Starting with a Clean Crate

Kicked off 2016 (aka Trashpaddling Year 9) yesterday morning on the lower Sudbury River in Concord where conditions had both the look and feel of winter.  Therefore, I'll resume my countdown of the days until spring...only 78 to go.

It wasn't long before the first piece of 2016 flotsam jumped onto my paddle blade...

At Egg Rock I noted that river levels are still rising...

...before entering the Assabet River.

Things were very quiet, almost as quiet as Christmas morning was.  Reaching Willow Island...

...I saw a diving duck which at first glance had me thinking merganser until I heard the unmistakable call of this common loon...

...which is a call I don't often hear on the Assabet River.  I would encounter this same solitary loon later at Egg Rock. When the loon was calling by Willow Island I wondered if any of the vehicles driving by on nearby Lowell Road might hear it.  Probably not likely, unless they were driving with windows down.

After ascending the Assabet to Spencer Brook I returned to Egg Rock and headed down the Concord River to Buttrick's Hill.  Along the way I heard a vocal pair of pileated woodpeckers upstream of the Great Meadows Landing.  The pair seemed to be playing peekaboo on this tree...

After rounding the bend at Buttricks Hill I came upon a scent mound hotspot and noted quite a bit of recent activity.  This one mound showed mud having been applied on top of the recent snowfall...

 

The return trip upriver included a brief stop for hot cocoa at the mouth of Sawmill Brook where this old shed was admired...

If it had a set of deer or moose antlers near the peak along with a Christmas wreath it would make a great Xmas card. 

While no other boaters were seen today there were lots of folks out for a walk in the Great Meadows and Old North Bridge areas.

Such a cloudy, cool, and breezy day created ideal conditions for reflecting back on the past year:

Paddling to Black Rock on the Squannacook last April...

Meeting a friendly loon on Monponsett Pond in April...

...very close to this commemorative rock...

Paddling and hiking to Spirit Falls in Royalston last June...

...and this Pitcher Plant further along on the Tully River...

Finding another commemorative rock located near the Connecticut River's confluence with the Farmington River in Windsor, CT in October...

Finally, my favorite on-water moment of 2015 was on the lower Assabet River while paddling with my granddaughter.  Our goal was to see a deer and we'd got out on the water at daybreak.  A couple of deer were briefly seen in the distance and we were on our way back downriver feeling like "oh well, at least we saw something" when suddenly a doe on the riverbank caught our eye.  The doe allowed my granddaughter to paddle quite close and the two shared several moments of eye to eye contact...

One very friendly doe...

Before I knew it my New Years Day paddle was coming to an end as I found myself approaching a sugar-coated Egg Rock...

... and not long after the first 2016 trash patrol was officially in the books...