Paddled a small river, the Assabet, on Tuesday and noted its entire width reflected adjacent greenery...
Yesterday I paddled on the much bigger Merrimack River where it was the half blue/half milky sky that did most of the reflecting...
Other differences...the Merrimack has a public beach and beach house...
...while the Assabet lacks both.
The Assabet however did have a still-busy eagle nest where two eaglets are in the process of fledging. Last Tuesday both eaglets were out of the nest and on opposite sides with one looking eastward...
Later that morning when the parent eagle made a food delivery only one eaglet was seen in the nest...
My guess is that its sibling has already fledged and was elsewhere.
Also of note on the Assabet was the continuing work on the Route 62 bridge in Gleasondale...
...and seeing an origami-style folding Oru kayak being paddled by a fisherman...
On my way down the Merrimack to Pawtucket Falls dam I detoured into Stony Brook and observed the 'hanging gardens' of North Chelmsford near Middlesex Street...
Back to the Merrimack I saw quite a few encampments along the river's west side. This one's seen better days...
Eventually reached the dam at Pawtucket Falls where the James E. O'Donnell bridge carries Mammoth Rd. across the river...
The small brick building at the right side of the bridge is the Pawtucket Gatehouse which along with the Lowell Water Power System was designated a National Historic Landmark by the American Societies of Civil and Mechanical Engineers on July 1, 1985. According to a brochure jointly published by the two societies at that time, the Pawtucket Gatehouse played a role in turbine research and it was there that the "Francis" turbines were developed. I also learned that Lowell's Water Power System was owned by the Proprietors of Locks and Canals Corporation which was incorporated in 1797...one of the oldest corporations in the United States. It still exists today.
Trash gathered-up along the way...
...
You can probably guess which river produced the larger trash haul.
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