A Winter Wink

 

Just when it looked like Old Man Winter would show no mercy, yesterday he winked and allowed a sweet taste of spring with temperatures at or slightly above 50 degrees F.   Rapid melting quickly ensued. 

Such weather combined with a 2.2 ' water level (Maynard gauge) resulted in ideal conditions for ascending the Assabet River up to Damon Mill in Concord, MA...

While the river's main channel was ice free the same couldn't be said for the sloughs/backwaters...

Hopefully Old Man Winter was aboard this train heading out of town...

Trash was interesting with an empty 50-lb bag of "Lake Effect" snow and ice melt (in short supply around here of late), an empty bucket of milk protein powder, 2 "nip" bottles, plastic bags and fishing bobbers...

Thanks to this wink from winter I was able to maintain my year-round paddling streak getting me out on the water at least once in each month of the year.  At least the toughest 2 months of 2025 are now behind me.

 

Thicker the Ice, Longer the Wait

 

The above pictured stretch of the Assabet River in Stow, MA is fairly representative of the way most of  my favorite paddling haunts are looking these days.  Photo taken on Friday.  Yesterday, upon the arrival of February, I trekked with a group of hardy winter hikers the woods between Walden Pond and Fairhaven Bay in Concord, MA. 

 An iced-over Walden Pond...

...which was best suited for these ice fishermen...

The only stretches of open water I saw were those just downstream of mill dams like this portion of the Assabet River below the dam in Gleasondale...

Closer to the dam a pair of mallards seemed quite content...

Though the wait for a big melt will most likely be longer than I'd hoped, it is a bit comforting to realize that meteorological spring is only 26 days away.

So a tip of the hat to this January's ice-building accomplishments and for providing us with more than enough cold mornings, the coldest occurring on the morning of the 22nd...