Reunion on the Merrimack

 

The high point of this past week was a paddling reunion of sorts on the Merrimack River.  It was back in 2017 when I last paddled (trash patrolled) with Denise and company of the, then, New Hampshire Appalachian Mountain Club Paddlers.  On Thursday we launched from Reed's Ferry in Merrimack, NH and headed downriver.  The paddlers and their boats...

Denise put together this trip much as she previously organized trash patrols for many years on various New Hampshire and Massachusetts waterways...

We passed through the lock at Cromwell's Falls just as John and Henry Thoreau did back in 1839...

Our trip ended at Greeley Park in Nashua, NH...

...which had received a major upgrade since my last visit.  Quite a change for the better.

Started the week on Tuesday with a paddle on the Sudbury River to Fairhaven Bay...

Ended the week Saturday on a very shallow Assabet River in West Concord, MA...

...where the combination of shallow water and downed trees eventually stopped my upriver progress...

This turtle, like me, seemed to be looking for deeper water...

No trash was encountered on the Sudbury River.

On Thursday the group of us gathered this on our way down the Merrimack River...

On Saturday the very shallow Assabet River had this...

...which included an empty pot of gold.