Thursday, April 30, 2009

Sudbury River - Rt. 62 to Fairhaven Bay & Return

When I went to work early this morning I had no plans to get out on the river today. However, after crossing over the river on my way home from work I just couldn't come up with any reason not to do so. Shortly thereafter, I was launching my kayak into the Sudbury River and selecting "Slow Ahead" on the control panel. Before reaching Route 2, I watched an osprey sail across the sky, heading north from the Emerson Hospital area. At Clamshell Bank, I stopped for a brief lunch...

While eating, I thought about the thousands of clamshells that were found at this location and how it indicated native peoples habitation into the far distant past. I also found myself thinking about the most recent episode of the PBS series "We Shall Remain". The episode was titled "Trail of Tears" and was about the Cherokee people being forced to leave their ancestral homes and travel to lands west of the Mississippi River. The forced relocation was the result of a complex legal battle that centered on who had sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation lands. Competing for sovereignty were the Cherokees, the State of Georgia, and the Federal government. The U.S. Supreme Court got involved but wasn't able to decisively resolve the issue. Amazingly, a law called the "Indian Removal Act" was passed (barely) by Congress and subsequently executed by President Andrew Jackson. The Cherokee people were represented by their leader, John Ross who, oddly enough, was of 7/8 Scottish ancestry. He did an admirable job under difficult conditions. Another key person in the matter was a missionary, Samuel Worcester, who was from New England. After watching the program, and then reading about the principle characters involved, I can't help but think that this was the best and probably last opportunity for native peoples to maintain sovereignty over their own lands. Unfortunately, they were not allowed to do so.
Resuming my trip upriver, I paddled to Heath's Bridge arriving there with only 4 pieces of trash. However, some shore fishermen had left their day's worth of trash in a neatly tied plastic bag at the water's edge. I guess they figured their mom was going to drop by later and pick it up.
Leaving Heath's Bridge, I headed into a pleasant breeze and paddled past Martha's Point enroute to Fairhaven Bay. Reaching the bay, I took shelter from the breeze on the lee side of Brooke's Island, and decided to stretch my legs on the small island. At this large tree stump, I observed the remains of a duck or bird that had recently been ravaged by a predator...

Once relaunched I paddled out into the middle of the bay and then let the breeze push me towards this old stone boathouse...

After resisting the temptation to enter and take a short nap, I let the same breeze push me back downriver to my takeout location. My trash count for the day was 34 pieces. Of these, 14 were recyclable (12 redeemable) and 20 were misc. rubbish such as plastic bags, fishing line, etc. ...

YTD total stands at 1611.

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