The Merrimack, Nashua, and Concord

Got out on three rivers this past week.  When combined, the rivers' names sound like they could've been used as the name of a regional railroad (at least to the ear of this railfan).  The Merrimack, Nashua, and Concord Railroad?  My week started with a Monday morning paddle on the Merrimack River between the Route 113 bridge in Tyngsborough, MA...

 ...and a point near Spit Brook Rd. in Nashua, NH.  As I crossed the state line into New Hampshire I encountered this Pan Am locomotive running light in the opposite direction having just entered Massachusetts...

With the sale of Pan Am Railways to CSX Transportation set to take effect next week odds are this locomotive (# 315?) probably won't be getting a badly-needed paint job anytime soon.

It was a great day to be on the Merrimack with hardly another boat in sight...

On Wednesday I stopped in at the Oxbow North boat launch at Hospital Rd. in Devens.  When visited earlier in the month I found the gate locked and a construction project underway   This time the gate was open and the recent work at the boat launch appeared to be complete.  There's now a wheelable pathway as an alternative to carrying one's boat down the stairs...

View from the river...

From the launch I paddled downriver...

...to the Ice House Dam at the Ayer/Shirley line and then upriver past Route 2...

The many sloughs of the Nashua looked inviting...

Yesterday I closed out the week on the Concord River in Concord, MA.  The water level at the Egg Rock inscription has dropped quite a bit...

The Concord was serene under a cloudy sky as I passed under the Monument Street bridge...

Below the bridge I encountered  a bit of a mystery.  There were three large trash bags at three different locations...

...and they were all on the east side of the river.
    

The contents of each bag were the same: a U.S. Postal Service crate...

...and several bundles of advertisements.  My guess is that someone is throwing these off of the Monument Street bridge perhaps rather than delivering them.  Sounds almost like something Kramer and Newman might have cooked up.

Wildlife over the week included this beaver skull on the Merrimack...

...and a Merrimack mushquash...

The Nashua had this old-timer who raised his eye just above the surface...

The Concord had this proud family of Canada geese...

...as well as this blue heron that showed me how big a fish he could swallow...

Monday's trash on the Merrimack was colorful...

Wednesday's trash on the Nashua included some of the usual suspects...

...60 nip bottles and 10 cigarette lighters.

Saturday's from the Concord...

...with the three US Postal Service mail crates.  Plan is to contact the USPS and see if they want the crates.