Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Balloons, Bottles, and Bucks

 

Closed out the month of June with a couple of "beat the heat" paddles this week.  The photo above was taken on the Merrimack River looking downriver towards the Rourke Bridge.  With temperatures predicted to reach 97 degrees F. later in the day, I'd launched before 6 am and shared the river with only 5 other boats...all solo rowers.  The river's east shore provided welcome shade as I paddled upriver passing the intake for the City of Lowell's drinking water treatment facility...

...and past Wicassee Island and one of its more stately shade trees...

Went as far as Tyngsborough...

...and its majestic span across the Merrimack...
...where I turned about and headed back to my starting point.  Off the water by 10:30 am.

Followed that same pattern on the Concord River a few days prior and believe it's the best way to enjoy paddling on these days of record heat and humidity.  All I have to do is think of the cold and frigid days of winter to have a better appreciation for the hot days of summer.  I'll take the heat...hands down. 

Came across some timely-themed balloons of which there were three:
One from Mother's Day...

...another from Father's Day...
...and one a few days early for our Nation's birthday...


Then there was this intriguing display of hanging bottles...
...artwork?

The Concord River provided three white-tailed bucks in one less-than-a-mile stretch.  The first two appear to be identical twins.  Buck 1...

...and buck 2...
...their recently sprouted antlers still in velvet.

A third buck less than a half mile away had the twins beat in the antler department...

He and I stayed eye-to-eye for a good bit of time with him occasionally stomping one foot or snorting...but never backing away.  Ultimately a power boat came along and off he went.

A bottle found near the bucks was appropriately embossed for the occasion...

 Other trash gathered up...







Friday, June 25, 2021

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Got in a couple of paddles on the Assabet River...


...and one on the Sudbury River this past week...


The Assabet proved the wildest as alongside the river there's two hungry eaglets in a nest about 50 feet up in a tall pine tree. Below the nest in a riverside field was a large group of Canada geese with their, still unable to fly, goslings .  For the geese it's a worst-case scenario...


As Mrs. Trashpaddler and I paddled past the eagle nest location we witnessed an adult eagle soar up to the nest with a food delivery for the eaglets.  It was the first time we'd seen such a delivery made to the nest and the food was received with great enthusiasm by the eaglets...


The adult eagle didn't stay at the nest long and soon left.  Only a few minutes had passed when all hell broke loose down on the ground among the Canada geese as they closed ranks and moved closer to the river...some on land and some in the water.  Amid the noisy commotion the eagle swooped down upon them but was unsuccessful in grabbing one, and flew across the river to where it perched within sight of the geese and seemed to be drying its wings...


However almost immediately the eagle began receiving abuse from a red-winged blackbird and a variety of other small birds...

We were amazed at just how aggressive the smaller birds were in relentlessly pestering the eagle.

The eagle's perch shows much bark having been ripped off by talons giving testament to how many attacks upon the geese may have been launched from this perch.  For the Canada geese this must be an agonizing experience.  If they move away from the river towards the woods they'll fall prey to fox or coyotes.  If stay where they are the eagles will continue to diminish their numbers one by one.

Meanwhile just a few tenths of a mile upriver this little chipmunk found a comfy spot 15 feet up from the ground on the side of a tree...

...showing a good nap is where you find it.

Trash was on the light side...

...and included the remains of a broken shaft paddle...


Sunday, June 20, 2021

Riverside Trails by Bike and Boat

Spent this past week exploring a variety of trails...some by bicycle and some by boat.  In Massachusett's Pioneer Valley Mrs. Trashpaddler and I pedaled our bikes along the Norwottuck Rail Trail between Amherst and Northampton which includes the nearly half-mile long bridge across the Connecticut River...


Next we hit the nearby Manhan Trail...

...which roughly follows the route of the Manhan River from the base of Mount Tom in Easthampton to trail's end in Southampton...


In serving the many manufacturing mills in Easthampton the old rail line formerly passed the historical location of Old Pascommuck where a boulder-mounted tablet tells the tale of a sad day in 1704...


Further to the north we next pedaled the Canalside Trail from East Deerfield to the great falls on the Connecticut River at Peskeomskut in Montague.  This trail starts with a crossing of the Connecticut at its confluence with the Deerfield and follows the man-made canal into which most of the Connecticut River's flow was re-routed...

A smaller portion goes over the dam and into the Connecticut's original course...

In the foreground of the photo is the spillway fish ladder which provides assistance to migrating anadromous fish.

My week ended with another trail, this time by water and involving yet another man-made channel.  Joined by friends Erik and Bill...

...we undertook an early morning paddle of the Charles River's Dedham Loop.  Starting point was the Dolan Recreational Center in Dedham where this plaque explains the Dedham Water Trail...


According to the plaque: "The goal of the Water Trail is to attract visitors to the Charles and create an educational and lasting experience that would in turn create environmental stewards of the river."

We followed a counter-clockwise route around the loop...

...going with the current until leaving the river and entering the "Long Ditch" near Cow Island...


Here we began working against the current for the half mile long ditch.  A rocky and shallow stretch under the Needham Street bridge required a very short portage...


We then rejoined the river and soon found ourselves right back where we'd started from.

In doing the loop we paddled 6.5 miles and noted a red-tailed hawk, great blue herons, an osprey, and these mute swans...


We were all impressed with how trash-free this section of the Charles River was.  It appears to show the Dedham Water Trail is accomplishing its aforementioned goal.


Speaking of trash, one left-over piece of trash from the previous week was dealt with.  Found bobbing along the Assabet River were two pressurized containers.  The first was easy to deal with...

...with a sharp point...pop!

The second container, not so easy...

It contained MAPP gas (methylacetylene-propadiene propane) and required burning off the residual gas before the container could be pierced.  In my work I used to solder pipes with this type of gas and still had my old torch.  Could have used a few hundred marshmallows to put the long burning flame to use!


Sunday, June 13, 2021

Merrimack and Some Tributaries

 

The past week started out hot around these parts with a classic summertime look and feel...and all I can say is "it sure as heck beats winter."  Morning temperatures Monday were near 70 degrees F. and soon rose into the 90's.  By Friday things were more seasonable with temperatures just barely reaching 70 degrees F. and the week ended with today's almost perfect conditions. 

My paddling week started early on Monday morning near the bridge across the Merrimack River at Tyngsborough (above photo) which looked perfectly balanced between sky and water.  The early morning sunrises allowed for additional early morning starts on both Wednesday and Friday when I paddled some of the northward flowing Nashua and Concord rivers respectively.  Both of these major tributaries enter the Merrimack about the same distance from the majestic bridge at Tyngsborough...the Nashua 7 miles upriver of it and the Concord 7 miles downriver.   Ended the week with another early morning paddle on the Assabet River.

On Wednesday the railroad bridge across the Nashua River at the Oxbow N.W.R. in Harvard, MA saw a later than usual Q427 CSXT freight slowly heading south towards Worcester...


Friday, on the Concord River, some engineers did some "snooping" below the bridge carrying Route 3 across the river...


The articulated rig they were using allowed them to inspect both the northbound and southbound spans while attached to the truck parked on the highway above...



Wildlife encounters included this raccoon on the Concord near the Fordway Bar...
...and his trademark tail...

A white-tailed deer along the Concord...

Both the Nashua and Concord had wood duck mothers showing their acting skills.  After leading their ducklings to a safe refuge they performed the broken wing act in an effort to lead me away from the ducklings...

Amazing how the ducklings know when it's time to follow their ma quickly, and when it's time to stay put.

I closed out my week with a visit to the Assabet River's eagles nest where the 2 eaglets are doing well but yet to fledge... 

One eaglet spread its wings...
...in preparation for a soon-to-come first flight.

An adult eagle perched nearby...



The most scenic spot paddled was through the Concord River's Fordway Bar where the river narrows considerably and speeds up just before reaching the Talbot Mills in Billerica...


The Talbot Mills site where one building was undergoing masonry repairs...
Just to the left of this building is where, long ago, boaters traveling to the Merrimack River left the Concord River and entered the Middlesex Canal...

The Middlesex Canal Museum is located in the Faulkner Mills building on the river's east side.

The falls became my turnaround point...

My favorite launch site of the week was the one at River Front Park in Tyngsborough...



Trash encountered during the week included Winnie the Pooh...

...and this disturbing sight of a Merrimack River encampment where trash appears to have been thrown over the bank...

A new-looking trash barrel appears to be on the site.  Hopefully the residents will place their trash in the barrel and later haul it to a dumpster in the adjacent shopping mall.




A new personal record for nip bottles: 136 in a 3.5 stretch of the Nashua River (39 nips per mile)...

In my last 6 visits (over the past 6 months) to this stretch of the Nashua, my nip bottle counts were:
120, 47, 33, 32, 58, 136.  An average of 71 per mile and a total of 426 in that time period.  Clearly the nip bottle situation is getting worse, not better.



Meanwhile, according to the Container Recycling Institute, there's good news in the State of Connecticut where legislators there updated the state's "Bottle Bill" to include non-carbonated beverage containers and eventually raise the redemption value from a nickel to a dime.   Hopefully,  Massachusetts will consider doing something similar.