A Still and Not So Still Still River

 

Arrived at the foot of Still River Depot Road in Harvard, MA at 6 am yesterday morning to find a CSX freight train parked on the mainline...

The train is designated as M427 and runs from Portland, ME to Selkirk Yard near Albany, NY.  Apparently, after passing through Hill Yard in Ayer, MA, its crew ran out of time and the train was awaiting the arrival of a fresh crew.  Other than the low rumbling of the idling diesel engines Still River was still.  Still River Depot long ago served the village of Still River.  The Harvard Reconnaissance Report prepared by the Massachusetts Heritage Landscape Inventory Program describes the village: "Still River was an agricultural village formed as a linear settlement along the ridge overlooking the Nashua River".  

I launched just a short distance from the train at the Oxbow N.W.R. and paddled the short distance to the railroad trestle over the Nashua River...

...in hopes of seeing the train get underway, cross over the river, and continue its journey to Selkirk Yard near Albany, NY.    Because this train was occupying the single-track mainline and, by so doing, would block the Norfolk Southern's double-stacked container train from reaching its final destination at the Hill Yard, I figured M427 would get underway sooner rather than later.  However, it didn't and remained parked there for several more hours while I paddled downriver.  I'd later hear it get underway around 9:30 am.   

Did see this train of ducks passing by...

Nearly every fallen tree limb in this section of the Nashua had become a trash trap of sorts...

This particular stretch of the Nashua River is kind of like the Bermuda Triangle for the pesky little liquor bottles known as "nips".

My trash haul ended up including 257 of these "nip" bottles...

...which thanks to our outdated Bottle Bill have no monetary value.

Upon leaving the boat launch I discovered this elderly snapping turtle who'd sought some shade under my car...

Would like to have asked the turtle some questions but heard the train horn of the approaching double-stacked container train and watched it approaching the crossing at Still River Depot Road...

...hauling a good number of containers the last few miles to the Intermodal facility at Hill Yard...

...leaving the Still River Depot site still again. 

Assabet's Eaglet and Dame's Rockets

 

Got in another early morning paddle yesterday, this time, on the Assabet River launching from Sudbury Road in Stow, MA.  Conditions were ideal with bright blue skies and calm winds. 

One of my main objectives was to see if there were eaglets in the riverside nest.  No sign of activity on my first pass, but a few hours later there was this, now, good-sized eaglet...

Speaking of bird nests there was this well-built one that an eastern kingbird flew from...

Clusters of white, pink, and purple flowers were seen in several areas...

...which on close inspection were seen to have 4-petals...

Seeing this photo Mrs. Trashpaddler thought they might be phlox, but we would later learn that because of those 4 petals (rather than 5 petals as phlox have) these are Dame's Rocket.  According to Mass Audubon Dame's Rocket plants were brought from Europe by colonists.  These days they're considered an invasive plant.

Warmth from the sun was being enjoyed by this piggy-backed gang of turtles...

Trash was very light...

...and included an empty bag of "Scandinavian Swimmers" (a super sour gummy candy).

On that sour note, while on my way home I stopped near the Powder Mill Dam in Acton and found that access to the Assabet River upstream of the dam is no longer available.  An 8 foot high fence with barbed wire has been erected between Old High Street and the mill pond...

Portaging around the dam will now be even more of a challenge.  Folks have long fished from the shore here but it looks as though that will no longer be possible.

 

Sudbury River After the Blow

 

It was hard to believe the Sudbury River could be this calm less than 24 hours after the previous day's high winds, rain, and cold temperatures (40s F.).  I launched early on Sunday morning from Route 20 in Wayland, MA and paddled upriver towards Framingham.   Noted several herons had taken to the trees...

 

Also aloft and in the trees was this once airborne balloon or perhaps some sort of parachute...

White-tailed deer were out and about possibly to dry out...which reminded me of long ago being told by locals in Newfoundland that if I wanted to see a caribou I should venture out early in the morning after a rainstorm.  Guess the same applies to deer.  This one was soaking up some sunlight...

The deer's dark-colored winter coat has now lightened quite a bit.   

Around the next bend was this immature eagle...

...watching me like a hawk...er I mean like an eagle...

Went upriver about a half mile beyond the power lines.

The yellow flag are now blooming...

Trash of a mostly plastic nature included a truck-tire inner tube and 16 "nip" bottles...

Felt like a trapper returning with hides strapped to my boat's deck...

Naumkeag Waters to the Sound

 

Dipped my paddle blades into some salty waters for a change on Wednesday morning.  Launched before 7am from the George F. McCabe Marina and Recreation Area in Salem, MA and headed out of the Danvers River towards Salem Sound (photo above).  The morning was warm with temperatures predicted to reach the mid 80s F. and the tide was rising.  Winds were calm until about 8am when a westerly breeze kicked in.  On the way to Winter Island I passed under both the Essex Bridge carrying Route 1A (up high) and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) commuter rail bridge adjacent to it (down low)...

After passing Salem Willows and rounding Salem Neck I headed for Winter Island Light at the entrance to Salem Harbor...

...and a brief landfall at Waikiki Beach.

Then it was back to the Danvers River passing this sign showing current fuel costs for boaters...

Arrived at the railroad bridge just in time to see this MBTA train heading north to either Rockport or Newburyport...

...with one car in its consist decked out for our country's 250th anniversary...

With it now being high tide I paddled into and up the Bass River...

Once past ongoing construction work on the Hall Whitaker Bridge I reached a pond-like tidal basin...

According to historians the Bass River and the area around it was called Naumkeag by Native Americans. Mary Ellen Lepionka on the website HistoricIpswich.net provided this translation for the word Naumkeag: "Where there are eels" (referring to the Bass River in Beverly).

According to a 2015 article at WickedLocal.com (Herald Citizen) by John Goff, Looking Anew at Salem's and Beverly's Bass River, somewhere in this area a colonist named John Friendly built a Tide Mill for milling Indian corn back in the 1640s.  Tidal flow was harnessed for turning millstones.

The area is also noted for a gray seal nicknamed Shoebert who swam through a culvert into Shoe Pond where his antics entertained folks for several days back in 2022.  Saw no sign of him.  Did however see a loon, still in its winter colors...

...and several eider ducks...

A Google map showing the area where I spent my morning gunkholing the area...

This trip could be done from either the McCabe launch (as I did), or from the hand launch at Winter Island Park.  Bass River is best ascended at high tide (IMHO).

Trash recovered was found mostly on the shore where it'd been left by previous (higher) tides...

A Few Miles Down the Concord

 

Headed down the Concord River a little after daybreak yesterday morning.  Launched from the Bedford (MA) Boat Launch.  The river soon brought me past Two Brothers Rocks...

...where Governor John Winthrop and Deputy Governor Thomas Dudley came to by boat in 1638. Winthrop's journal entry for April 24, 1638: 

"The governor (Winthrop) and deputy went to Concord to view some land for farms, and, going down the river about 4 miles, they made choice of a place for one thousand acres for each of them....So, at the place where the deputy's land was to begin, there were two great stones, which they called the Two Brothers, in remembrance that they were brothers by their children's marriage, and did so brotherly agree, and for that a little creek near those stones was to part their lands."

In 1894 both rocks were inscribed  by the Bedford Historical Society to commemorate the 1638 visit...

Just after passing Jug Island on the river's east shore is Bartlett's Landing.  I've paddled by this spot many times never realizing it was a boat launch.  Landed here to check it out...

As boat launches go it's a good one,  though with limited parking (perhaps 4 or 5 cars).  There's a kiosk, a trash barrel, a bench, and a nice sandy beach to launch from (no muck).  Can think of only a couple of things that might make it (as well as the launch upriver in Bedford) even better...such as the addition of a Porta-John!  The kiosk provides visitors with geographical and historical information...

 

Once I'd got back out on the river, and with it being such a quiet morning, my thoughts drifted to imagining what my ideal boat launch would look like. So, if I may, here's a description of my dream launch: 

First of all it would start with good signage on the main road such as this example from the State of Maine which is uniformly used throughout that state...

Next, upon reaching the parking area there would be additional signage designating spots for trailered vehicles, roof-top vehicles, and vehicles with handicapped stickers.  Between the parking area and the waterbody would be a Porta-John, and a trash barrel.  Approaching the launch there would be a kiosk with  a map noting hazards, and any specific-to-the-area boating and fishing regulations.  One item I think would be very helpful would be the posting of state regulations pertaining to wearable life jackets, specifically the times of the year when kayakers and canoeists are required by law to wear them while out on the water.  Finally, where the actual launching takes place, a gently sloping (if possible) dirt or concrete ramp.  Ideally, if the launch serves trailered boats, there'd be a dirt or gravel slope nearby for canoes and kayaks to use simultaneously.  There it is...my dream launch.  While I've seen some that come close, I've yet to find one that checks all of those boxes.  

Continuing downriver I reached the modern and seemingly always busy Route 3 highway overpass...

Just beyond are the sleepy remains of where Route 3's predecessor the Middlesex Turnpike long ago (1800s) bridged the river...

Turned around here and started the trip upriver with a little help from a northeasterly breeze.

Who's afraid of the big, bad, wolf?  Not this Canada geese family...

....despite the beast's ferocious demeanor...

Near the Route 4 bridge I came across this discarded beer can depicting a northern pike...

...about to take the hook. Several fishermen back in Bedford told me that northern pike was the very fish they were hoping to catch.

Trash found along the way...