2021's Wake

Got out on the Assabet River in Concord, MA yesterday where my boat and I left our last wake of 2021.  Visited one of my favorite touchstones, the Egg Rock inscription...

...where water levels have stayed in the text portion for most of 2021.  Saw a couple of deer for a few fleeting moments, and towards the end of my paddle had an encounter with this male pileated woodpecker busily at work...

His vocalizations reminded me of one who whistles while he works.

Paddling back to the takeout I reflected upon the past year.  2021 had plenty of ups and downs (both on and off the water).  On my 2021 New Year's Day paddle I was gifted with this bald eagle sighting on the Sudbury River...

...an encounter that was a harbinger of many more 2021 eagle sightings including the privilege of watching a nest-bound pair of eaglets grow and ultimately fledge alongside the Assabet River.  It was something I'd never expected to experience so close to home.  

On the COVID front, the virus seemed to be relenting in the spring and some out-of-state travel restrictions were relaxed allowing a trip originally planned for 2020 to finally occur.    It was a paddling/camping trip to western Maine in May where I was able to paddle and/or visit additional parts of the 1775 Arnold Expedition's route.  I picked up their trail a few miles from where they left the Kennebec River and began a combined portaging/paddling to the Dead River and the Chain of Ponds.  A three mile paddle upriver on the Kennebec (now Lake Wyman) brought me to a landing...

...where Arnold's expeditionary force began contending with some of the most difficult conditions they'd encounter on their journey from Cambridge, MA to Quebec City in Canada. 

A short hike from the landing brought me to this sign confirming I'd found the right place...

...and a spot I'd been envisioning for more than a year.  Oftentimes I'd wondered if I'd ever be able to get there.

Back in 1775,  advance scouts established the course the 1100-man expeditionary force would follow at portages such as this one.  In doing so the scouts used the surveyor's tools of the day: a quadrant compass for finding bearings, and a surveyor's chain for measuring distances.  Once determined, the course and distance were posted at each of the many portaging places.  It was about as simple as could be, a compass bearing and the distance that should be paced off.  Looking at the steep portage trail...

...I thought about how daunting this portage must have been for those who undertook it.  According to Arnold's journal found in Kenneth Roberts' March to Quebec the scouts had left the following directions for the next 13 miles (edited to be more concise):

"...Portage to the first Pond or Lake course W 27 degrees N, Distance 3.25 miles-rising ground, bad road but capable of being made good; Over the first pond half a mile which is 1.25 miles long; Portage W 6 degrees N half a mile and 20 rods-very hard but ruff roads; The Second Pond is in length from N to S 2.5 miles long and 0.75 miles wide; The Third Carrying Place is 0.25 miles and 40 rods, the road very bad-Course W 10 degrees N; The Third Pond is in length from N to S 3 miles width 2 miles-Course over W by N; The fourth or last portage is W 20 degrees N-Distance 2.75 miles and 60 rods, the first part of the road tolerable good-the last mile a Savanna, wet and miry about six or eight inches Deep." 

I became fascinated by the scout's use of quadrant compass headings as opposed to today's 360 degree headings and, even though I had a quadrant compass with me, I was glad for not having to follow that route (even with my relatively lightweight gear) and instead returned to my waiting boat which was paddled back to my starting point on Lake Wyman.  Later I drove to and paddled/visited other sections on the Dead River and Chain of Ponds where the Expedition had passed. While I'd originally planned to paddle some of Lac Megantic's southern end, a pandemic-closed US/Canada border prevented that from happening leaving me to imagine the remaining 600 men marching off to the northwest.

   

Paddled some new stretches of rivers, lakes, and ponds in 2021 including: bits of the Quinebaug and Shetucket rivers in Connecticut's "Last Green Valley",  the Blackstone River from Skull Rock Lock down to Millville, MA, the Deerfield River between Readsboro, VT and Rowe, MA,  Sadawaga Lake and its floating island in Whitingham, VT, Paradise Pond in Princeton, Massapaug Pond in Dracut/Groton/Tyngsborough, and Thoreau's Walden Pond in Concord all in Massachusetts.

In August I was grateful that the pandemic had subsided enough to allow the Blackburn Challenge with its paddling/rowing around Cape Ann to resume after having been cancelled in 2020.  Though a scaled- back event it did nonetheless include the traditional course. 

In September, thanks to a spot on WCVB's Chronicle television show, I was able to share my concerns regarding the amount of plastic in our waterways.  Thank you to the Chronicle team: Sangita, George, and Brian.

Also in September I witnessed a fellow kayaker being rescued from a swift-flowing Nashua River in Harvard, MA.  It was a sobering experience and one that left me acutely aware of just how fast things can go from good to bad for anyone out on the water.

Enjoyed some 2021 camping and paddling at Cathedral Pines Campground in Eustis ME, Wilgus State Park in Weathersfield, VT, and Cape Ann Campsite in Gloucester, MA.

One hopeful sign as 2021 comes to an end was a Xmas Day Boston Globe article by Nick Stoico mentioning the US Dept. of the Interior having restored the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's legal status and right to have land placed into reservation.

Trash encountered over the year included an ever-growing portion of so-called "nip" bottles such as these...

...each miniature bottle containing only 50 mls of alcohol.

One of 2021's "nippiest" trash hauls was this one which included 222 of the little bite-sized bottles...

While I no longer count the pieces of trash recovered while paddling, I did however make it a point in 2021 to count "nip" bottles.  There were 1,765 of them and of those 1,203 were recovered from one eight mile stretch of the Nashua River between Route 117 in Lancaster, MA and Ayer's Ice House Dam. Here's hoping 2022 might include an updated "Bottle Bill" which would place a redemption value on "nip" bottles as well as include other beverage containers not presently redeemable.  The Massachusetts legislature could make it happen.

Yesterday's final trash haul of 2021...

Looking at the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet rivers under yesterday's very changeable sky...

...I couldn't help but think of how divided our country stands at year's end.  My hope for the coming year is that we'll come together as a country and follow a course beneficial for all.