Friday, November 25, 2011

AsCo Waters - Spencer Brook to Sawmill Brook

There was no Black Friday deal that could draw me away from being on the river this morning.  It was my 100th paddle of the year and marks the first year I've attained a third digit. 
Launching at Lowell Road in Concord afforded me this view of Egg Rock to start the day (at left).  I took the path to the right and ascended the Assabet River to Spencer Brook before turning around for the easy ride downstream.  Willow Island had been reduced to this tiny little bit of dry land...
Once back at Egg Rock, a short break was taken at the Calf Pasture before heading down the Concord River.  Snapped this photo of the "rude bridge" before passing under it...
With the trees now bare, the bridge takes center stage.

Between Flint's Bridge and Sawmill Brook, quite a few beer cans were encountered.  Most were fairly recent additions to the river.

After taking in this view of Buttrick's Hill, I turned around...
In addition to the usual Canada geese, mallards, a belted kingfisher, and 2 red-tailed hawks were numerous folks out walking about.  The Great Meadows trails looked busy as well as the Old North Bridge area.

Just before reaching my takeout at Lowell Road, something caught my eye before passing under the bridge...

Perhaps someone was hurrying to a "Doorbuster" sale to buy a couple of flat-screen television sets and decided to save an extra $50 bucks by tossing their old sets.  I really think disposal costs for televisions should be added to their original purchase price to prevent disposal techniques such as this.  Also think it should be the same with automobile tires.  I'll notify the Concord DPW in the hopes they'll be able to recover these TVs.

My day's catch of 66 on dry land...
44 recyclable containers (23 redeemable) and 22 misc. rubbish.

An afternoon trashpedal on the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail with Mrs. Trashpaddler netted this 13 piece batch of additional litter...
10 recyclable containers (5 redeemable) and 3 misc. rubbish.  Both combined for 79.  YTD = 6820

While on the rail trail, we stopped for a break at Cushing Place (aka Ginger Ale Plaza) and admired one of the several murals.  This one shows Middlesex Village as it looked in 1839 when the Thoreau brothers passed through on their "Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers" journey...


The 3 locks they descended through can be seen in the bottom of the mural.  It was there that they encountered the "serene and liberal-minded man, who came quietly from his book,..." to lower them through the locks that Sunday morning in September.



6 comments:

Bernie Paquette said...

One of the photos shows Middlesex Village as it looked in 2011 when the Trash Paddler passed through on his record 100th paddle of the year. Between Flint's Bridge and Sawmill Brook, much wildlife was encountered despite the littered trash of few beer cans in the river.
Just before reaching the takeout at Lowell Road, something caught his eye before passing under the bridge.
Multiple TVs could be seen resting on the bottom of the riverbank and floating face down in the river.
It was there that he encountered the "serene and liberal-minded animal, who came quietly from his burrow,..." to thank him for his Black Friday retrieval of stuff from the river.

Erik Eckilson said...

Wow - 100 paddles this year - that is amazing. And you still have a few more weeks to go!

Al said...

Erik, Thanks. Not working full-time sure helps to provide more paddling time.

Looks like you guys had a lot of fun on the lower Millers River yesterday. Your last photo (French King Bridge) was taken from almost the same spot I was at on Oct. 21. Only difference being I got there from the flatwater direction.

Al said...

Bernie, Thanks,
The mural depicting the Middlesex Village of old was encountered while biking on the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail in the town of Chelmsford. Middlesex Village is located in that same town, along the Merrimack River. I didn't paddle there yesterday.
The mural's creator managed to bring to life a once bustling river/canal transition location that was long ago built over.

Erik Eckilson said...

Hey Al - if you ever want to try whitewater, I have an extra boat. Trash patrols are easy - almost everything gets washed away, and there is no going back for something that you missed ;-)

suep said...

hi Al,
let me know if your plans include the new year's day paddle with the Adk. Pirates at Lake George this year ...if so, I will arrange to be waving to you--from dry land!