Two Thirsty, One Always Quenched

 

Sandwiched a paddle to a river having a year-round guaranteed flow between paddles on two of my drought-impacted local rivers this past week. On Wednesday I drove about 75 miles westward to the area of Massachusetts just south of the Quabbin Reservoir where the Swift River re-emerges from below Winsor Dam.  According to the Friends of Quabbin website: "Today the reservoir can hold 412 billion gallons of water; twenty million gallons must be released below the dam each day to maintain the flow of the Swift River."  

Launched at the Swift River Boat Launch on Cold Spring Rd. in Belchertown and headed downriver...

...passing this abandoned house hard-by-the-river...

Reached the Bondsville Dam around the next bend...

Hiked along the long-abandoned Boston and Albany Railroad's Athol Branch grade to a spot below the dam where the river drops about 10 feet...

A little way below the dam are some of the supports for the Massachusetts Central Railroad's 585-foot long trestle that carried trains high (67') above the Swift River and the long abandoned railroad to Athol.  The trestle was dismantled in 1983...

Heading back upriver I came across this dragonfly floundering on the water's surface.  Gave him a paddle-blade lift onto my boat's deck...

...where he spent the next hour and a half recovering from what I believe was his near demise.  We ultimately made landfall together before going our separate ways.

Heading upriver above the Cold Spring Rd bridge...

...numerous fly-fishermen were encountered, some in boats and others standing in waders.  The water in the Swift River is of nearly drinking water quality and crystal-clear.

Earlier in the week, on Sunday morning, I paddled the upper part of the Concord River in Concord, MA passing the iconic Minuteman statue at the Old North Bridge...

...and the Monument Street Bridge around the next bend...

...and down to where the river finally straightens out at Davis Hill...

Like so many days this fall it was great for some late-season sun-bathing...

Wrapped up the week on Friday with a paddle on the lower Assabet River...

We'd received some very beneficial rain on Thursday which made my passage beyond Egg Rock much easier.  Came across this frog on Dove Rock catching some mid-day rays while seemingly in a state of deep meditation... 

Just above Spencer Brook and where the Boston and Maine Railroad's Reformatory Branch formerly crossed the Assabet was what looks like a beaver dam under construction...

The week had two odd finds.  On the Concord River was this 1-gallon plastic jug nearly full of transmission fluid...

Stopped at my local Jiffy Lube on the way home and they generously agreed to properly dispose of it.  This paddler greatly appreciated their help.

The other find was this "Golden Wedding" one-quart whiskey bottle...

...found empty, stoppered (hard mud?), and floating in the Assabet River.  The bottle has elaborate wedding bell embossing and a tint indicating it being Carnival glass.  According to David Doty's website the bottle more than likely dates to the period between 1920 and 1940.  Considering it having been in the river for decades, what made it go a floatin' on Friday afternoon?...perhaps Thursday's rain event. Back in September I recovered another "Golden Wedding" bottle from the Assabet above the Powdermill Dam.  That bottle lacked the elaborate embossing and Carnival glass.

Aside from the oil there was very little trash on the Concord on Sunday...

Wednesday's very small amount of trash from the Swift River...

 Friday's trash from the Assabet River included 6 "nip" bottles...

As I write this today the USGS gauge on the Assabet River at Maynard has risen almost a foot thanks to Thursday and Friday night's rain events.