Looking Astern at 2025

This past year I greatly enjoyed seeking out and paddling sections of several historic water trails.  Thankfully, each search proved successful.  There was, however, one particular on-the-water moment that stands out as my favorite of the year.  It was mid-March and I was coming to the end of a winter-escape trip to Virginia.   After having paddled to the Native American Powhatan village of Werowocomoco on the York River, I was returning to where I'd launched from at Cappahosic.  It would be the final in-boat moment of my trip and, before landing, I stopped paddling to savor it.  The sun was shining, the temperature was 60 degrees F. and a warm breeze kissed my face.  Looking out towards Chesapeake Bay I knew that Old Man Winter was losing his grip...

Historical marker for Werowocomoco...

I'd gone to Virginia to experience first-hand some of the water-routes taken by Captain John Smith in 1607...

   Retracing a small part of his route up the Chickahominy River...

This statue of Captain Smith stands at Jamestown Fort...

In June I ventured to the opposite end of the compass...the Canadian Province of New Brunswick...

...where, on the hottest day of the year, I dipped my paddle into the Saint John River for the first time...

 Back in 1775 Col. John Allan persuaded several hundred Maliseet people to undertake an exodus via canoe with all of their belongings...

I paddled bits of the route they followed on both sides of the border:

North Lake and the Thoroughfare in the St. Croix watershed...

Further to the south and in the State of Maine was Big Lake and its Kuwesuwi Monihg Island, recently reacquired by the Passamaquoddy people ...

...and Crawford Lake leading to the East Machias River...

Finally, in late August, in recognition of the American Revolution's 250th, I paddled the stretch of the Merrimack River where the 1100-man Arnold Expedition in 1775 disembarked from Newburyport, MA...

Imagining the sight of the 11-ship fleet exiting the mouth of the Merrimack River and sailing northeastward towards the Kennebec River...

At the height of summer while visiting in Guilford, CT I was afforded the chance to paddle into Sachem's Head Harbor...

...named for a Pequot sachem's misfortune. He swam for his life across a channel only to be captured and executed at the hands of his enemy.

Got in several car-camping/paddling trips. One included my first-time glamping in a yurt-tent at Cold River Campground in Eddington, ME (not bad). The others were more traditional tent-camping done at Cape Ann Camp Site in Gloucester, MA, Barton Cove Campground in Gill, MA, and Salisbury State Park in Salisbury, MA. 

Memorable "eye-to-eye" wildlife encounters for me included:

This white-tailed deer along the Sudbury River...

This northern water snake on the Nashua River...

This mink on the Sudbury River...

Knocked one item off my "Bucket List" this past March by driving my car with boat on the roof across the mouth of Chesapeake Bay via the 17.6 mile long Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel...

With it being a windy day I had some anxiety as to whether vehicles with roof-top cargo like mine would be allowed passage.  Only upon reaching the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula was I relieved to find no restrictions, and onto the bridge I went praying that my tie-down straps would hold.

As I was driving across I saw a US Navy vessel preparing to enter the bay...

Rather than elevating the bridge to accommodate such vessels, there are, instead, two places where the roadway descends via tunnels beneath the waters of the bay thus allowing sea-going vessels to sail above them.   

2025's trash consisted of the usual mostly plastic suspects with the miniature liquor bottles aka "nips" being the only ones I keep count of.  Total "nips" for 2025 was 2,278.  By comparison "nip" counts for the past 4 years: 2024 = 1,649; 2023 = 3,553; 2022 = 1,453; 2021 = 1,765

Two of the more unusual pieces of trash to come aboard my vessel:

One was this "BuzzBalls" container...

...which had been repurposed as a fishing bobber. No longer connected by fishing line to the shore it drifted about in Lake Quinsigamond.

The other was this plastic bag stuffed with bubblewrap...

Happy 2026 to all fellow waterway travelers and to those folks whom I had the pleasure of meeting while out and about in my boat! 
   

An Assabet Christmas Paddle

 

The gifted Christmas Day blue skies pictured above didn't look to be in the cards when I started out yesterday.  The first half of my holiday paddle on the Assabet River was under cloudy skies.  Launched in West Concord, MA where things had a Christmastime look...

Headed upriver towards the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail bridge...

Just a short distance further a downed tree persuaded me to head downriver instead...

Near Route 2 I passed under the gaze of this small hawk...

/

Believe it's an immature Cooper's hawk but according to my field guidebooks it might, just as well, be an immature sharp-shinned hawk.  To quote a frequent poster on a message board I follow, "hoonose"?  To other birds it probably doesn't much matter as either hawk is uniquely adept at being able to chase-down and make a meal of small birds.

Made it downriver almost to Barret's Farm where the wind was beginning to crank up. 

Trash was oversold as a "Big Gulp"...

Unlocked Local Waters

 

Last week my local rivers were iced over and I figured my paddling season had come to an end.  Then we had a two-day thaw last Thursday and Friday which melted or blew away nearly all of the ice.  On Solstice Sunday I paddled up the Sudbury River from Egg Rock in Concord, MA...

...wondering if Fairhaven Bay might be open.

Passed by the buttoned-up-for-winter South Bridge Boathouse along the way...

At Martha's Point...

...the open water came to an end with my hoped-for destination of Brooke Island in view...

There'd be no island hot cocoa break on this day.  On my way back downriver skies clouded-up as a cold front arrived.  It was accompanied by gusty winds and fast-dropping temperatures seemingly signaling the official start of winter. Nonetheless, it was great to be out on the water and see so much of the river free of ice once again.

Yesterday morning I launched at the Calf Pasture on Lowell Rd in Concord after a small amount of ice chopping.  Headed towards the Assabet River and noticed a bald eagle perched in a tree at Egg Rock...

Just as I realized he was one of a pair, he took flight and headed towards me...

The eagles may have been focused on this Canada goose which was motionless in the water nearby...

...couldn't tell if the goose was dead or playing possum.

Snow was in the forecast and I'd hoped to have the experience of paddling through it.  However, other than a few flurries, things stayed dry.  Near Willow Island...

...I came eye to eye with this chubby hawk...

Beyond Spencer Brook near a cluster of fallen trees was a fly-fisherman...

Ended up paddling bits of the Assabet, Sudbury, and Concord rivers while waiting for snow that never arrived.  A snowless Old North Bridge on my way back to Lowell Rd...

Trash on Solstice Sunday was on the light side...

Yesterday's trash was also fairly light...

    

A Quest for Open Water

 

Weather forecasters predicted a beauty of day yesterday with wall-to-wall sunshine and temperatures rising into the upper 40's F.  A great day to paddle but would I be able to find open water in which to do so?

My quest started once the temperature rose above freezing and took me first to a tidal section of the Merrimack River in Haverhill, MA. There I found the boat launch iced-in and most of the river iced-over.  Next I drove to Rocks Village in West Newbury, MA where the launch was also iced-in but the river was open in the middle.  Finally I placed all my cards on the table, and drove further to Plum Island in Newbury, MA.  There at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge I found what I sought, and it was more than worth the price ($5) of admission...first and foremost...

...and secondly, an ice-free place to launch into the Plum Island River...

The tide, while still at a high level, was about to start receding.  Paddled under the Sgt. Donald A. Wilkinson drawbridge which connects Plum Island to the mainland...

 Briefly drank-in the view of the Merrimack River...

...before returning to the Plum Island River and following one of its water trails...

Came across this odd structure...

...with a seemingly appropriate name...

Come to think of it a "dog" would've hit the spot.

A little further on the spell was broken when, even here, ice blocked my passage...

This was the same spot where the opening photo was taken and attests to just how unusually frigid this first half of December has been around these parts.  

So, it was mission accomplished (within limitations imposed by Old Man Winter).  Before leaving the refuge I walked over to the island's ocean side and looked at some totally open-water...the Atlantic Ocean...

According to Wikipedia the first European to show the 8-mile long barrier island on a map was Captain John Smith who described it in 1614 as  "...an ile two or three leagues in length...". 

 

A kiosk near where I launched describes the refuge as having 4,600 acres of pristine coastal habitat and  is one of the top birding sites in the country, showcasing some of the most beautiful beaches in Massachusetts.  A view towards some island dunes...

 

Trash was light with only a Sierra Nevada beer can and the head portion of a despicable "minion"...