Assabet River - Paddling to Pine Hawk

This morning I decided to follow in the "paddledips" of some long ago visitors to what is now known as Pine Hawk in the town of Acton.  The river travellers I followed visited the area several thousand years ago, as this Web site about Pine Hawk explains.
I launched into the Assabet River in Maynard, a little ways downstream of the Route 27/62 bridge, and paddled up to the bridge.  After seeing how bony it looked, I was glad to be heading in the other direction (at least for a while)...

 Heading downriver, this waymarker was reached and the blue heron atop it assured me I was going in the right direction...

 A little further along, a green heron concurred....

Other wildlife seen today were Canada geese, a lone duck, 2 belted kingfishers, and numerous turtles.
This sandbar behind the old Victory Plaza was littered with more than 30 tires...

 Finally, I reached a point that is fairly close to the Pine Hawk site...

Just downriver from this spot is the Powdermill Dam.  Most likely there was a natural falls of some kind there, and it would have made a great place to spear migrating fish.
Oddly enough (rather than a hawk) it was the distinctive cry of an osprey I heard and then watched as one flew above what water remains in the impoundment.
Soon, I was back to pulling my craft between rocks on my return trip upriver....

 Once back to where I had launched, the day's trash catch was disgorged from my boat...

This patrol netted 77 pieces of trash and the breakdown is as follows: 51 recyclables (20 redeemable) and 26 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as plastic bags, styrofoam food containers, cans of spray paint, and a 2-way radio.  Remaining in this stretch of river are several shopping carts, several bicycle remains, and the aforementioned tires.  Most interesting find today was an old 8-ounce clear glass bottle labelled as Maydale Spring, Maynard, MA.  My YTD total stands at 3928.