Headed up the Nashua River from the Oxbow NWR boat launch in Harvard, MA on Thursday and was pleased to find the swarms of pesky mosquitos that haunt this particular stretch of river were gone. Thankfully, one of the recent killing frosts put the kibosh on their bloodsucking activities. Not only were there no mosquitos, but the winds were light with temperatures in the low 50's F. I headed upriver wondering how far I'd make it before fallen trees would stop my ascent.
About one mile up, the first trash trap was encountered...
...and by the time I pulled away my trash bags were nearly full. The next trash gathering spot filled my bags, and with space at a premium I concentrated on "nip bottles"... ending up with 222 of them which is my new one day record...
In 8 visits to this section of the Nashua River so far in 2021 838 "nip bottles" have been collected.
Continued my trip upriver navigating around blowdowns until, after 4 miles, I found myself looking at these greenhouses located on a farm off of Route 117 (Seven Bridge Road) in Lancaster...
...the first man-made structures seen alongside the river since the small stone chapel 3 miles downstream.
Believe it's the first time I made it that close to Route 117. Guessing it's a combination of someone having cut some passageways, and water levels being just the right level. I could have gone further but waning daylight dictated a return trip downriver to beat the earlier sunset time. Looking downriver on one of the river's rare straight sections...
After landing and loading my gear I stopped halfway up Still River Depot Road to take in this twilight look at Mount Wachusett...
Earlier in the week, on Monday, I paddled the Assabet River in West Concord, MA between Westvale and Willow Island. Paddling conditions were ideal...
Small tributaries were still gushing with water...
Monday's trash...
On Tuesday Mrs. Trashpaddler and I biked a fairly new rail trail for the first time...
...from Stony Brook (tributary of the Charles) at the Weston/Waltham line to the Sudbury River in Wayland. Two of the original stations remain along this section of the route. The one in Wayland is in great shape...
...whereas the one in Weston could use some TLC ...
The rail line was built in the late 1800's and once connected the cities of Boston and Northampton.
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