Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Nashua River Rail Trail to Pepperell

Mrs. Trashpaddler and I weren't sure of what conditions we would find on the Nashua River Rail Trail today.  Fortunately, someone (DCR personnel) had already removed the trees and branches that had blocked the trail following T.S. Irene.
Upon reaching East Pepperell, we took a look at the Nashua River as it spilled over the dam (photo at left).
Leaving the rail trail we pedalled over to the Nissitissit River and the dam just upstream of Rt. 111...
Looking upriver from the dam, the Nissitissit looked fairly tranquil in comparison to rivers further to the west and north...

Trash recovered on the trail between Ayer and E. Pepperell assembled back in Ayer...


Out of 34 pieces of trash, 18 were recyclable (2 redeemable) and 14 were miscellaneous rubbish.  YTD total stands at 4516.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Sudbury River in Irene's Wake

In the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene, the Sudbury River between River Road in Wayland and Weir Hill in Sudbury seemed the best bet for not encountering downed trees and excessive current.  Here the river has nearly a quarter mile of marsh on each side of its main channel acting as a no-tree zone.  A few side channels head off across this buffer zone and provide a visual explanation of why the Native American word for this region is "Musketaquid" or "grass grown" river...

One of the few available trees was occupied by a belted kingfisher who held his ground despite being buzzed by tree swallows...
  

Even though today's weather was beautiful, yesterday's storm reminded us all how fast summer is coming to an end. 
When I saw this iced coffee cup/styrofoam huggie combo, it reminded me of those hot and humid days fading in the rear-view mirror...
Perhaps it should be "Dunkin' grown" river.

Usually there isn't much trash in this section but thanks to Irene raising the river level, a fair amount of trash was set afloat from the area around the Route 27 overpass...

The catch totaled 46 pieces  and was composed of 34 recyclable containers (14 redeemable) and 12 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as styrofoam, mono-filament fishing line, and a plastic pail.  YTD total stands at 4482.  

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Assabet River - Pompositticut Waters

Curiosity got the better of me this morning and I decided to revisit the locales on the Assabet River where a mature bald eagle was seen last Friday.  After launching at Whitman's Crossing and heading downriver, I soon came upon the tree limb where the eagle perched on that day.  There was no eagle today, but I will always remember the majestic image the tree limb provided last week...

If the mute swans, near Crow Island, knew where the eagle might be, they weren't talking.  Also silent on the topic was this guy...
A belted kingfisher was busy fishing as was a fellow fishing from a bass boat who reported being pleased with the bass he was catching.

Upon passing Crow Island and enjoying this view, I guess it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that an eagle might decide to spend a little time here...

At Elizabeth Brook I turned around and headed back upriver into a building breeze.  A high soaring red-tailed hawk briefly raised my hopes, but no eagle would be encountered on this day.

A mixture of old and new trash was recovered along the way and at the launch site...
There were 31 pieces of trash: 22 recyclable containers and 9 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as plastic/paper bags, styrofoam and a bait tub.  YTD total stands at 4436.



Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Trashpedalling Marblehead's Rail Trail

Today, Mrs. Trashpedaller and I visited the area where, about 400 years ago, we most likley would have found the great sachem of the Massachusetts people, Nanepashemet enjoying a late summer day in his favorite locale.  We had started our bike ride in Swampscott where we entered the Marblehead Rail Trail.  After pedalling up to the Marblehead Post Office, we diverged from the trail and followed Ocean Avenue to the tip of Marblehead Neck.  Ocean Ave offers travelers many scenic vistas including the rocks that were once named for the sachem...

At the tip of the neck is Marblehead Light...

The plaque at its base provides a brief history...
We then backtracked to the rail trail and followed it over to where it crosses the Forest River in Salem.  Because of being higher up and it being low tide, I could get a better look at the Lafayette Street bridge than I got from the water last Monday...
The portals are clearly open in this photo and it appears there are three motor-driven gates on the upstream side of the bridge.  This leaves me to wonder if passage under the bridge is navigable at only low to mid-tide.  Are the gates in use daily or just for flood control purposes?

Continuing down the rail trail brought us behind Salem State College and the trail's end near Canal Street.  Here we continued along Canal St. and soon found ourselves viewing the schooner Friendship from a terrestrial perspective...
 Another mile brought us to Winter Island Park and a short visit to Waikiki Beach before beginning the journey back to Swampscott.  On our return trip we found a plastic Market Basket bag and it was soon filled with 18 pieces of trash found along the rail trail in Marblehead...
 YTD total 4405.

A refreshing breeze coming in off the water made our visit to the area once known as Naumkeag most enjoyable!


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Trashpedalling on the Nashua River Rail Trail

This afternoon's weather had a fall-like feel and was perfect for getting in a bike ride on the Nashua River Rail Trail.  Mrs. Trashpaddler and I pedalled the 4 mile stretch between Ayer and Groton.  In regards to trash encounters, it was 'like shooting fish in a barrel'.  The usual parade of plastic litter was found laying alongside the trail and tucked under benches.  When spilled out at the end, the day's haul of 24 pieces made for an unattractive site...


There were 21 recyclable containers (3 redeemable) and 3 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish.  YTD total stands at 4387.

Rather than having trash be the last image of the day, we drove along Prospect Hill Road on the way home and drank in this view of the Nashua River valley and the looming Mt. Wachusett...

One benefit of taking the long way home!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Salem Harbor Sojourn

Work brought me to Danvers today and upon finishing the job, I headed to Winter Island Park to welcome the incoming tide.  My plan was to ascend the Forest River and on the way across the harbor, I decided to take a closer look at the schooner "Friendship" (seen at left).  The smell of food cooking drew me further into the the Pickering Wharf area until I ran out of water to paddle in.  There was a fair bit of trash floating in this area, most of it up against the wall by the Registry of Deeds.
Leaving this part of the harbor, I headed past Forest River Park to the spot where the river enters.  The flood tide was entering its last hour when I passed under the old railroad line to Marblehead that is now a rail trail.  Just beyond the rail trail bridge is the much lower Lafayette Street (Rt. 114) bridge and something didn't look right...
The portals were blocked by some kind of panels.  I'm not sure if the blocking is related to construction which appears to be underway or if passage is always blocked.  This makes 2 ascents in a row that were blocked: Fort Meadow Brook and now the Forest River. 
So, after briefly considering a portage, I headed back to the harbor where it appeared the Spanish Amada was awaiting me...

The breeze which had been busy earlier in the afternoon was now beginning to lay down and a beautiful evening was in the making.  My sojourn came too soon to an end.
Once back at Winter Island, my trash haul of 21 pieces posed for a photo...
There were 7 recyclable containers (3 redeemable) and 14 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as styrofoam, balloons, and plastic bags.  YTD total stands at 4363.

This was my 4th time launching at Winter Island Park this season and today the attendant at the gate wanted to charge me twice the fee that I'd been charged the other 3 times.  His logic was that only vehicles with boats on trailers are entitled to the "Boat Launch" rate.  Because my boat is on my roof I should pay double?  Hopefully, someone in charge will establish a set charge for kayakers using the boat launch.  The double fee he wanted to charge me would result in my launching elsewhere.

Note:  I have since (8/23) been informed by Winter Island Park management that the original "Boat Launch" rate is the correct one.  This was good news as I find this facility to be an ideal one. 

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Assabet Region Pedalling Back in Time

On this dog day of August, Mrs. Trashpaddler and I pedalled back in time a bit to the difficult month of February 1676.  We started our time travels in the Hudson Road parking lot of the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge and pedalled along Winterberry Way past Puffer Pond to Taylor Way where we followed the course of Taylor Brook.  At the junction of Patrol Road and White Pond Road we left the refuge and pedalled down the hill to Russell's Bridge where we entered the Assabet River Rail Trail (non-paved section).  The trail took us along the south side of the Assabet River and Crow Island before bringing us to Sudbury Road.  Here we left the trail and followed Barton Road a few hundred yards to where a small marker points towards the Boon Monument...

Reaching the monument requires descending an overgrown path about a hundred feet towards the river.  The opening photo shows the side of the monument facing the road and gives the date when erected as May 16, 1883, whereas this photo is of the side facing the river.  It reads: "ON THIS HILL LIVED MATTHEW BOON, ONE OF THE FIRST TWO SETTLERS IN STOW, WAS KILLED BY INDIANS ABOUT FEB. 14, 1676." 
The month of February 1676 was when the war known as "King Philip's War" entered the SuAsCo region.   Native Americans alledged to be loyal to Massasoit's son, Metacomet (derisively called King Philip by Colonists because of his "haughty manner"), conducted a series of deadly raids on outlying farmsteads:  February 1st saw a raid at the Eames farm in Framingham between Farm Pond and the Sudbury River; February 12th a raid at the Shepard farm near Nagog Pond in Littleton; and the Feb. 14th raid at Matthew Boon's home along the Assabet River in Stow.
These events combined with an additional raid further to the west at Lancaster resulted in an atmosphere of fear similar to what we've experienced in our post 9/11 world.
Approximately 500 Christian "Praying Indians" were already imprisoned on Deer Island in Boston Harbor (supposedly for their own safety).  However, in Concord, local authorities had placed the Nashobah "Praying Indians" under the care/guard of John Hoar at the present location of the Orchard House.  Local citizens, gripped with fear, took it upon themselves to invite Captain Moseley, the notorious Indian fighter/hater, to rid them of such a threat.  On Feb. 20th he arrived in the town and hearing nothing but encouragement, the next day seized the Nashobah "Praying Indians" without any legal authority and forcibly delivered them to Deer Island.  The only citizen that actively objected was John Hoar.  This same John Hoar would be the man who would gain the release of Mary Rowlandson from her Native American captors at Redemption Rock near Mount Wachusett in May of that same year.
How ironic that less than 3 months later, Hoar's only son Daniel would be involved in the sad event that may have resulted in the naming of Mount Misery in Lincoln.  On August 7, 1676, 5 days before Metacomet would be killed, Daniel Hoar and 3 other Concord men encountered a group of Native American women and children picking berries on Hurtleberry Hill (Mount Misery) in present day Lincoln.  Claiming the berry pickers were outside of permitted boundaries imposed on Native Americans and thereby "skulking Indians", they killed the 3 women and 3 children.  Authorities charged all 4 with murder and they were sentenced to hang.  Ultimately, 2 of the men went to the gallows on Boston Common while John Hoar was successful in having his son released alleging that while he was present at the murder, he didn't play an active role.
So, Daniel was spared from the noose and on an August day 181 years later his great, great, great grandson, Edward Hoar, would be the travelling companion of Henry David Thoreau and Penobscot guide Joe Polis canoeing the rivers of northern Maine. 
Weirder still is the fact that in 1860 Thoreau would draw a survey of his friend Edward Hoar's farm in Lincoln, which included the location of Mount Misery. What an interesting series of connections!  I'm left to wonder if Thoreau was aware of them.

The ancestral connections were found in "The Hoar Family in America" by Henry Stedman Nourse.
Thoreau's drawing of the Hoar farm in Lincoln is # 53 in the Concord Free Public Library's collection.

The only trash encountered today was along the side of Sudbury Road in Stow as we pedalled back to the Wildlife Refuge.  The 16 pieces pictured represent only a fraction of what was seen along this otherwise scenic stretch of road.  Everything from plastics to a bathroom sink.  What's up with that? Are we going back to the "throw-away society" days?

YTD total stands at 4342.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Amazed on the Assabet

This morning's trash patrol on the Assabet River in Stow started out in a fairly ordinary manner, but quickly took on an aeronautical theme. After launching from White Pond Rd. I headed upriver and soon encountered a floating cluster of tires and inner tubes.  They were held together with a piece of twine.  Being that I was downstream of Crow Island's small airport and the tires had names such as "Flight Custom" and "Condor", I suspect they may have once played a role in the landings and take-offs of an ultralight aircraft...

They were towed to a shallow area and then secured to my boat's deck using every bungee cord I had.  Shortly, I was back underway again and upon reaching Crow Island, I rounded the bend and took in the view in the opening photo.  While taking the photo, a large bird came into the view and can be seen flying away.  Clicking twice on the photo (to enlarge) will reveal that the bird has a white tail.  Yes, an American bald eagle on the Assabet River.  He flew ahead and perched in a large pine tree...


After snapping this photo my camera showed batteries needing replacement.  Fortunately, I had some onboard but the eagle flew off while I was changing them.  Oh well, perhaps he'll be seen again upriver.

Paddling on brought me by these very nice arrowhead flowers...


About a half mile before Fort Meadow Brook, I stopped for a break and as you can see my boat was a little tired (please excuse the pun)...



River levels were high enough for an ascent into Fort Meadow Brook, but this recently built structure prevented access from under the culvert...


Not sure what the structure's purpose is.

At the location where the Marlborough Branch Railroad, long ago, crossed the river at Gleasondale, I turned around and began heading back downstream.  On the way back I saw an osprey, several red-tailed hawks, and 3 eastern kingbirds. 
After passing under Sudbury Road and approaching Crow Island I encountered the Pompositticut Eagle once again...


He soon took flight...






I was honored to be in his presence and am hoping this isn't just a case of a migrating eagle passing through the area.  The only times I've seen eagles on SuAsCo waters previously were in winter.  Perhaps the Pompositticut Eagle is here in his official capacity as our national bird, while the President of the United States is visiting Massachusetts.

Near White Pond Road, this great egret provided some nice white color to contrast with the purple loosestrife...


At the takeout my trash haul posed hullside...

Today's tally was 34 pieces and included 20 recyclable containers (9 redeemable) and 14 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish which included the 4 tires/3 inner tubes, a plastic bag, nip bottles, and some styrofoam.  YTD total stands at 4326.
Thanks to the Stow Highway Dept. for providing the final landing strip for the 4 tires. 

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Trashpedalling on the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail

Mrs. Trashpaddler and I did a little bike riding on the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail in Chelmsford this afternoon.  The collection of mostly plastic trash (pictured at left) was recovered along the way.

There were 20 pieces in all, 14 of which were recyclable containers and 6 were food wrapping rubbish.  YTD total 4292.

Here is a picture from yesterday's Sudbury River paddle...
Didn't include it yesterday due to uncertainty as to flower identification.  I'm told it is hibiscus and there were several such plants along the Wayland stretch of river. 

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Sudbury River - River Rd. to Power Lines

After several rainy days, I felt truly lucky to be able to get out on the river this beautiful morning.  Recent rain events have replenished the river and then some.  After launching at River Road in Wayland, I headed upriver against a steady current. 
A new crop of trash had been re-floated by rising waters.  There were some old bottles that looked like they'd been in the river for many years.  One was an empty Milshire Gin bottle with an embossed image of a still.
When I reached Indian Point, it looked like there was enough water to enter Heard Pond but upon trying, I found a machete would be needed to cut back the encroaching high grass etc.
A lttle ways past Heard Pond were these Cardinal flowers that seem to be at their peak color...

After passing through the Allen H. Morgan Avian Study area, I reached the power lines and noticed what I believe to be an osprey nest on top of the high tension tower...

Must be quite a view from up there!

After turning around I rode the nice current back to River Road where my day's catch posed hullside...

Total pieces were 108 and the breakdown is as follows: 70 recyclable containers (13 redeemable) and 38 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as styrofoam, plastic bags, nip bottles, an old paint can, and a pink bowling pin.  My YTD total stands at 4272.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Bird Island Challenge 2011

This morning, the Bird Island Challenge was successfully met by a good number of paddlers and rowers on the waters of Buzzards Bay.  The rain held off until after the event, just as forecasters had promised.  Many participants fueled-up in a manner similar to the kayaker pictured at left and the dockside gasoline pump took it easy for a change.  The combination of clouds and southerly breeze helped to keep participants cool and collected.  The same breeze had seas kicked-up a bit at Bird Island and this resulted in the course being shortened by a couple of miles. Therefore, the island's tern population went undisturbed by event participants.
The ride back to the starting point was with the breeze at our backs and those paddling or rowing a little ways past the finish line were able to see one of the old Nantucket Lightships enjoying her retirement years in the Wareham River... 
 
The Bird Island Challenge is a fund-raising event for the Gleason Family YMCA in Wareham and is unique for its relaxed atmosphere and choice of 3 scenic courses.