I wrote the Connecticut River Boating Guide with co-authors Wendy and John Sinton. Since I had hand-built my own wooden kayak (named “Canu,” the Welsh word for “to sing” another favorite activity of mine), I wanted her maiden voyage to begin a trip down the river from Turner’s Falls to Long Island Sound, which I completed in 5 days and was accompanied, victorious, by several treasured friends. Shortly afterwards, my dear friend John Sinton re-joined the board of the (then) Connecticut River Watershed Council. I was absolutely delighted and honored when he asked me to join him and Wendy Sinton to co-author an updated Source-to-Sea guide to the river. We three set about making plans in 2003 for a source-to-sea trip while Ed contacted Globe Pequot, the Guide’s publisher. We began our journey at the 4th Connecticut Lake and walked most of that stream down to the 3rd Lake. From there we drove down to Pittsburg, scouting the river along the way, and walked the fisherman’s path to Canaan where the paddling generally begins. All three of us did all the reaches over the next two years as we reconnoitered and then re-paddled and documented our findings. Our stories and favorite reaches can be found in the boating guide. It was such a wonderful opportunity to map the river and its access points, research its ecology, history, and amazing recovery from years of pollution, and to realize that this watershed is incredibly resilient, biodiverse, and essential to the region.