Three Rivers' Quieter Sides

 

Got out on the more secluded sections of three eastern Massachusetts rivers this past week: the Charles River in Millis, MA on Monday; the Nashua River in Harvard, MA on Thursday; and the Sudbury in Lincoln, MA on Saturday.  Starting early on Monday morning allowed a glimpse of our receding Harvest Moon...

I launched from the US Army Corps of Engineers/Mass Dept. of Fish and Game Canoe Access on Forest Road in Millis and headed upriver...

High water levels on the Charles let me make it past Route 115 where shallow water and rocks usually stop my progress.  The rocks, for the most part, were submerged.  Took a break out of the current near Baltimore Street (opening photo) before continuing further to the shallows at Rockville...

...where a small islet divides the river's flow.  This area once had water-powered mills and in 1818 was known as "Rock Bottom". At this point I turned around and enjoyed the easy paddle downriver to about a mile below Forest Road.  Ron McAdow in his guidebook The Charles River, Exploring Nature and History on Foot and by Canoe described the stretch between Baltimore Street and Forest Road as "stunning" and further noted "with the exception of one modern house, the works of humanity are absent from this idyllic passage".

On Thursday another early morning start had me looking up at a fog-shrouded railroad bridge across the Nashua River...

I launched from the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge at the end of Still River Depot Road in Harvard, MA and headed upriver.  Less than a mile up I came across this natural trash trap that looks to have been working overtime...

...where the accumulated trash filled my boat and left the trap ready for more...

Like the Charles, the Nashua was flowing with a strong current which was ideal for an up and back down paddle.  Drifting back down around some sandy banks the fog had burned off...

...and bits of fall color were seen here and there...

Like the stretch of the Charles paddled on Monday, this section of the Nashua River has little in the way of man-made structures.  

Made it back down to the railroad bridge just as the tail end of an eastbound CSX freight was passing...

The recent upgrading of the tracks has freight trains moving along at 25 mph where previous to the upgrade they were restricted to 10 mph.

Finished my paddling week with a Saturday morning paddle of the Sudbury River from the Lincoln Canoe Launch.  Conditions were cloudy and cool with the predicted rain holding off...

Fall foliage brightened things up a bit...

Encountered 2 fellow paddlers in racing kayaks...

...who were getting in a 30-mile training paddle.

Stopped at Weir Hill where a kiosk describes how Native Americans once harvested what the river offered at this spot...

The kiosk stands at the base of a wooded hill where, even today, it's easy to envision the fish weir being worked.  All the more appropriate for Indigenous Peoples' Day weekend.

Trash from the Charles on Monday which included 13 miniature (nip) bottles...

Trash from the Nashua on Thursday which included 153 miniature (nip) bottles...

Trash from the Sudbury on Saturday was slim pickins'...