Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Two Rivers Full to the Brim

 

The Assabet River was aerating and accelerating at a very good clip as it tumbled over the Powdermill Dam in Acton the morning after our Christmas Day deluge.  According to the USGS gauge in Maynard the river would crest at around 4.75' in the early morning hours of Sunday.

Late on Sunday morning the inscription at Egg Rock showed only bits of the first three words...


Working my way upriver on the Assabet was slow going with resting breaks enjoyed in expanded sloughs.  As I began my downriver trip I encountered Roger, another river regular...

...who'd worked his way up the Concord and Assabet rivers from the launch at Bedford.  Back at the confluence we encountered a tandem kayak paddling in from the Sudbury...

Things were almost getting crowded!

Yesterday morning I wondered if the high water levels might afford entry into the Pantry Brook Wildlife Area from the Sudbury River.  A paddle down from Sherman's Bridge found the answer to be both yes and no...

Enough water to easily paddle over the dam but there was still enough ice there to discourage doing so.

I was beginning to think the clouds wouldn't give way when shortly after seeing this hawk...
...a glimpse of hope appeared on the horizon to the south...

So I paddled in that direction going past Sherman's Bridge...

The further south I went the sunnier and warmer it got so that after paddling under the, no longer in use, Town Bridge in Wayland...

 ...my return trip seemed to be across a sunlit lake rather than a winding river channel...
Pretty sure I saw the same tandem kayak that I saw the day before on the Concord River.  The day had warmed into the mid 40s F.

Being that this was most likely my last paddle of this very strange year it was only fitting that I'd encounter a few floating oddities such as:
This message in a bottle?...
...an empty Landshark Lager bottle (island-style by Margarita Brewing of St. Louis) "Fins Up"...
...artists' crayons dry as a bone inside a jar...
...perhaps the best-looking water bottle I've ever encountered...

Trash gathered up along the way on these last two paddles...




So the year in a nutshell?  A tough one for many folks who lost so much.  Almost everyone had their plans drastically altered by this unwelcome COVID virus.  I've been fortunate to have suffered little more than having camping/paddling trips to far-off waters put on hold until better times return.  In the meantime I found my paddling activities reduced, for the most part, to some 24 river boat launches all within a 21-mile radius of home.   Put to cardboard it ended up looking like this...


With a roll of the dice I can make a quick decision as to where I'll launch.  One roll for the "Inner Limits" (1 - 12) and a second roll for the "Outer Limits" (13 -24).  Yeah, I'm ready to turn the page!
May 2021 bring better times and expanded horizons for us all.

On a few occasions I did venture further afield within Massachusetts by combining paddling and car-camping.  It was on one such trip to the Connecticut River in May when I experienced eye-to-eye contact with this modern-day petroglyph created by a Native American...
...my most enduring image from the past year. 
  



 

Friday, December 25, 2020

Assabet's Winter Look

 

Got out paddling a couple of times on open-water sections of the Assabet River this past week.  The above view of the Powdermill Dam in Acton, MA shows how things looked on Tuesday with the Maynard gauge showing 2.6'.  Several fly-fishermen were working the same waters and one mentioned having caught a few trout.

Further upriver in Stow, yesterday I came upon a pair of Xmas Eve eagles...



I believe this is the same pair seen in this area last winter.

While I paddled upriver a kayaking duck-hunter, Ted, was encountered paddling downstream after his morning hunt...


The temperature rose some 20 degrees F. over the course of yesterday's paddle with the approach of our Christmas Day tropical-natured rain/wind storm.

Some of the other wildlife encountered during the week:

This 10-point buck...


This bevy of swans on ice (not practicing social distancing)...


A cardinal finding it hard to hide...

An eastern bluebird...

A bug-eyed kingfisher...


Trash was few and far between...



 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays...

...hoping all stay safe and well.



Monday, December 21, 2020

Snowy Solstice Preview

 


Wasn't expecting the snow shower (above) encountered on Musketaquid waters yesterday...but that's what I got...and it was a treat to paddle in.  The weather forecast had called for temps above freezing and possible rain showers.

Before the snow there was plenty of the white stuff remaining from Thursday's storm as was seen at Egg Rock...


The inscription at Egg Rock stood solstice-ready...

...and the Assabet River looked inviting...

...though the recent cold temperatures left iced-over areas at Willow Island...

Light snow began falling as I headed down the Concord River and approached the Old North Bridge...
...which quickly became heavier below Monument Street...

This blue heron couldn't have been more stoic in his one-legged stand...

The shed at Saw Mill Brook...

a closer look...


Returning upriver required paddling through what I believe were coalesced snowflakes that swirled with the currents creating some interesting patterns...


I would have guessed the snowflakes would melt upon contact with the water.  The swirling phenomenon was one I'd never seen before.

Got off the water with there still being another 14 hours before today's pre-dawn Winter Solstice...





Monday, December 14, 2020

Nips and Lighters on the Nashua River

 

Headed upriver on the Nashua River from Harvard, MA yesterday with no other purpose than to see just how far it would be navigable.  Temperatures in the 50s F. had been promised.  The railroad bridge pictured above remained quiet throughout my trip and, it being a Sunday, the firing ranges at adjacent Fort Devens were silent as well.

After 3 miles I reached this shore-to-shore fallen tree in Bolton...

...which became my turnaround point. It was just above where the river makes one of its tighter sweeps below a high bank...

 
In working my way upriver it hadn't taken long to realize I was seeing unusually high numbers of nip bottles and cigarette lighters and likely would be setting a new record for both...
There were 120 nip bottles and 17 cigarette lighters.  It was only back in November that my previous record for nip bottles was set at 83 while paddling the Assabet River in Hudson.

One odd find yesterday was this strange double-ended thumb?...
...gives new meaning to the term "all thumbs".

While returning downriver I entered one of the streams entering the river's east side and, after a ways, stumbled upon a box-culvert which I'd not previously experienced...

This is the terrestrial view southward through the railroad bridge pictured in the opening photo...

With the recent news of CXS Transportation planning to purchase PanAm Railways this rail line linking Worcester and Ayer may take on a more important role and receive some much needed TLC.
 


Friday, December 11, 2020

Assabet's Abundance

 


The Assabet River was the recipient of a generous contribution from Warner's Pond in West Concord yesterday. The outflow from the pond includes water from both Fort Pond and Nashoba brooks.

All of this water kept most obstacles submerged and allowed access to just about anywhere one wanted to go...upriver or down.  After working my way upriver to near Damonmill I got out of the current in the mill's outlet and found the canal to be iced-over... 


   The trip back downriver with the current was swift...


A red-tailed hawk against one of the afternoon's blue-sky moments...


Many of the sloughs had a wintry look...

This one showed the river having had crested nearly a foot higher than I found it some 5 days after Saturday's combination rain, snow, and wind event...

Trash found floating about...


Only 100 days 'till spring's arrival.