Catacunemaug, Nashua, and Umbagog?

Paddled a sweet stretch of the Nashua River early Monday morning.  After launching from the Bill Ashe Visitor Center in Devens, I explored the lower half of the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge between the Ice House Dam and the osprey nest above Route 2.  Also ventured a short ways into Catacunemaug Brook...

 
As a fan of Native American place names I was researching the word "Catacunemaug" and found that there's an old mill building in Shirley known as "Umbagog on the Catacunemaug".  Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?  I'd only heard the word "Umbagog" before in reference to a pristine lake in Maine.

Wildlife encounters included 3 white-tailed deer, a river otter, many musquash, kingfishers, blue and green herons, several large snapping turtles, and this osprey...

Also encountered a fair bit of trash, especially behind this one fallen tree which served as a trash trap...

 

 

Now it's ready to catch some more...



By paddle's end my boat was at capacity...

Always seem to find lots of one-quart glass beer bottles in this stretch.  Yesterday there were 11 of them.

Happy Fourth!