Scouting a Bit of the Charles River (Pre ROTC)

With only 5 days left before the 2012 edition of the Run of the Charles (ROTC), I decided to scout the bit of the course between Route 16 in Wellesley and Route 30 in Weston.  I launched at the Norumbega Duck Feeding Area and headed upriver against a fairly strong current due to last weekend's big rain event.  Some residual effects of the storm remained in the form of ominous clouds, cool temperatures and blustery winds. The photo at left shows the dark-bottomed clouds above the Recreation Road ramp off of Route 95.  The clearance below this bridge has been reduced by staging related to a construction project.  It's about the same amount of clearance as the golf cart bridge, further upriver, provides.

Quite a bit of floatable trash was encountered along the way, and by the time I reached the parking lot below Route 16 some transloading was in order...

The hodgepodge included 83 recyclable containers (12 redeemable) and 52 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as plastic-lined burlap bags (labelled sodium thiosulfate), bubblewrap, styrofoam blocks and cups.  The amount of single-use water bottles was significant and brought to mind how fearful the bottled water industry is concerning a proposed ban of such containers in the town of Concord.

Already, a few college campuses and a National Park have imposed such bans. To, now, have a town as historically significant as Concord enact a ban might cause folks all across the country to rethink the issue of single-use plastic bottles containing grossly over-priced drinking water.

With all trash secured, the trip back to Norumbega was a swift one and blue skies were winning the battle...

   YTD = 2091