With its low self-esteem and high urban blight, Hartford is the ultimate underdog city. Sad City Hartford documents the joys, sorrows and eccentricities of New England's Rising Star.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Park River Legend Grows

Much has been written here about the Park River and Sad City's various attempts to urban kayak the length of Hartford's lost river. Still nothing could have prepared us for what Mark Spencer reported today in the Hartford Courant;

Brian Morelli was standing on a ridge above the narrow river, about 75 yards below, when he heard a loud splash. He turned and saw a foot-high wave roll across water. But what happened next left him staring in a trance.


"This big seal came out of the water with a fish and proceeded to eat it," he said.


A seal in Hartford? It hardly seems possible, but given the remote nature of the river, who knows what could be living in there. Will this story encourage the Sad City team on their urban kayaking mission when the weather gets warm or scare them off? For now the modern day Ahabs can do nothing but wait for the long winter to pass. In the meantime, read about our Park River journeys below.


Hat tip to Sad City friend Farm Boy for having this in our inbox before we got out of bed.


A Day On The River


Discussing The Day On The River on WCCC

Various Park River Pictures

4 comments:

  1. Riverfront Recapture posted this seal in Hartford image a while back.

    http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1163.snc4/150570_10150314089335492_95360575491_16123407_2577526_n.jpg

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  2. http://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hc-hartford-seal-0125-20110124,0,1171533.story


    Here's the courant's article.

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  3. They actually closed one of the bridges on the University of Hartford campus because they saw some weird creature swimming around in the water. Probably this guy?

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