Wednesday, November 27, 2019

A Two Day Spell


Following last Sunday's rainstorm we were gifted with two beautiful late November days.  On Monday my hope was that thanks to Sunday's rain there'd be enough water for gaining entry to Heard Pond from the Sudbury River.  After finding the Route 20 boat launch closed due to some bridge work, I launched at River Rd. in Wayland on a fast warming morning.  Reaching the spot on the river where a winding route to the pond begins, a small beaver dam there required a slide-over.
Finding my way to the pond resulted in considerable contact with shrubbery which was of a more intimate nature than desired.  Eventually, I found myself in Heard Pond (opening photo).
Some other photos:



Returned to the river via the same route.  Thanks to whoever provided this trail marker...
...it definitely helped.

Once back on the river I headed upstream to the ridge that separates the two bodies of water.  There whiling away the afternoon before the new moon were two white-tail deer...a doe and a buck...
...note the buck's ears peeking over the top of the ridge to the left.

The doe stayed put for awhile...

The buck seemed indifferent to my presence and went about grazing, perhaps knowing he was just about invisible...

Some trash rounded up...
...before it could reach the Merrimack River.

The next day, Tuesday, promised to be warmer still...so I headed west to the Millers River in Orange.

The view from within the culvert under the Pan Am Southern railroad...

Still some iced-over backwaters...

A small campsite near one of the Millers River Blue Trail Paddle stops...

An almost submerged Rowlandson Rock...

The railroad bridge beyond the rock...
...shows that even rust looks good in the sunlight.

Returning to Orange on an afternoon that, while I hated to see it end...
...I'll certainly be thankful for on Thursday.

Some trash gathered up...
...before it could reach the Connecticut River.

Friday, November 22, 2019

An Egg Rock Eagle

Took advantage of some relatively mild conditions today and paddled the Assabet River between Egg Rock and Westvale.  Water level at the inscribed stone looked adequate.  After going about a half mile or so I encountered a mature bald eagle in a tree near Dove Rock...

He moved to another perch in a taller tree just above Willow Island...
...from where he watched me paddle past.

I continued upriver to Concord Junction where a commuter train crossed over the Assabet...

Just upstream from the bridge is a relatively new Public Boat Landing/Picnic Area on the river's east shore...

A light rain began falling after I passed under the Pine Street Bridge and became steadier as I reached my turnaround point in Westvale.  Heading back downriver I wondered if I'd see the eagle again. 

Once I passed Dove Rock he came into view briefly before taking flight and disappearing further downriver...
 
I began wondering whether eagles were around these parts back in Henry David Thoreau's time.  He often mentioned hawks and fish hawks (osprey), but I don't recall him writing of eagles in his Concord surroundings.  As I approached the Assabet's confluence with the Sudbury River it occurred to me how great it would be if the eagle was now perched in the Egg Rock area...and much to my surprise he was...
Note the eagle in the top left of the photo.  Here he is zoomed...

Suspect he had a duck dinner on his mind.  A cup of hot cocoa was on mine.

Some trash, of a mostly plastic nature, removed from the river...

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Assabet's Portal Open Again

When I approached the box culvert (pictured above) last week workers were engaged in trying to clear a blockage which had effectively dammed Fort Meadow Brook.  Yesterday, in order to satisfy my curiosity and find out if the workers were successful, I launched into the Assabet River a mile or so downriver...
...and headed upstream. 

Along the way a solitary "young coot" greeted me...
...and another more stoic fellow served as a reminder that hunting season is underway...

Upon finding the workers had achieved complete success in clearing the culvert, I paddled on through and into Fort Meadow Brook.  A short way into the brook I passed the decorated lodge of the culprits who may have blocked the culvert in the first place...

The grass showed how high the water reached during the time the culvert was blocked and also some rather large pieces of timber which I suspected floated down from the old railroad trestle another tenth of mile up the brook...
Water must have been deep to move the timbers this far.

Upon reaching the trestle I found it had been destroyed by fire...

This is how it looked on March 14 of this year...
Back then it was in rough shape but still basically intact.

Yesterday, not so much...
Maybe this is what's meant when folks say "there's no there there"

According to information found in the Boston and Maine Railroad Historical Society's book The Central Mass. :  the trestle once supported trains traveling between Boston and Northampton...a distance of 104 miles.  The last train to pass over the trestle, a local freight, did so on June 19, 1980.

Also seen along the Assabet yesterday were a red-tailed hawk...
...and what I think is a broad-winged hawk...
...and then as I approached Crow Island an eagle flew overhead...
...and after rounding the next bend I found myself in the presence of a pair of mature bald eagles...
...on the Assabet River in Stow, Massachusetts.  Never thought I'd see such a thing so close to home.

These two eagles kept an eye on me as I paddled past them twice.  At one point one of them issued a loud and high-pitched call though neither of them moved.  I believe the lower eagle is the same one I saw last week and appears to be the more grizzled and senior of the two.

Some trash gathered up along my route...




Thursday, November 14, 2019

A Not So Ordinary Assabet

On Tuesday morning the air was still with a mist-laden fog enshrouding the Assabet River.  There were a few hours left before the much heralded arrival of what forecasters were calling record-breaking arctic cold conditions.  That provided me just enough time to get in one more paddle upriver from Ice House Landing in Maynard.

Where the river widens near Crow Island a parade of mute swans passed...

Turning my gaze to the right revealed I wasn't the only one watching them...
This particular eagle looked old for some reason...perhaps the deeper set eyes.

Beyond the island, in a slough, were pieces of solidified water...
...close to an abandoned bird's nest...
...both reminders of impending winter.

Near Whitman's Crossing the bobbing bottom of a glass bottle caught my eye and was shortly brought aboard...
It's embossed with "Dr. Hubbard's Vegetable Disinfectant, Deodorizer and Germicide, Boston, Mass".
On the bottle's base is O G R 8 which according to bottle folks online represents the glass bottle having been provided by O. Gordon Rankine also of Boston.  It holds 8 ounces.  Rankine provided such bottles between 1881 and 1900.  So, it leaves me to wonder why a bottle that's been around the river environment for perhaps a hundred years or so decided to go "float about" on Tuesday.  Maybe it decided that instead of being cold and wet it was now time to get warm and dry...and hang with fellow river bottles on a shelf in my house...

Proceeding further upriver I began to notice quite a stream of leaves which led me to a culvert-clearing project at the river's confluence with Fort Meadow Brook...

The culvert was nearly completely blocked with brush which had effectively turned the causeway into a holding dam.   DPW workers were using a small excavator to clear the culvert.  Perhaps the clearing project resulted in the bottle being dislodged from wherever it'd been residing all these years.

Around this time the predicted winds arrived and began ushering in the colder air, and I began heading back to my starting point.  

Smoke rising from a riverside home's chimney revealed a warming fire was stoked within...
  
I reached the appropriately named (for this day) "Ice House Landing" just as sleet began to mix in with the rain.  A small bit of trash gathered along the way...

Now that I'm back in my old Trashpaddler digs, figured I'd make a few changes in the decor starting with the wall coverings.