Things Looking Up

 

Fortunately the above-pictured northern water snake's presence was tipped-off just before I was going to pass under the tree limb he was stretched-out on.  Had I not seen this bit of his body, the non-poisonous snake would have been just a tad too close to my head...

Earlier this year I had one drop into the water next to my boat.  The thought of one dropping into my boat's cockpit is more than a little unsettling.

The Nashua at Oxbow N.W.R. on Tuesday morning was oddly mosquito-free, perhaps due to the cooler and drier air.  The view upriver...

Not long after I got on the river the noise from the nearby shooting range stopped, and things remained quiet for the rest of my paddle...

About 1.5 miles downstream there was this trash trap...

It helped to create this haul which included 239 "nip" bottles...

Friday morning had a "beat the heat" paddle on the Sudbury River between the Route 27 Bridge...

...and Sherman's Bridge...

 ...both in Wayland, MA.

Some wildlife encountered on the Sudbury included this beaver...

...an ancient snapper...

...a pair of immature herons...

...and a tree-top osprey...

Trash from the Sudbury River didn't amount to much...

Closed out the week early this Sunday morning with a beat-the-rain paddle on the Concord River from Bedford, MA.  The sun was rising into a sky rapidly filling with clouds...

Paddled down the river's glassy waters...

Turned around at the Middlesex Turnpike's bridge abutments where the bridge's modern-day replacement, Route 3, can be seen in the background...

The northbound section is shrouded while repairs are ongoing.

Just finished securing the boat to my car's roof when the first raindrops arrived.

Trash from the Concord...