Contoocook River Found Nice'n Clean

Today the New Hampshire Appalachian Mountain Club Paddlers (NH-AMC Paddlers) conducted a trash patrol on the Contoocook River in Henniker, NH.  This was the second in a series of monthly trash patrols organized by club member Denise Hurt.  The club's trash patrols are scheduled for the first Saturday of each month through September.  The NH-AMC Paddlers were joined, on today's patrol, by members of the Merrimack River Watershed Association and myself.  In total, we numbered 9 paddlers in 9 boats and our flotilla headed upriver from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers River Road Boat Launch in Henniker (opening photo).

When not busy scouring both river banks for trash, we enjoyed views of the Pats Peak Ski Area such as this one...

At the confluence of Amey Brook and the Contoocook nearly all participants congregated during a break...

Participants included Dean, Debbie, Denise, John, Ron, Sally, Sue, Whit, and yours truly.

Despite our best efforts, we were only able to round up 146 pieces of trash, and trip leader Denise seemed pleased at finding the river so relatively free of trash...

The trash we did find is pictured here...

...and in addition to the usual plastic bottles, cans etc. was an aluminum extension ladder and an old reel-type lawn mower that's been resting in the river for quite a while.

Another relic from the past, found today, was an old re-usable milk bottle which after a little cleaning-up looked ready to be left on the front steps for the milkman's next visit...

My ride home to "flatlander" country brought me by the old Boston & Maine Railroad depot in Milford, NH.  Like the old lawn mower and milk bottle, the train depot is no longer serving its original purpose. Nonetheless, you have to admit the old building still looks pretty good...

 

 

And further down Route 13 another Boston & Maine depot lives on as someone's private home in Brookline, NH (note the semaphore signals still at the ready)...



  
The next trash patrol by the NH-AMC Paddlers will be conducted on the Merrimack River, starting from Tyngsboro, MA on Saturday, July 6th.