Paddlin' thru Lancaster State Forest

I've wanted to paddle through the Lancaster State Forest for awhile but gaining access to the North Nashua River upstream or downstream didn't look very easy.  This morning I decided to go ahead and give it a try using a put-in at the end of Lancaster Road in Leominster, just upstream of Route 190.  Figuring it would be a one-way downriver trip, I asked Mrs.Trashpaddler to drop me off there and provide a downriver extraction later in the day.

Finding anything resembling a boat launch proved futile so I let gravity take me and my boat down to the river near the point where Jersey barriers block Lancaster Rd....

Shortly after launching I passed under Route 190...

...and some fine fall foliage awaited me downstream from the overpass (opening photo).

The first mile or so was ideal paddling, but after that shallow water became more and more prevalent.  The clarity of the water was impressive and many fish were seen.

At the 2 mile point I encountered the remains of an old mill dam just above where power lines cross the river...

Other evidence of the mill...

According to this report by Peter J. Eggleston, Weitai Hu, and Nicholas J. Noons the last mill to operate here was the American Shoe Shank Company which burned down in 1883 and was never re-built.  Hiking trails provide access to this site from the Cook Conservation Area off of Route 70 in Lancaster.

From this point on I spent nearly as much time walking my boat through shallows as I did paddling.

One impressive sight a short distance upriver of the Ponakin Bridge was the remnants of what looked to be a dam where the Ponakin Mill once stood...

With such low water conditions I elected to walk my boat over this dam's remains (as well as the one at Shoe Shank Mill earlier).

With 45 minutes of daylight remaining Ponakin Bridge became my takeout location.  It had taken me 3.5 hours to cover only 3.9 miles of river. Fortunately I wasn't in any hurry and enjoyed the simple satisfaction of surmounting various obstacles to my passage.

Here's a photo of the Ponakin Bridge taken on 4/21/2014 when I paddled downriver from the bridge...

Some trash rounded up along the way...