Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Concord River - Egg Rock to Buttricks Hill & Back

I awoke this morning to discover that my immune system had emerged victorious from battling some kind of bug that had plagued me for almost a week.  Not content with just having won the day, the immuno crew were having a full-fledged victory celebration, leaving me to feel like I could conquer the world, if I so desired.  As a result, I bounded out of my house before daybreak and handled all of my work related chores at 2 different clients with ease.  Soon, I was gliding down Rt. 128 as if it were no more than a country road and found myself launching my boat into the Concord River in the river's namesake town.  

I paddled downriver from Lowell Road passing some remaining fall-foliage at the Old North Bridge.  Trash was there for the picking and by the time I reached Flint's Bridge, I had 19 assorted plastic bottles, beer cans, and styrofoam bait tubs.
About a quarter mile past Buttricks Hill, I turned around and noticed that the cloudy skies were showing hints of a late-day clearing.  Heading back upriver, I watched a fox work his way down a grassy slope.   Blue herons, belted kingfishers, and a few wood ducks were also in attendance.  Upstream of Great Meadows Landing a mink raced along the river's edge just ahead of me.  Then the sun put on this brief show before retiring...


It was a fitting way to end such a day! 

Back at Lowell Road, my car's headlights provided illumination for the day's trash haul...

The total catch was 44 pieces of trash and it brokedown as follows:  27 recyclable containers (10 redeemable) and 17 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as plastic bags, styrofoam bait tubs, fishing bobbers, etc.  YTD total stands at 5430.

1 comment:

Dan Foster said...

I'm envious that you were on the water for such a glorious end to the day. I raced down to the water just as the sun was setting, and couldn't believe that two canoeists were taking their boat out, with their backs turned on the most beautiful sunset I've seen in years.