Monday, October 31, 2016

Connecticut River Convergence

The Connecticut River looked dreamlike and inviting yesterday morning as I headed upriver from the Pauchaug Boat Launch in Northfield, Massachusetts.

My goal was to explore the confluence of the Connecticut and Ashuelot rivers and make it to the Vernon Hydro Dam 2 miles beyond the Ashuelot.

Leaving Massachusetts and entering New Hampshire I soon encountered the remains of a Boston and Maine railroad bridge...
 ...which spanned the river between Vermont to the left and New Hampshire to the right.  The bridge's demise was brought about when the pier closest to the Vermont side tilted in that direction.

This red-tailed hawk enjoyed the morning sun on the Vermont side...

About 3 miles upriver I came upon Upper Island...
...where the wake from the first of only 3 other boats I would encounter all day was encountered.  The river got shallower at this point and the current became stronger.  Because of this, I passed by the Ashuelot confluence and continued north to see if I could overcome the current and make it to Vernon Dam.

I pushed past the west side of Stebbins Island and eventually reached a small island just downstream of Vernon Dam...
 ...where this eagle with a banded leg was waiting to greet me...

Perhaps expecting me to go past, he reversed his perch...

Another eagle was about 25 yards away...

Both watched over the river from the island closest to Vermont's Governor Hunt Recreation Area where I enjoyed lunch.

Returning to the river I then glided with the current down to the large Stebbins Island which is surrounded by very shallow conditions...

Staying river left soon brought me to the Ashuelot confluence where I entered its much smaller confines...
The former Boston and Maine RR bridge just up from the confluence serves now as a rail trail...

It was worth the climb to see the view the bridge provided of the confluence and my boat...

Clouds were rapidly filling the sky.

On my return trip to Pauchaug I stopped briefly a little downriver of the old railroad bridge piers and admired the remains of what was once a very majestic tree...
It's not often that I see a tree having this much girth, and I was left to wonder if this tree might be old enough to remember the events of 1675 when during the conflict known as "King Philip's War" a Native American war party sought refuge in these parts.  Following a February raid on the settlement of Lancaster, MA the Native Americans and their captives including Mary Rowlandson spent several weeks heading to the west and north.  Reaching Squakeag (present day Northfield) they crossed the Connecticut River in canoes somewhere near Pauchaug.  Once on the west side of the river, Mary Rowlandson came face to face with Philip himself (the Native American leader most feared and reviled by colonists).  She describes the encounter as follows in her Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson; "he bade me come in and sit down, and asked me whether I would smoke it (a usual compliment nowadays amongst saints and sinners) but this no way suited me.  For though I had formerly used tobacco, yet I had left it ever since I was first taken.  It seems to be the bait the devil lays to make men lose their precious time.  I remember with shame how formerly, when I had taken two or three pipes, I was ready for another, such a bewitching thing it is.  But I thank God, He has given me the power over it; surely there are many who may be better employed than to lie sucking a stinking tobacco-pipe."

Mary's account of her captivity became a best selling novel after it was published in 1682.  Rather than chapters, she uses "Removes".  They arrive at Squakeag in the Seventh Remove and the Connecticut is first crossed in the Eighth Remove.
The second crossing occurs in the Ninth Remove and was "five miles up the river" from the first.  Lancaster historian Henry Nourse published a map in 1903 showing the approximate locations.  The second crossing looks to have been near or at Stebbins Island.  I found the water very shallow there and it would have been even more so before the dam at Turners Falls was built.  Quite possibly they were able to wade across.

My trash haul for the day was modest...
 ...and included a long sheet of bubble wrap which I first mistook for fish eggs.



Wednesday, October 26, 2016

A Harried Assabet

The Assabet River provided a little taste of winter yesterday with chilly air accompanied by a blustery breeze.

I launched from Magazu's Landing and soon encountered my first ever "swimming rat" fishing lure minus a tail and no fishing line attached...
Found online, it's a BBZ-1 Rat 50 in "morning dawn" color and (with the tail) goes for just under $30...a keeper as I plan to do some lure-casting next year.  A lure this size should cast a long way.

At the box culvert where Fort Meadow Brook enters the river, head pressure was forcing brook water through the beaver dam within the culvert...
The water upstream of the culvert had ponded to a level even with the culvert's top.

Several trees have fallen across the Assabet recently and are acting as traps for leaves, grass, duckweed, and trash...

One fallen tree limb seemed to be pointing skyward...

Despite the changes in landscape and blustery conditions, a harrier went about its business oblivious to all but the task at hand...
...which allowed me to see its owl-like face...

On the way back to the landing I encountered duck hunters heading upriver.  Though the season officially started two weeks ago, they were the first hunters of that type I've encountered this fall.

The trash haul for the day included 4 more mouthwash bottles (frequently found in this stretch of the Assabet)...

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Assabet Snaps to Life

It's been quite awhile since the Assabet River chugged the way it did yesterday.  The effects of Friday night's deluge on the river are reflected by the USGS gauge in Maynard.  The river's water level, that had been languishing around 1 foot for months, rapidly rose to 3.3 feet in a matter of hours.  Flow rate went from 30 cubic feet per second to 420 cubic feet. 

I launched Saturday morning from Lowell Road, and paddled to the inscription at Egg Rock (opening photo) which showed a modest rise in water level.  However, the difference in flow rate between the Sudbury River and Assabet was obvious to the eye....and it seemed the Sudbury had stopped to admire the Assabet as it raced past.

Proceeding upriver on the Assabet I enjoyed making slow but steady progress, occasionally resting at eddies.  Many of the rocks that emerged over the summer were now submerged...


A short way above Willow Island I came across this boat...
...that had gone adrift and ended up pinned against a snag upstream of Willow Island.  Believe I've seen it beached behind a nearby home....guess it wasn't secured by rope.

At the confluence with Nashoba Brook this bag of Deer Corn was leaning up against a tree...



It no longer contained deer bait but rather 3 empty beer containers...
...a reminder that archery hunting season for deer is in progress.  According to Massachusetts hunting regulations baiting for deer during hunting season is illegal (but so is littering for that matter).

I stopped my upriver work at the MBTA commuter rail bridge in West Concord and began the much quicker and easier return trip back to Lowell Rd.  There I encountered Ray and Dave who'd just returned from paddling the Sudbury River.  Like me, they'd recovered trash found afloat along the way.

My trash haul from the Assabet...

Aside from the trash, it was good to see the Assabet looking its old self again.

Friday, October 21, 2016

A Swift Return

I'd last paddled the crystal-clear waters of the Swift River back in 2014 and this past Tuesday decided to return.  Doing so allowed my fortunate escape from the low clouds and fog that plagued eastern Massachusetts on that day.

  On the Swift in the central part of the state I enjoyed sunshine, fall foliage, and summer-like warmth. 

I launched my boat from the Swift River Access...
...on Cold Spring Rd. in Belchertown which provides access to an approximately 6 mile stretch of the Swift between Winsor Dam (actually Rt. 9) on the Quabbin and the dam downriver at Bondsville. 

After launching I paddled downriver to where I approached the dam at Bondsville...

Looking at the falls there from just below the dam...

I spent a little time in the area of the dam but didn't realize until later that not one, but two railroads, once occupied the immediate area.
This photo (from the book The Central Mass.) shows a westbound Central Massachusetts RR passenger train crossing high above the river just downstream of the same dam back in the 1920s...

The rails running alongside the Swift in the above photo were the Boston and Albany's Athol Branch which traversed the Swift River Valley until the creation of Quabbin Reservoir flooded the valley further upriver in the late 1930s.  The high Central Mass RR trestle survived until 1983.

Here's the view looking south towards where the 3 young men were standing in the 1920s photo...

From the dam at Bondsville I paddled approximately 4 miles upriver to where the Swift gets both shallower and narrower as it nears the outlet of Quabbin Reservoir which is located another 2 miles upriver.  A little ways above Cady Lane I encountered a fly-fisherman in waders...
...and turned about.

The waters of the Swift River are the clearest I've ever paddled.  As long as Quabbin Reservoir continues to provide high-quality drinking water to the faucets of Greater Boston, this section of the Swift should remain pristine.

There was very little trash...
To the left is trash found in the river while to the right are bottles found next to a fire ring on a small island.

Monday, October 17, 2016

Merrimack Tide Ride

Paddled upriver on the Merrimack yesterday with a big assist from an incoming tide.  After launching from Cashman Park in Newburyport I headed downriver before turning around 3 hours before the scheduled high tide.  I made swift progress beneath the Rt. 1 drawbridge and past the abandoned Boston and Maine swing bridge which hasn't swung since the 1960s...

Soon I was gliding under the Chain Bridge...
...and the Rt. 95 bridge which is under construction...

Next came Lowell's Boat Shop where many a dory's been born...

Where the Merrimack rounds to the southwest, a stiff breeze from that direction slowed my tidal ride.  Then I noticed the tide flowing into the Powwow River and, upon entering it, made even faster progress...
...as far as Amesbury...
...where the Powwow disappears behind the mill above.  The Back River allowed me to go a little further before the flow went slack and I turned about.

On the return trip I encountered this floating raft of sticks with 2 plastic water bottles hiding inside...

Stopped briefly on Ram Island after noticing a good bit of plastic flotsam laying about.  Recognized this guy whose been on the lamb since 2011...
 ...when he and an estimated 4 to 8 million buddies escaped from the Hooksett, NH wastewater treatment facility.

Most of the day's trash haul came from Ram Island...

Heard today that "King Tides" will be occurring over the next couple of days and may offer even better rides than the one I enjoyed on Sunday.

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Blackstone from Plummer's

Work brought me to the Blackstone Valley yesterday and left me with a few hours to kill before the next job.  Plummer's Landing in Northbridge (photo at left) was just down the road and provided easy access to the Blackstone River.  After launching and heading downriver, I recalled paddling through this stretch while participating in the Blackstone River Race back in 2004 and 2005.  Shallow and twisty with gravel bars in some places, then others where it gets deeper and a lot less twisty...
  
About a half mile below Plummer's, where the river originally twisted left, a majority of the flow is now taking the easier route into the Blackstone Canal...

...leaving the original course with insufficient flow for paddling.  Subsequently, I went with the flow down the canal only a short distance before turning around due to many trees across the channel...

After paddling and pulling my boat back to Plummer's, I headed upriver about half a mile...

At a location where the railroad runs close to the river, it appears the river was moved to the eastward and straightened saving the railroad two river crossings.  The Blackstone Canal, running empty and parallel to the river, ends abruptly where the tracks now cross...
 
Trash wasn't bad with most having been rounded-up at snags.   The group looked like they'd been in the water for awhile...