Burdickville

41° 25.032' N    71° 43.74' W   See this location in: Google Maps   Map Server   Acme Maps

This is a site for launching hand-carried boats and it is also a portage. This typically means that to continue paddling down the river past this site you will have to portage your boat around a dam or other obstruction.

Description & Overview:

Good places to park are hard to come by at Burdickville. There is just enough room to pull off and unload your boat and gear, but the area closest to the canoe launch is marked "No Parking" and the road is narrow and closely lined with trees and vegetation in many areas. In looking for a place to park, please be considerate of the local residents and make sure your car is not blocking the road or intruding on someone's lawn. If you do find a place to park your car it would be a good idea to leave a large note on the dashboard saying you are on a canoe trip and when you will return since this access site is lightly used and people are probably not used to seeing strange cars parked along this road. However, the best idea may be to avoid the need to park at this site at all and just treat this is a portage rather than a put-in or take-out.

If putting in or taking out here you'll need to use the small, awkward, steep path leading from the road down to the river about 50 feet before the dam. This access is on river right, where the road parallels the river. If you are putting in here, or if you have paddled to here from up-river and plan to continue downriver you can portage around the dam on the other side of the river (river left). Or you may run it in the fast water right of center, close to the little masonry "island." Only at high water should the dam be run down the middle.

About a mile below Burdickville, above the next take-out at Bradford, there are a group of unofficial paddle-in campsites in Burlingame Management Area. The sites are on the left. For more about the uncertain status of camping at these sites, see the listing for the Burlingame Canoe Campsites.

The DEM landing at Bradford is about 3 1/2 miles downriver from Burdickville. For more about the river below Bradford, see listing for Bradford Landing.

The Wood-Pawcatuck River Guide is highly recommended for paddling on the Wood-Pawcatuck river system.

This site provides access to the following water bodies in the Pawcatuck River watershed: Pawcatuck River.

Location:

Town: Hopkinton

Driving Landmarks: Burdickville Road branches off from RI Route 91 0.7 miles east of the junction with Route 216 in Bradford. The put-in is 1/2 mile down Burdickville Road from Route 91. It is on the left side of the road, 100 yards from the bridge.

Access & Waters:

Water 'Features' At Site: breached dam, flatwater/slow moving river

Note: Because one boat launch can access, say, both a lake and a river or both the upstream and downstream portions of a river, not all paddling trips at a given site will necessarily encounter all of the features listed.

Type of Access: Boat launch for hand carried boats

ADA Accessible Boat Launch? no

Shoreline: The trail to the put in is only about 25 feet long but it is narrow and rather steep. It is just above the breached dam at Burdickville. The shoreline is soft but is firm enough to stand on.

Float/Dock: no

Approximate Length of Carry between Car Access and Water: 25 feet

Parking:

Parking: no

Sources for More Information:

AMC River Guide: 4th Edition, page 137

Other Guidebooks: Paddle 27 in "Paddling Connecticut and Rhode Island"

Website: How to order the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association's River Guide

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