Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Magazu's Landing to Ice House Landing

Late this morning, I launched for the first time from the recently completed Magazu's Landing at Sudbury Road in Stow.  The landing has a set of granite stairs with a handrail leading down to the Assabet River's edge.  The project was spearheaded by a local Eagle Scout candidate who was helped by volunteers.  Access to the river is much improved while the potential for erosion has been minimized.  This photo shows the well-built stairs and railing...
As you can see, Old Man Winter was serving appetizers this morning.  I'm hoping he holds off  a while longer before serving the main course.
At any rate, Ice House Landing in Maynard seemed an appropriate destination on a day such as this.

Heading downriver I came upon this beaver lodge with a beaver-built roadway winding its way to the top...
Looks like he's been busy getting ready for tonight's "Beaver Moon".
 
The nearby cove is looking a bit wintry...
 
 
While taking a photo of a perched red-tailed hawk, a belted kingfisher chattered his way into the shot...
 
 
By the time I reached Ice House Landing, the sun was beginning to break through the clouds...
 
Those blocks of ice left laying around the landing never seem to melt.
 
At the terrestrial entrance to Ice House Landing stands this nicely inscribed granite post...
 
 
On my trip back upriver I encountered this osprey near Crow Island...
 
And a blue heron flying low over the ice...
 
 
A modest amount of trash was recovered along the way...
 
Most of the hiding places have now been exposed due to denuded foliage.  There were 22 recyclable containers (11 redeemable) and 12 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish.  YTD = 6594
 
I forgot to mention, in last Saturday's post, a nice medicine bottle found at the mouth of Spencer Brook.  It was an amber 6.5 ounce cork-top bottle embossed with the following: Sylpho-Nathol by Cabot's.  Sylpho-Nathol was a coal tar-based disinfectant/antiseptic made in Boston during the late 1800s and early 1900s.  One advertising slogan was "Keep your nose and throat clean".  The company, Cabot's, is still in business making wood staining products.









2 comments:

Mark Mayall said...

Who or what is Magazu?

Al said...

Mark, It is my understanding that the Eagle Scout candidate named Magazu Landing in memory of Michael J. Magazu, a Scout who passed away in 2004 at the age of 17.