Taunton River - Weir Village Park to Dighton Rock

Today I was fortunate in being able to paddle a section of another Massachusetts river designated as Wild & Scenic.  The Taunton River, stretching 40 miles from Bridgewater to Mount Hope Bay, is said to be the longest undammed coastal river in New England.  It is also the principal river in the Wampanoag region and its Native American name, Titicut, means "great river".
In preparation for my visit, a wealth of information tailored to paddlers was found on the  Web site of the Taunton River Watershed Alliance.  I decided to launch at Weir Village Park in Taunton and ride the ebbing tide down to Dighton Rock State Park.  This required getting underway as the sun was just beginning to illuminate the old mill buildings across the river (photo above).
Heading downriver, I passed the Taunton Wastewater Treatment Plant and below that a power generating plant having the largest cooling tower I've seen...

A considerable amount of water was cascading from top to bottom. 

Reaching the confluence with Three Mile River, I paddled up as far as the Route 138 bridge...

In addition to boulders such as the one seen here, I encountered the first of many ospreys and their occupied nests...

A variety of wildlife would be seen today such as a raccoon, belted kingfisher, green heron, blue heron, cormorant, red-winged blackbirds, Canada geese, mallards, mute swan, and red-tailed hawk.  It was the ospreys, however, that dominated the day, especially in the area of Berkley Bridge and Dighton Rock.  They were everywhere...

This boat had two masts and two ospreys...

 This one splashed down but would come up empty taloned...

The fishing must be good to support so many of these "fish hawks".  At times there were as many as 4 circling overhead. 

It was just about 9 am when Dighton Rock State Park was reached...

The namesake boulder is now housed inside the museum building and can be seen by appointment.  The park staff had not arrived yet, so my chance to decipher the ancient petroglyph will have to wait for another visit.  A tablet explains that there are 4 theories currently in play...

In the area of Dighton Rock the river has a salt water feel and look...

Another 8 miles below this point is where the river empties into Mount Hope Bay and the area called Pokanoket by the Wampanoag people.  Pokanoket and, most likely, Titicut were the home waters of Ousamequin (aka Massasoit).  It is probably quite likely that the great sachem paddled these same waters himself on occasion.

However, for me Dighton Rock would be my turnaround point and my trip back upriver commenced.

At a sandy spot along the way, the day's modest trash haul spread out... 

There were 24 recyclable containers (6 redeemable) and 29 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as plastic bags, styrofoam cups, and nip bottles.  YTD = 3265

Today's enjoyable time on the Taunton River left me wanting to experience other sections of this river in the future...