Charles Interrupted

The Charles River in the area of King Philip's Lookout in Sherborn was a quiet and peaceful place this past Monday afternoon.  While paddling on the river I paused there to enjoy some lunch and saw first hand the effects from this year's Gypsy Moth Caterpillar infestation.  The leaves on many of the deciduous trees had been devoured...

Now the caterpillars had morphed into swarms of brown moths that flew about aimlessly.  I watched as several flights terminated upon wings hitting the water.  With wings too wet for flight they continued flitting until the rising mouths of fish brought the whole ugly cycle to an end.  At least the fish got a meal.

Then in the distance I heard the unmistakable call of a train and experience told me it would soon be causing a bit of a ruckus here on the Charles.  I positioned my boat just downstream of the bridge and waited as the unseen mass of diesel power approached.  Then it emerged from behind the hill and stepped lightly across the river as if 3 locomotives totaling 9,000 horsepower could do such a thing...

   
CSX units 6247, 6214, and 6236 pulled 50 freight cars across the river as they made their way from Framingham back to Readville.

After the last car cleared the bridge...

  ...peace and quiet were once again restored and a musquash went about the business of moving freight on a much smaller scale...

Not a lot of trash...

Writing this post I'm reminded that on this day 200 years ago Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, MA.  One of my favorite Thoreau quotes is from Walden (Economy):
"Above all, as I have implied, the man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready, and it may be a long time before they get off."