A Beauty of a Day on the River

 

Headed up the impounded Assabet River yesterday after launching at Ice House Landing in Maynard, MA.  Before paddling upstream I took a look at the Ben Smith Dam...

 ...and briefly entered Thanksgiving Pond to get this look up Taylor Brook...

Along the way I encountered a few large plastic items, one being this red and yellow kayak stuffed in the shrubbery...

...with a color scheme that matches those available at the self-serve renting station, Rent.Fun, at the Landing.

The other was this plastic drum...

...which I believe was used for keeping an irrigation suction inlet above the river bottom.

This aluminum beer can from the 70s...

...brought to mind "Crush it like Quint" in the movie "Jaws". 

Saw only one other boater...

...while out on the water.

A few trees are still displaying some good color in contrast to the evergreens...

Turned around a little before Fort Meadow Brook.  The day was an October beauty...cool and crisp with not a cloud in the sky.

Trash was light...

 

Nashua River's Flats

 

Had a large farm and the Bolton Flats Wildlife Management Area to my right as I paddled down the Nashua River yesterday from Seven Bridge Road in Lancaster, MA.  Despite a nor'easter swirling around for days off the Atlantic coast, things were fairly calm on the river with only an occasional gust of wind.

The bridge near where I launched is looking a little worse for wear...

Heading downriver I passed along the base of two sandbanks on the river's left side...

My downriver progress came to an end at this river-wide blowdown...

Saw some still-standing corn plants on the farm side...

Trash was plentiful as usual in this 1.25-mile section of the Nashua River...

...and included another 107 "nip bottles".  Year-to-date "nip bottle" total just passed 2,300 with 1,848 of them being found in the Nashua River.

A Cold Concord River

 

Awoke yesterday morning to an outdoor thermometer displaying a temperature in the mid 20s F.  By the time I was paddling down the Concord River in Concord, MA the temperature had climbed into the low 30s and a fog enveloped where the cold air and warm water met one another.  It was our first real freeze of the season and saw my paddle equipped with pogies for the first time.  A thermos of hot cocoa was on deck for the first time as well.  Drifted down past the Old North Bridge...

...where a splash of color hangs on.  Then the Monument Street Bridge...

Next came a docked fishing boat in need of some timely bailing...

Past there,  the trees provided a golden glow to the river...

This great blue heron looked frozen in place...

After about 3 miles I rounded the last bend in the river...

...before reaching my destination...

...where the last of my hot cocoa was enjoyed.

On the trip back upriver, at Sawmill Brook, the old cabin there had a broken back...

...from what appeared to have been a fallen tree limb.  It now tilts upward at both ends.

Further upriver this rose blossom did its best imitation of a water lily...

The inscription at Egg Rock was illuminated nicely...

Trash encountered in this 3-mile section of river was minimal...

...especially when compared to the last river I visited.

Nashua River Brought Plenty

 

Driving downhill on Still River Depot Road in Harvard, MA I was provided this view of Mt. Wachusett.

Just before reaching the bottom of the hill and the river, I came upon this stationary freight train on the CSX Railroad's Worcester Mainline...

Seeing the crew moving about had me thinking the train might soon be departing.  My hope was to launch my boat out on the river in time to witness the train pass through the bridge over the Nashua River.  However, I wasn't fast enough and soon heard a few short blasts of the horn indicating they were starting to move.  Walked a short path to record the four diesel locomotives getting this 106-car freight train underway...

The train is designated as M427 and runs from Portland, ME to Selkirk, NY pretty much daily.  After the train had disappeared to the south and things had quieted down I launched into the Nashua.  There was still plenty of fall-foliage color in places...

The recent rain from the remnants if hurricane Isaias had dislodged and sent another batch of flotsam downriver...

In just 2 miles of river this mess of plastic was gathered up...

...which included 114 "nip" bottles.

 

Nashoba and Fort Pond Brooks

 

Couldn't pass up a chance to paddle Fort Pond Brook (above photo) and Nashoba Brook yesterday afternoon.  Thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Isaias we'd recently received more than 1.5" of rain which made several of the beaver dams there less of an obstacle.  The 2 brooks combine before flowing into Warner's Pond in West Concord, MA.  After launching on the east side of Warner's Pond, I paddled westward to where the brooks enter the pond...

Passed over a well-built beaver dam into Nashoba Brook and began paddling up to the busy spot where the 2 brooks, 2 railroads (Framingham and Lowell/Nashua, Acton, and Boston), and the former Union Turnpike all converged...

Today the Union Turnpike is Route 2, the railroads are long gone, and the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail does an up-and-over all of it...

The steel "I" beams crossing at a slope in the distance may have facilitated getting farm equipment across the brook.

 After passing under Route 2 the higher water level allowed passage over submerged obstacles up Nashoba Brook towards East Acton...

...before several blowdowns persuaded me to return to the Route 2 bridge...

Next I entered Fort Pond Brook and paddled under the abandoned county road bridge (opening photo) after which the brook winds its way between 2 ridges towards Acton.

Some trash found along the way...

A Cloudy and Corny Sudbury River

 

Enjoyed the sanctity of a Sunday morning while ascending the Sudbury River in Concord, MA yesterday.  Early on I passed under the Union Turnpike Bridge (Elm St) with the South Bridge Boathouse seen through the portal (above photo).  Skies were cloudy but there were still bursts of color along the shoreline:

The little stone boathouse in Fairhaven Bay...

...where several fishing boats were plying the bay's waters.

 Lee's Bridge (Rt 117)...

Some wildlife encountered included:

This marsh hawk...

...and a group of 3 white-tailed deer...

...in addition to wood ducks and blue herons.

Trash gathered up included a fair bit of corn both canned and frozen evidently used by shore fishermen...

...the 4 Del Monte cans were found at one spot and may indicate their chumming the water with it.