Through the Box

It'd been quite awhile since I'd last squeezed through the box culvert (photo left) into Fort Meadow Brook from the Assabet River...more than 8 months actually.  Last week the box culvert was finally clear of debris, but the water level, being high, didn't allow enough room for passage. 

Yesterday afternoon, while launching at Magazu's Landing in Stow, I found the river's water level had dropped a couple of inches and this provided hope that passage through the box might be realized.  I paddled upriver, reached the confluence of river and brook, approached the box culvert, said the magic words, bent forward 'til my hat brim kissed the boat's front deck...and voila, I'd gained entry into the quarter mile long stretch of Fort Meadow Brook between the box and the abandoned railroad trestle...

It's a scenic and pleasant little stretch of water that, on the occasions I'm granted entry, never fails to please me...

 

 

Later, hiking up a small adjacent drumlin provided this southward-looking view...

 

 

Once back on the river, I ascended the Assabet another half mile or so to where a cross-channel blowdown impeded further progress...

 

...and became my turnaround point.

 

Returned to Magazu's Landing where this peaceful scene awaited...

 

 

Sure beats shoveling snow.

 



Some trash rounded-up along the way...