Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Lower Sudbury & Assabet Rivers


Returning to my local waters, I launched into the lower Sudbury River late this morning and paddled down to Egg Rock where I entered the Assabet River. Belted kingfishers, blue herons, Canada geese, a few ducks and a ton of turtles were all enjoying a nice day on the water. Also saw quite a few canoes on the Sudbury River portion whereas once on the Assabet I saw but one other boat, a kayak.
At Willow Island this growth of fungus caught my eye...

Most of what I was looking at today was either at or just below the water level as the Assabet is revealing many of her secrets on account of the lack of water depth. This steel 25-gallon drum is usually submerged....

It was upriver from the point where the Reformatory Branch of the B & M Railroad once crossed over the Assabet. Further upriver, a little ways below Route 2, I came upon the remains of an old car. One feature that stood out was a spoked wheel.
Most of the trash I was finding was either glass bottles or plastic bags snagged on submerged branches. While probing along undercut sections of riverbank I came across an interesting small, smooth, round stone and this piece of shale that I suspect may have been a tool. Both are pictured here...

The shale piece had a pronounced edge on one side...

Of course, I have been diligently looking for a hand-worked piece of stone for many moons. This may just be a piece of shale that broke in a peculiar way but it sure looks to me as though the edge was worked to make a fairly sharp scraping tool. It sort of resembles a stone tomahawk and if that were to be the case, perhaps it was found where someone once "buried the hatchet". I would welcome an educated opinion.
I paddled upriver as far as Route 2 and then turned around and headed back. Once back on the lower Sudbury, I passed under,yet another, bridge repair project. This time it is the Nashawtuc Road bridge that is being worked on...

Upon reaching my takeout location, I took this photo of the day's catch...

Seeing those mugs, perhaps you can understand why I didn't practice "catch & release"!
There were 63 pieces of trash. The load was split nearly 50/50 recyclables and rubbish. Of the 32 recyclables, 22 were redeemable. My YTD total stands at 4024.

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