Monday, October 17, 2016

Merrimack Tide Ride

Paddled upriver on the Merrimack yesterday with a big assist from an incoming tide.  After launching from Cashman Park in Newburyport I headed downriver before turning around 3 hours before the scheduled high tide.  I made swift progress beneath the Rt. 1 drawbridge and past the abandoned Boston and Maine swing bridge which hasn't swung since the 1960s...

Soon I was gliding under the Chain Bridge...
...and the Rt. 95 bridge which is under construction...

Next came Lowell's Boat Shop where many a dory's been born...

Where the Merrimack rounds to the southwest, a stiff breeze from that direction slowed my tidal ride.  Then I noticed the tide flowing into the Powwow River and, upon entering it, made even faster progress...
...as far as Amesbury...
...where the Powwow disappears behind the mill above.  The Back River allowed me to go a little further before the flow went slack and I turned about.

On the return trip I encountered this floating raft of sticks with 2 plastic water bottles hiding inside...

Stopped briefly on Ram Island after noticing a good bit of plastic flotsam laying about.  Recognized this guy whose been on the lamb since 2011...
 ...when he and an estimated 4 to 8 million buddies escaped from the Hooksett, NH wastewater treatment facility.

Most of the day's trash haul came from Ram Island...

Heard today that "King Tides" will be occurring over the next couple of days and may offer even better rides than the one I enjoyed on Sunday.

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