Monday, August 3, 2015

First Dog Day of the Season


Launched in the pre-dawn at Lowell Rd. in Concord and headed down the Concord River this morning.  The river was like glass and a light mist hung above the water.



The Old North Bridge looked sleepy but the Concord Minuteman was already up and at the ready...


A classic Dog Day of summer was in the making just around the bend...

...and the hibiscus were basking in the light...

With water levels so low old bottles were there for the taking such as this Pureoxia bottle...

Didn't see a soul all the way down to Davis Hill where this view...
...downriver was taken in before turning about. 

On the way back upriver Cardinal flowers were getting a little time in the sun as well...

At Great Meadows Landing there were vehicles and a good number of blue coolers on the small beach.  My guess is that a sampling project of some kind was being set up.  This power boat was heading towards the landing with still more blue coolers...
Of course it's also possible those coolers might be filled with lobster and beer.

Almost hit this snapper with my paddle...

This blue heron allowed a photo...

Once back at Lowell Rd. I decided to continue into the Assabet River as far as Willow Island.  Since the water level was so low and the noon sun was nicely illuminating the bottom I figured I'd take another stab at finding the hatch cover lost there several years ago.  Though I didn't find the cover, it was a perfect day for wading back and forth across the river...

At another shallow section of the Assabet this usually submerged stone wall had me thinking it might be remnants of a Native American fish weir...

The inscription at Egg Rock was high and dry and brought to mind the image of a man standing there while inscribing the text into the stone...

Today's trash haul had quite a few glass bottles...

Appropriate for a Dog Day I moved about as slow as possible covering 8 miles in 7 hours and enjoying every moment.  Did I mention just how much I hate winter?

3 comments:

PenobscotPaddles said...

Very, very low water ... Have you ever seen it this low?

Al said...

I believe I've seen it this low before but don't recall seeing it get much lower. The water in the Assabet was considerably clearer than that in the Concord. Fascinating to see what's laying around on the bottom.

BERNIE said...

Amen on hating winter. I shiver to think about it - so try not to. Live for the day and today was nice and warm.