Sunday, May 29, 2011

Assabet River - Powdermill to Damonmill and Return

This morning, while on the way to a boat launch in an adjacent town, I happened to be crossing over the Assabet River in the town where I live.  Suddenly, it occurred to me that springtime water levels won't be around much longer and that there might still be enough water to paddle the 1.3 miles of the Assabet from Acton down to Damondale. 
So,  I turned my car around and headed to the Acton Canoe Launch...


I've only paddled this stretch once before and on that occasion a considerable amount of lining was required due to the river's shallow and rocky nature.
Upon launching I decided to paddle  the short distance upstream to the Powdermill Dam.  This was easily done with one little piece of lining at a gravel bar and I soon found myself near the base of the dam...


During the spring 2010 floods the old concrete pillar in the center of the river was submerged.
Here I turned around and headed downriver, passing under Rt. 62 twice in less than half a mile.  On the right shore is the Valley Sports skating facility and on the left, after the shopping plaza is Assabet Sand and Gravel.  This water intake structure may be related to the sand/gravel operation...

It was after rounding this bend that the opening photo was taken.  From this point down to Damondale the river is scenic and tranquil with only a few shallow riffles.  There were many Canada geese along with mallards and a few wood ducks.  One musquash surfaced near my boat and a few good-sized carp were seen.
Soon enough, I reached the old Damonmill Dam which was breached many years ago...
This was my downriver terminus and I headed back to the put-in.
Just when I was thinking how unlikely it would be to see another boat, I encountered 2 fellows fly-fishing from an aluminum canoe.

Near the skating rink these yellow flag were in bloom...
 After passing under the Rt. 62 bridge, more fly-fishermen were encountered...
There has been a program to restore trout to this area of the river and the south bank is posted as a "Catch and Release" zone.
I did have to line my boat through this spot as it was just too shallow to paddle upstream. 
Around the next bend was the take-out and all passengers disembarked at trip's end...
Today's catch of 62 pieces included 22 recyclable containers (2 redeemable) and 40 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as plastic bags, styrofoam, a nip bottle, an absorbent boom, what looks to be part of a car fender, and a few bait tubs.  My YTD total stands at 2813.  Plastic bags were clearly the trash du jour!
After seeing this section of the Assabet and combining it with the section between Powdermill and Ben Smith Dam, I'm left to wonder if the word Assabet meant "rocky and shallow place" to the Native Americans.

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