Sunday, October 5, 2008

Sudbury River - Rt. 62 to Weir Hill & Back

This morning I headed out early to trash patrol the Sudbury River up to Weir Hill and back. Had hoped to watch the sunrise at Fairhaven Bay, but the cloud bank moved further north than the forecasters predicted, so the sunglasses stayed in my pocket. Temperatures were a little warmer thanks to the cloud cover and there was no wind to speak of.
Early in my paddle, I heard a "good morning" and turned to see a fellow trash paddler. Dave was paddling a well outfitted Tempest 170 by Wilderness Systems and like me, he was picking up the flotsam he encountered. We joined forces for while. Saw him again further upriver near Weir Hill. His local waters are Forge Pond in Littleton/Westford, a former Nipmuc settled area.
At Heath's Bridge (Sudbury Road), a usual trash hotspot, I recovered 16 empty containers. Beer cans/bottles, bait tubs and miscellaneous plastic stuff.
At Pantry Brook, the top of the dam is only 6" above the river's level. One more good rain event might allow paddling over the dam and into the impoundment.
Wildlife observed today was mostly belted kingfishers. I did see a couple of small hawks also.
There were two boats with fishermen in Fairhaven Bay. One powered, the other a canoe.
On my trip downriver, I scooped another 4 empties bringing my total for the day to 20 and YTD total to 1930.
While I was paddling this morning, my kid sister Lissa was running her first marathon up in Portland, Maine to benefit leukemia research. Way to go, Lis!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The kid sister finished. Still on her feet.