being watched.
Just a minute or two later, some sort of animal was right there with us and Cooper. Our shrieks scared it off, but to this day we have no idea what creatured joined us or honestly even how large it was. Needless to say, we didn’t sleep too well that night.
The next morning, we took things slow with coffee and a great breakfast. The misty river was quiet and peaceful. I packed up camp as Morgan watched the water creep slowly towards the ocean.
Eventually we loaded up the canoe and paddled across the river. This time, we crossed in one go, the three of us and gear making the canoe sit pretty low in the water. With a storm on the way, we had to navigate sizable waves, but luckily nothing gave us too much trouble (even though I was way more nervous than I let on). As we approached the shore it started to rain. We loaded up the car in the cool mist and then left for the return trip home.
I’m not 100% sure this weekend was “relaxing”, but I do think it was nice to have the novel experience and connection. Maybe we’ll go back sometime under better circumstances for the full experience. Regardless, I’m very grateful for the opportunity to experience this hidden gem.