A Nice Bit of the Upper Charles

What caught my eye was the following description: "Below Baltimore Street canoeists enter a stunning stretch of river.  For a mile and a half of easy paddling, the steady gentle stream pushes northeast between wooded hillsides...".  I'd been looking for a new section of the Charles to explore and after consulting the guidebook The Charles River: Exploring Nature and History on Foot and by Canoe by Ron McAdow, this section's description fit the bill, especially with today's cool and breezy conditions.  
So this morning I headed to Millis and launched at Forest Road where a U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) sign (photo at left) indicated that this area is within the Charles River Natural Valley Storage Area.  The storage area consists of some 17 natural wetlands in the middle and upper parts of the Charles River that are protected from development by the USACE.   During times of flooding this allows the wetlands to store large quantities of water, thus protecting downriver communities.

I headed upriver towards Baltimore Street...

...where I turned about and began my downriver run.  Several loud volleys of gunfire in this area served to remind that today was not a good day to be a duck.

The river below Baltimore Street proved to be just as advertised, a very nice stretch of river...

I stopped at Cedariver for a hot cocoa break...

...and admired this large old deciduous tree...

After re-launching I soon encountered 2 white-tailed deer in their dark winter coats on the left side of the river.

Continuing downriver beyond Forest Road I paddled through a short rocky stretch...

 ...and turned around at another Trustees of Reservations site...

Trash collected from behind snags and blowdowns consisted of the usual suspects...

There were 48 recyclable containers (20 redeemable) and 53 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as nip bottles, fishing bobbers, Styrofoam, and plastic.  YTD = 5943