{"id":3055,"date":"2019-09-19T23:31:01","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T03:31:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/?p=3055"},"modified":"2019-09-20T06:51:34","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T10:51:34","slug":"the-levees-were-dry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/the-levees-were-dry\/","title":{"rendered":"The Levees Were Dry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The next ride I went on this year, in early June, was a brief one, but I explored some out-of-the-way spots in the city of Chicopee. I started by riding across the Willimansett Bridge to get into Chicopee, and then rode on the dirt path along the levee that runs essentially from where I-391 crosses the Connecticut River, down to where I-90 crosses the river. I’ve ridden that path a few times in the past, but when I got to the southern end of it, where one cannot pass I-90 (AKA the Mass Pike), I had always ridden back to main roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this case, I went just a little ways from the river, and then followed a side street that does pass under the freeway. It comes to the gate of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, but then turns west, back toward the river. I followed the road that way, and it goes down to a boat ramp where one can launch into the river. Shortly before going down to the river, though, that road crosses the continuing levee. I started riding along this levee, which bends away from the river toward the east, as there is a brook (which seems to be called Crowfoot Brook) that flows into the Chicopee River, just before the Chicopee empties into the Connecticut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The levee here had a more substantial seeming dirt and gravel path than the levee to the north of I-90, despite not being marked on the map, the way the previous one is. In any case, here are some pictures I took of the brook\/inlet, seen from the levee (click to embiggen):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Waterway<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Waterway<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I rode a little ways further along this levee, until it ended by some railroad tracks, and I had to exit onto a road again. This brought me out onto Route 116 near an interchange with I-391 (and by the studio of local TV channel 22). From here I was able to ride across the Chicopee River into downtown, and then got on the Chicopee Riverwalk. This is a short piece of paved trail that runs on the south side of the Chicopee River. On that pavement, I encountered a small rabbit (a young ‘un, I think), which seemed surprised and confused by something moving as fast as I was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the pavement ends, it turns into a dirt path that continues through the woods, a bit above the river and behind\/below a number of businesses. Here I saw another baby rabbit (which scampered into the underbrush as I approached). I followed this path (another one I had not been on) quite a ways up the river, until it ended on a smallish levee by a parking lot. I rode through the lot and emerged on Main St. and then went over to Route 33 to head north. From there, I rode back up toward Holyoke, and crossed the Connecticut on the Willimansett Bridge again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next rides were longer ones, occurring in early July. Stay tuned…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The next ride I went on this year, in early June, was a brief one, but I explored some out-of-the-way spots in the city of Chicopee. I started by riding across the Willimansett Bridge to get into Chicopee, and then rode on the dirt path along the levee that runs essentially from where I-391 crosses … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3055"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3059,"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055\/revisions\/3059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}