Saturday, May 30, 2020

Signs on the Water

I feel free as a bird when out on the water in my boat.  However in the course of traversing waterways a boater will encounter occasional signs along the shoreline.  Most typical are signs notifying that making landfall is not allowed such as "No Trespassing", "Private Property", or "Keep Out".  Imagine my surprise recently when I saw instead a sign of "welcome" on a riverside tree...
Funny how just one word can change the whole tone.  The "friendly" sign informs via pictographs which activities are allowed and which are not.  Kudos to whoever designed it!

We boaters see many other shoreline signs serving to communicate a variety of information:

Some remind us not to litter...
...and that we're being watched.

Others alert us to hazards ahead...
...and ways to avoid them...

And still others remind us of what the consequences might be if we ignore those warnings...

The prudent boater is ever vigilant for such signs.

Recently, however, I encountered a different kind of signpost which used only an image etched in stone to convey its message...
On first sight I perceived it as possibly depicting a deer above and a fish below.  However, after consulting with folks knowledgeable in such matters, the term "Underwater Panther" was heard by me for first time.  In my subsequent search to discover more I've learned from  a 1960 paper by James H. Howard titled When They Worship the Underwater Panther: A Prairie Potawtomi Bundle Ceremony, that some Native American tribes believed there was a creature having supernatural powers that lurks below the water's surface: "Although generally considered an evil creature, the Underwater Panther is greatly feared and respected by all of the groups having the creature in their pantheon."

On the blog Burl Carvings and More by Steven Lalioff I found mention (in the comments) of the Lewis and Clark expedition having encountered such petroglyphs which the Indian guides found concerning, and that "the original meaning of the glyphs was 'Caution, one of these things LIVES here' ".
So if those I've consulted are correct and this is an image of the "Underwater Panther" it begs the questions...who made it?...and when?...and is there a situation where a warning is justified?

The other day while paddling on the Musketaquid or grass-grown river, this sign of a completely different nature was encountered...


A river crop circle?

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Covid Camping/Paddling Retreat

Just when it looked like my spring camping/paddling trip was D.O.A. due to Covid-19 restrictions, I had the good fortune to stumble upon the Hipcamp website.  Hipcamp allows private landowners to host campers for a reasonable fee.  After becoming a member my search for sites within my home state of Massachusetts and near the Connecticut River brought me to the "Lovely Montague Retreat" pictured above.  Fate was kind to me as the previously gloomy weather forecast seemingly changed overnight and provided 4 days of dry and sunny weather...every camper's dream.  Even our persistently windy spring took a break.  Drove there on Tuesday afternoon and set up camp in a beautiful meadow with my nearest neighbors being hives of honey bees.

The next morning a short drive had me launching into the Connecticut River across from its confluence with the Deerfield River...

Before ascending the Deerfield I paddled to the General Pierce Bridge...
...and got this look at Smead Island which is below the Turners Falls Dam...

Looked tempting but boating above this point isn't allowed due to potential dam releases.  While the Connecticut/Deerfield confluence was a place of swirling currents, things calmed down considerably once I'd entered the Deerfield where this deer was enjoying some morning sun...
...before noting my presence, and returning to grazing...

Passed under a bunch of rail/roadway bridges before reaching the Deerfield's confluence with the Green River...

Paddled up the Green for about a quarter mile or so before it became too shallow.  About 3 miles further up the Green is this reminder of another type of retreat which occurred 344 years to the day before my trip to the area (an unplanned coincidence)...
According to historians, Captain Turner's force of 150 men on horseback had traveled some 20 miles north from Hatfield under the cover of darkness and keeping west of the Connecticut River to avoid being detected.  In order to reach the Native American fishing village at today's Turner Falls they needed to ford the Deerfield River at Sheldon Brook and the Green River by today's Nash's Mill Road.  Though they did succeed in carrying out their dastardly deed, in which they gave no quarter and took no prisoners, bad karma in the form of Native American warriors caught up with them while making their retreat.  Capt. Turner's retreat ended with his death upon the Green River's west shore. Near the very spot (which I visited by car this past Tuesday May 19) folks enjoyed wading at the Green River Swimming and Recreation Area. They waded within a stone's throw of the above sign...
 
Once back to the Deerfield I continued upriver to the possible ford site near the mouth of Sheldon Brook (which Turner never got back to)...
I try to imagine seeing 150 men on horseback fording the river here first on the way to the Falls and later their reduced number in hasty retreat.  In addition to Turner, 39 of his men perished.  The number of Native Americans killed above the falls may have exceeded 200...many were women and children.

One of the Deerfield's islands hosted an occupied eagle's next...
...with the other parent nearby...

Additionally, this immature eagle was encountered on my return trip down the Deerfield...


Following a good night's rest at my campsite, I again launched into the Connecticut River this time at Barton Cove above the Turners Falls Dam...
...and explored the river up to the majestic French King Bridge...
...making a short jaunt into the Millers River at Cabot's Camp...

Along the way were more eagles...
...near their nest...

Wildflowers such as columbine...
...and bluets thrived on the Connecticut Rivers rocky shores near the French King Bridge...

Over the course of my visit I paddled past some interesting stone-work like this hand-laid culvert...
...showing some light at its end.

This stone pier for a railroad bridge sported one stone different from all the others which caught my eye...
A closer look...

 However the most unusual stone I would see was this one hard by the shore...
Guess it was the wiggly shape that caught my eye.  The more I looked the more curious I became.  Finally went ashore and brushed aside the branches to reveal...
It may be the oldest sign post encountered.  Looks like a deer and a fish both of which are still plentiful around these parts.  It faces to the southwest towards the late afternoon sunshine.  A shamen's work perhaps?

This might be a good spot to list the Native American names for the region they call "Pocumtuck".
The Connecticut River is "Quinneticook"; its great falls "Peskeompskut"; the Deerfield River is "Pocumpetook"; the Green River is "Pukcommeagon"; the Millers River is Pequoiag.

After returning to my camp I located the eagle's nest my host had mentioned being near the river.  It was of rugged construction...
It was the third eagle's nest I'd seen in 2 days...all of them built in deciduous trees.

Enjoyed my final night being serenaded by freight trains coming and going from PanAm Southern's East Deerfield freight yard (photo shows west end of yard)...

At the start of my homeward drive I stopped at the former site of Montague Station and took one last look down the tracks as the tail end of a west-bound freight train headed towards the bridge and the other side of the Quinneticook ...

Very little trash was encountered...



Monday, May 18, 2020

Near Yet Distant

That's the way it was Saturday on the Nashua River between the towns of Harvard and Lancaster in Massachusetts.  It'd been 8 weeks since the group had last been together.  On that occasion we were closing out another winter hiking season just as every aspect of life was undergoing drastic alterations.

We convened early in the morning allowing us to have the boat launch to ourselves.  Nods and brief hellos replaced handshakes, and each of us went quickly about the business of getting our boats in the water.  We all seemed sober in following the recommended guidelines for social distancing.

The Nashua was flowing nicely thanks to the previous evening's thunderstorms.  The weather was changeable between sun/clouds and warm/cool.  A bald eagle, perched in a tree-top osprey nest, provided a bit of majesty for the occasion...

It was great to paddle with friends again...but at the same time strange having to be continuously conscious of 6 feet of separation.  The "new normal" coming into focus?  It's going to take some getting used to.
.


Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Driving Less, Paddling More

There's a lot to be said for sticking close to home...like this upriver view on the Assabet...
...only minutes from my front door.  It was one of the few moments of late when the winds weren't whippin'.

My Assabet travels, yesterday, took me upriver and upbrook to the abandoned and fire-ravaged railroad trestle on Fort Meadow Brook...

Encountered numerous birds of prey along the way such as this hawk on Crow Island...
...and a masked osprey...

Beneath them were two families of mute swans recently expanded.  This being the larger one...

Was surprised at not seeing one of the familiar eagles around Crow Island until this eagle was eventually seen perched in a tall pine overlooking Fort Meadow Brook's impounded waters...

The preceding Wednesday I explored the Sudbury River between the stones...bridges of stone that is.  The Old Stone's Bridge at my upriver terminus...
...and the Old Town Bridge at the downriver point...

Between them some nice paddling was to be had on a still high and wide Sudbury River...

Once again Heard Pond was easily accessed, and its one island...
...could be likewise circumnavigated.

Musquashes were out and about such as this guy sporting the slicked back look...
...and this younger fellow displaying a fair amount of bed head...

Most elegant, however, was this nested mute swan...

The only trash recovered of late has been that which has completed its mandatory 21 day flotsam quarantine...