Paddling a New Bit of the Ipswich River

This first day of October had me working in Danvers and that provided me the opportunity to get in a short paddle on the Ipswich River, on the way home.  A short drive brought me to the Peabody Street launch in Middleton, where I would access the river.  On an earlier paddle last spring I'd covered the section between Mortalo's Landing (Maple St.) and Peabody Street and today my plan was to see the next bit downsteam.  The photo at left shows the view after passing under the Peabody Street bridge.
On the way to Route 95, there were several blowdowns and beaver dams.  Fortunately, water levels were just high enough to allow passage.  A great blue heron and 2 white-tailed deer were seen along the way.  Beavers have created quite a long dam along the right bank of the river near Rt. 95.  The night shift will need to address this leaky spot soon...

There is a sidewalk of sorts allowing pedestrians to pass under the bridges carrying Rt. 95...

  There was a fair amount of trash for such a short stretch of river...

Most of it was due to the blowdowns and snags.  The rest was in the small backwater at Peabody Street launch area. 

Total for this bit was 39 pieces: 21 recyclable containers (10 redeemable) and 18 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as plastic bags, take-out food containers, assorted footwear, and a tube of styrofoam.  YTD total stands at 5178.