Friday, March 13, 2009

Assabet River - Egg Rock to Rt.2 and Back

This afternoon I closed out my work week with a 'Friday the 13th' trash patrol of the lower Sudbury and Assabet Rivers. The day had started off fairly cold and a cool breeze remained but the brilliant mid-March sunshine more than compensated.
I launched my kayak into the lower Sudbury River and paddled to Egg Rock. Upon arriving there, I saw a small group of wood ducks and enjoyed seeing their bright coloring in the sunshine. The ducks took flight from the area and I began my patrol of the Assabet. Almost immediately I came upon a large beaver resting in the sun on the riverbank. He moved closer to the water but seemed in no hurry to escape. As I reached for my camera, he slowly entered the water, swam a little ways and quietly dove beneath the surface without the usual tail slap.
Trash was plentiful in the water behind Egg Rock. Recovered a 6-pack of empty Heineken bottles in this one spot. Approaching a submerged Dodge Rock, I observed the headless faux coyote with his head still laying on the ground beside him. Though headless, he still guards the small boathouse...

Fresh beaver work was quite evident in the area where Dakin's Brook enters the river. One unusual piece of work was this double-gnawed job. Were there two beavers having a contest? Or one who decided to measure once but cut twice?...

Passing a submerged Willow Island I began seeing numerous groups of wood ducks and after they took flight four small deer were watching me from the sloping meadow on the river's west side. Tried to get a photo but no luck. Proceeding upriver there were more and more wood ducks and more and more trash and even a few red-winged blackbirds.
About a half mile downstream of the Route 2 bridge I came upon another group of deer including this curious doe...

I pushed upriver a little ways past Route 2 and then turned around under the shadow of MCI Concord for the trip back downriver. By this point, a little after 5 pm, my dry bag was full, rear hatch half full and my deck was getting rather crowded. Nice to have that extra hour of daylight or I would have been paddling back in the dark.
After reaching Egg Rock, I began the trip to my takeout location on the lower Sudbury and passed under these backlit icicles hanging from the Nashawtuc Road bridge...

Reached the takeout spot with 55 empty containers of which 31 were recyclable. Today's bounty ...

My YTD total stands at 213.

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