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.
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