The Osgood is one of my favorite rivers. Many times I’ve put in at Jones Pond, canoed the winding outlet to Osgood Pond, and continued across this bigger pond past White Pine Camp and its charming teahouse to the start of the river. From there it’s about two and a half miles of blissful paddling to the remnants of a timber-and-stone dam.
This part of the Osgood flows past a vast wetland that bears a resemblance to Canadian muskeg. A black-spruce forest grows on the opposite shore. Boreal birds, herons and ducks dwell on or along the river, which in summer is adorned with white and yellow water lilies and purple pickerelweed.
And that’s only the Upper Osgood. I’ve also canoed the Lower Osgood from the vicinity of the Hays Brook Truck trail to the river’s mouth at Meacham Lake. This meander offers a smorgasbord of scenery—eskers, swamps and marshes—as well as the opportunity for side trips to three wild ponds.
