Sunday, December 13, 2015

Paddlin' the Rocks Route


First of all, greetings and salutations to my new best friend, El Nino...a great fellow indeed.  Thanks to his stellar efforts we here in Massachusetts were gifted with yet another balmy December morning.

I launched into a very calm Sudbury River and paddled down to Egg Rock where the inscription remains high and dry (photo at left).  Continuing downstream, now on the Concord River, brought me past this rather large power boat that didn't seem too concerned about the river's shallow depths...
I think the vessel could have even made it under the Lowell Road bridge with the radio antennae up.

The Old North Bridge was hosting a few visitors...

Further along I ran into this guy who'd once been the life of the party...

Past Sawmill Brook was this collection of scent mounds...
...and still a little further this beaver lodge where the secret entrance is exposed for all to see...

Rounding the last bend brought me to the long straight-a-way...

After passing under a very tranquil Route 225 bridge...
...I arrived at my destination Two Brothers Rocks...
...where John Winthrop and his daughter's father-in-law, Thomas Dudley, divvied things up after stepping out of the canoe that brought them downriver back in 1638....Winthrop took the 1200 acres south of the rocks and Dudley took the 1000 acres to the north.
The kiosk there includes this old photo and related text...

Sitting on a bench there while eating a fig newton, I looked southward and wondered what it would be like to step out of my kayak someday and proclaim ownership of such a large tract of land...

On the return trip upriver I encountered a pair of immature eagles perched in what was once Winthrop's parcel.  I was thinking osprey until the large bird turned its head...

Other wildlife seen today were blue herons, Canada geese, and a belted kingfisher.

The river was busy with human visitors also...guys fishing from a small power boat, a guy in waders doing some fly fishing, single and double canoes, and a pair of kayakers.  Also seen was this horse and rider traversing one of the riverside trails...

Good to see so many folks drawn to the river on a day in mid-December.  Thanks again Senor El Nino.

Some trash rounded up along the way...
In fact the only thing that hinted at my least favorite four-letter word was the blue boogie board designed for sliding down the stuff.

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