Monday, October 3, 2011

Circus on the Merrimack River

As the photo at left attests, today was a really nice day to be out on the Merrimack River.  The view is looking downriver from alongside Wickasauke Island.
My boat and I had entered the river at Southwell Field in North Chelmsford (Wotten Street).  Upon heading downriver, I heard the rumble of an approaching northbound freight train, so I paddled down to the mouth of Stony Brook in North Chelmsford Junction.  The northbound train was stopped apparently waiting for a southbound train to clear the junction.  I should mention, at this point, that I'm a railfan (aka train nut) and was about to experience some "special" train activity from an ideal vantage point.
I paddled through one of the portals beneath the waiting train and into Stony Brook between two legs of the wye trackage.  Three of the northbound freight's five engines can be seen waiting in this photo...
Shortly, I heard another train approaching and saw the lead engine passing over Stony Brook on the west leg of the wye...
This engine, along with 3 or 4 others, was pulling a long train.  It wasn't a freight train and it wasn't a passenger train.  Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it was pulling the circus train...
Not just any circus train, but the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey, Greatest Show on Earth Circus Train.  It was great, even though there weren't any giraffes with their necks sticking up through the roofs of the train cars.
After the Circus Train cleared the junction (heading towards Westford), a third freight pulled along side the one pictured in the opening photo (which had backed up aways to the south) and headed north, along the river, towards Nashua.  Great way to start a trash patrol!

Turning around near Riverside Cemetery, I paddled upriver recovering trash from the river's west bank to a point just below Wickasauke Island.  There, I crossed the river and circumnavigated the island via the east channel.  Reaching the island's northernmost point, I turned around and snapped a photo of the location where, had it been 350 years ago, the Pennacook sachem Wannalancet may have been standing...
Nowadays, the clubhouse of the Vesper Country Club occupies the spot.

Arriving back at the takeout, my boat was laden with freight...

 The days haul totaled 247 pieces of trash...



I looked through the crowd but found no circus clowns had snuck aboard.  This load broke down as follows: 96 recyclable containers (24 redeemable) and 151 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as styrofoam, plastic bags, cans of spray paint, and an additional 101 Hooksett wastewater disks (aka Kruger poker chips).  YTD total stands at 5441.

My boat and I weren't through for the day, for just after snapping the last photo a family was launching their small power boat.  Somehow the rope securing the boat to the trailer let go when their boat slid into the river and it began floating away.  My boat and I sprang into action and paddled out to the boat securing the owner's line to its bow with a very appropriate bowline knot (one of the few knots I know how to tie).  What a nice note to end a great day on!

1 comment:

Laura W said...

Hurrah for trash paddling! Thank you!