Monday, November 28, 2022

Assabet's Dales and Sudbury's Ghosts

 

My paddling week started on Tuesday by paddling the Assabet River up to Gleasondale...

...where the Route 62 bridge repair project continues.

On Friday another jaunt on the Assabet brought me upriver to a point below the Damondale Mill...
...at Westvale-Harrington Park.

The Assabet on Tuesday offered an updated view of the eagle nest that's gradually being rebuilt...

...as well as some recently completed human nests which now stand where formerly was only woods...

A duck-blind that looked to be well built proved no match for last week's 40-mph wind gusts...

Wrapped up the week yesterday with an upriver paddle on the Sudbury River to Fairhaven Bay.  Approaching the Elm Street bridge there appeared to be some repair work being done...

The Sudbury offered an encounter with this solitary American coot...
...as well as a game of peek-a-boo with a solitary river otter.  The otter was hanging around a beaver's lodge and seemed curious as to my presence.  Apparently feeling secure behind the many buttonbush plants the otter elevated itself numerous times from many different spots.  The many branches frustrated my attempts to get a photo.  This was the best I could do...
...where only his right eye, a bit of his nose/whiskers, and his torso are visible behind the branch in the foreground.  With all the signs warning of there being mercury in the fish I have to wonder how long a fish-eating mammal such as an otter can survive in these waters.

The Sudbury also boasts a well-built eagle nest...
Wonder if the eagles are also suffering the effects of the mercury.

The ghosts of the Sudbury were these well-camouflaged deer...

Trash for the week:
Tuesday's...
...which included 18 nip bottles.


Friday's...
...which included 5 nips and a non-deployed rescue throw-rope bag found below the Damonmill.  Will hold onto the bag for a while in the event someone recognizes it.

Sunday's...
....most of which was found at a shore-fishing hot spot.
 





Monday, November 21, 2022

Shelter from the Wind

 


Only got out once this past week as the weather on most days featured a cold blustery breeze...quite a change from our unseasonably warm days the previous week.  On Friday afternoon I found a haven from the breeze on the Nashua River where the river is nestled in a valley between two north-south running ridge lines (photo above).  The boat launch is at the Oxbow NWR located at the end of Still River Depot Road in Harvard, MA.

The Nashua was still at a fairly low level but nonetheless had a strong flow from recent rain events.


The bridge carrying the tracks of the CSXT rail line between Worcester and Ayer stood at the ready for the next freight train...


After paddling an up and back route I exited the river, packed up, and proceeded to leave the boat launch.  Approaching the railroad crossing, within sight of the boat launch, I saw the crossing lights flashing and shortly thereafter a westbound freight (M427) rumbled into view...

Three CSX locomotives (866, 551, and 1226) pulled the train past the spot where Still River Depot once stood and headed for the bridge spanning the Nashua River.  Seeing the train had me wondering what the Still River Depot had looked like back in the day.  Yesterday, while listening to 40-mph gusts outside, I looked through my old Boston and Maine Railroad Historical Society bulletins in hopes of finding a photo of the depot.  Just when I was ready to give up I came across the Summer 1979 edition which included an article entitled Worcester, Nashua, and Portland Station List and this photo showing "The station at Still River as it looked in the 1930's...a work extra is passing, and its crew is catching the breeze on the rear platform of the buggy."...

According to the Town of Harvard website History of Harvard, A summary of Harvard 1950 - 2000 written by Dr. Jeffrey Harris: "In the early 20's, Still River Depot shipped more milk to market than any other Massachusetts town.  In 1942, there were reported fifty-five commercial orchards shipping more apples than any other town in the state, but only three commercial orchards were active fifteen years later."  The depot was probably seeing little use, other than freight, by the time a passenger train named the East Wind began operating during the summer months between Washington, D.C. and Bangor Maine.  According to another Boston and Maine Bulletin article, Summer 1978 written by H. Arnold Wilder the fast-running East Wind  most likely rattled the windows on the depot as it roared by during the early 1940's.  Wilder's article includes a schedule showing the train covering the 44 miles between Worcester and Lowell in 58 minutes.
Note: An earlier photo (pre-1907) of the Still River Depot can be found on the nashuacitystation.org website.

Trash recovered from just a 1.6 mile stretch of the river included 70 nip bottles...



Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Merrimack's Mirrors

 

The Merrimack River had an enticing appearance when I paddled it last Friday morning.  It was a warm morning that felt more like September than November.  Clouds were gaining ground with rain predicted for later in the day.

A short detour was taken into Stony Brook where paddling beneath an old mill had me seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel...

...and after emerging from it I came upon another brookside mill...

Back on the Merrimack and along the shore of Wickasee Island I came upon what looks to have been one half of a Disco Ball decorated with hundreds of tiny plastic mirrors...


Later I watched a westbound CSX freight train do some work at North Chelmsford...
...near the junction with the Stony Brook Branch.


My paddling week had gotten underway on the Concord River with a Tuesday morning paddle between Two Brothers Rocks and Great Meadows. Launched from the Bedford Boat Ramp near the Route 225 bridge...

Though it didn't feel like November it was beginning to look like it...
...and a gusty northwest wind was blowing upriver.  About 2 miles upriver from the boat launch I  encountered a young man fishing from a two-man canoe.  He was able to fish while standing up in his canoe despite the choppy waters.  He told me the gusty winds were preventing him from gaining any headway back downriver to where his truck was parked, and that he'd subsequently decided to just go with the conditions and later "Uber" himself back.  Guess it shows how differently the smartphone generation deals with such a situation.  Without much concern he went about his fishing.    

Wrapped up the week on Sunday with a one-way paddle down the Assabet River starting from the Acton Canoe Launch.  The day turned out to be a more typical November day with occasional showers and much cooler temperatures.  The gloomy conditions most likely marked the end of our spell of November warmth...which was much enjoyed by this paddler.   Passed the Damondale Mill where the old broken dam formerly stood...

Speaking of dams it was good to read a recent article in the Boston Globe by Travis Andersen and Daniel Kool on the Natick Select Board's vote to remove the dam on the Charles River in South Natick.  The dam which was built in 1934 and no longer serves a purpose is in need of repairs costing in the neighborhood of 2 million dollars.  Removal of the dam, on the other hand, is estimated to be 1.5 million dollars.  A photo of the dam as I saw it in 2020...
The Globe article quoted the Select Board Chair Paul R. Joseph as follows:  "I don't take lightly the fact that the climate is changing,...and the resilience of a river that's not dammed is, by far, stronger than a river that is impeded by man-made structures. Again, to paraphrase a different environmentalist, 'let the water go where it knows to go.'  And I think, in some ways, that's what we're facing right now."

The best example of the beneficial effects of a dam removal project that I've seen is the removal of the Fort Halifax Dam in Winslow, ME.  This dam was located at the confluence of the Kennebec and Sebasticook rivers and had long blocked anadromous fish from ascending the Sebasticook River.  Following its removal in 2008 (combined with the earlier removal of the Edwards Dam)  the Sebasticook River began seeing alewife, shad, striped bass, and salmon again.  According to the Natural Resources Council of Maine website, in 2014 the Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife counted 58 bald eagles in a five mile stretch of the Sebasticook River.   A photo of where the dam formerly spanned the Sebasticook (June 2018)...

  

Trash for the week:

Tuesday's from the Concord...


Friday's from the Merrimack...


Sunday's from the Assabet...


Came across this painted turtle on the Concord River that was catching some rays and didn't seem concerned in the least about the close proximity of my boat...



Monday, November 7, 2022

The Nest Will Rise Again

 

The highlight of this past week for me was seeing on Friday that the Assabet River eagle nest is in the process of being rebuilt.  Back on August 10th the nest was completely gone...

...and had me wondering if the eagles had decided to relocate.  Guess it was just a "tear-down and rebuild".  Prior to the tear-down the nest looked like this...

As compared to the opening photo, there's still a lot of stick placement yet to be done.

One of the adult pair was in a nearby tree on Friday...

...perhaps taking a break.

Ospreys were also seen on the Assabet Friday.  This one with a fish...


Ducks will need to be extra careful when in the vicinity of this recently constructed duck blind...



Another Assabet River development noted this past week was the strong slug of clear water rushing into the river  through the Fort Meadow Brook box culvert... 

I believe the city of Marlborough, MA is lowering the Fort Meadow Reservoir water level as it did last year starting on November 1.  According to the website FraminghamSource.com the approximately 250-acre  reservoir was lowered in 2021 by about 4 feet at a rate of 2 to 3 inches per day.  The lowering was done to allow for control of invasive weeds (milfoil, fanwort), reduction of Asian clams, and to allow for shoreline-structure repairs.  It was good to see the Assabet receiving such a strong flow of crystal-clear water and how it swept away much of the river's floating duckweed...


Yesterday I paddled the lower Assabet River between Westvale and Egg Rock in Concord, MA and found the river still enjoying a boost in current thanks to the inflow from Fort Meadow Reservoir.  By the way, despite its name, Fort Meadow Reservoir hasn't been used as a drinking water supply for many decades.

Earlier in the week, on Thursday, I paddled some of the Charles River in Millis, MA...

...between Dwight's Bridge and about a mile upstream from the boat launch at Forest Road.  There are plenty of bends in this stretch of the river and that caused me to surprise a pair of river otters.  Could only get a photo of one...


For me encounters with river otters are few and far between.

Two Trustees of Reservations properties are located along this stretch of the Charles:



Trash was light this past week:

Thursday's on the Charles...


Friday's on the Assabet...


Sunday's also on the Assabet which included a "Smoker's Outpost" plastic cigarette-butt receptacle...


Some recent beaver work seen on the Assabet:

Hope the beaver is careful making its final knaws!


Nearby was what looked to be a beaver training exercise...


Another very welcome development this past week was unseasonably warm temperatures...60s and 70s (F).  Unreal considering what the calendar says!  Lots of boaters out on the river yesterday enjoying the warmth.  Felt more like September!!!