They're three rivers in the Merrimack River watershed, and I paddled bits of each this past week. Started with the Nashua River in Still River (Harvard, MA) on the only seasonable day of the three...
...where a couple of deer looked surprised...
Though I often paddle this stretch, for some reason on this occasion, I was more aware of its deserted look and feel. The launch at Oxbow NWR is at the bottom of Still River Depot Road. The depot is long gone and the roadway which once served as a county road ends at a chain-link fence...
...at the river's west shore. The creation of Fort Devens back in 1917 fenced-off this area.
At the spot in Still River village where this road leaves Route 110/111 a stately sycamore tree attests to a once busy intersection...
An even statelier sycamore stands about a mile or so distant...
...at Captain Pollard's Flintlock Farm. This sycamore is known as the "whipping tree" because back in 1782 a Shaker was tied to the tree and whipped. So much for religious tolerance. The tree is said to be the 4th oldest sycamore in Massachusetts and reportedly measures almost 21 feet in girth.
Seeing these ancient trees reminded me of all the trying times they've weathered over the years. I like to think their survival tells us we'll get through our present troubles.
A few days later, with wildly unseasonable warm temperatures, I drove through Rocks Village in Haverhill, MA and crossed the bridge over the Merrimack...
...to where I launched at Ferry park in West Newbury.
The Mighty Merrimack downstream from the bridge has big river feel...
...especially at the top of a 9.5 foot tide. A building westerly breeze kept the river lively. I didn't see another moving boat and noticed the river being in a still undressed state with no docks yet in place. Also there was no vegetative cover to hide all of the plastic refuse along the shoreline...
There was much more of it than I would have expected to see. The many plastic containers are but 14 miles or so from the open sea.
For my third paddle I decided to stay close to home and get on the water earlier in the day to beat the predicted afternoon winds. I drove only a couple of miles to Ice House Landing in Maynard, MA and launched into the Assabet River which was calm and warm...
After paddling a little more than a mile, I saw a pair of eagles...
Approaching closer it became evident they're the same pair I've been seeing quite often. The eagle on the right has a dark area around his eyes and is holding one foot in a clenched position...
While these guys were in sight, two other immature eagles were noticed affording me the opportunity of having 4 eagles within my field of vision at one time and only 5 miles from home. As recently as 5 years ago I'd wouldn't have believed this could happen.
Immature #1...
...and immature #2...
I believe the four eagles were focused on this group of common mergansers...
...who nervously swam first one way, then the other.
Further upriver red-winged blackbirds were everywhere...
...and skunk cabbage is emerging...
Trash from the three rivers ran the plastic gamut:
Lots of nip bottles...
...more bags and Styrofoam...
...to downright stingy...
Nip bottles because of their relatively small size pose more of a threat to wildlife if ingested. I guess it's only natural that the New England state with the most common sense would actually address this situation by providing a redemption value on these little pests...
Yep, my hat is tipped to the independent-minded State of Maine. Hopefully, others will follow in their path.
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