Friday, October 10, 2008

Assabet River - Egg Rock to Pine Street & Back

Another nice afternoon, another cloudless sky, and another trash patrol on the Assabet River. The water level has dropped about 8" since my last patrol on this river but is still high enough to allow passage over most rocks. My kayak and I were bucking the trend by heading upstream as thousands of leaf rafts were riding the current downstream.
Saw a red-tailed hawk near Willow Island.
In Concord Junction, I was able to pass by the blowdown between the commuter rail bridge and the Route 62 bridge. Shortly after that, I was paddling through where the Pine Street bridge used to be. The construction of the new bridge is beginning to progress. Several new abutments are taking shape.
Reaching the Thoreau School, I had recovered 12 empty containers from the river. After a short break, I let the current take my bow and was soon moving downriver, passing through the endless procession of leaf rafts like a battleship pushing aside birchbark canoes.
Saw two deer about a 1/4 mile downstream of Route 2 on the river left. The nearly 3/4 moon was high in the sky well before sundown.
Encountered only a few other souls on the water today. One canoe, one tamden kayak and three solo kayaks.
Arriving at my takeout location I had 14 empty containers bringing my YTD total to 1967.
Most of today's haul was not recyclable

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