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...

  

Winter's Tightening Grip

 

As the ice on rivers and streams gets thicker with each passing day any hopes for getting out on the water anytime soon is fading.  Fort Pond Brook in Concord, MA is pictured above.  Best I can hope for these days is hiking along a streamside trail...

Reached one such trail today via this abandoned bridge at the Acton/Concord town line...

The beaver dam just upstream from  the bridge as it looked from my boat 4 weeks ago...

...compared with how it looked today from atop the bridge...

 

Olm Man Winter is in full control now and I'm left with no choice but to salute the change-of-state power he holds upon water.  My only comfort comes in knowing that meteorological spring is only 43 days away. 

 

This tree shows how one can bend without breaking...

 
 Some plastic containers encountered along the trail this week...

Last of One, First of Another

 Fairly mild weather allowed one unexpected last paddle on the final Sunday of 2024...

...where fog enveloped me for most of my time on the water...

Paddled bits of the Concord and Assabet rivers between Spencer Brook and Great Meadows.

Yesterday I celebrated the arrival of 2025 by paddling the Sudbury River between Egg Rock and Fairhaven Bay...

...where the bay had a thin layer of ice which isolated Brooke Island.  The ice was barely thick enough to support this little fellow...

One unusual occurrence happened just after picking up the year's first "nip" bottle...

 ...I faced going to either the right or left of a large boulder.  I chose to go left and shortly after doing so heard a very loud crack and splash.  Turned about to see a dead tree had just fallen to the right of said boulder...

Glad I chose the left side but the incident left me wondering what kind of omen this might be for the new year.

Not far from the "nip" bottle was its alter ego...

 Another new type of container showed up...

The last trash haul of 2024...

The first trash haul of 2025...

Water levels yesterday had risen a half a foot or so higher than they were on Sunday leaving only a small amount of submerged ice at Egg Rock's stone inscription...

Looking Astern at 2024

In looking back at 2024 there's no doubt that my most memorable paddling moment occurred in May when I kayaked out to a relatively small island (less than 10 acres) in the middle of the lower St. Croix River...

Over the previous winter I'd read Voyages of Samuel De Champlain Vols 1-3 (translated by Charles Pomeroy Otis and edited by Edmund Slafter) and found Champlain's first-hand account concerning the island. In 1604 a party of 79 Frenchmen built a small settlement there and the island was given the name St. Croix. The Native Americans (Passamaquoddy) are said to have called the island "Mehtonuwekoss" meaning "food storage place".  As I approached the island (photo above) skies were cloudy and the tide was near slack.  I cannot adequately describe the level of anticipation I felt and how that anticipation built with each paddle stroke which brought me closer to my destination.  After landing my boat on the uninhabited island and getting my bearings I climbed the wooden stairway to the island's plateau-like surface...

...and crossed a field of grass and wildflowers to this boulder bearing a bronze plaque attesting to the island's significance...
  

While there are plenty of places in and around New England that Samuel De Champlain visited, it was here on this small island that he actually spent an entire winter.  

A  representation of what the village looked like is on display at the St. Croix Island International Historic Site located on the mainland in Calais, ME within view of the island...

The winter of 1604-05 was longer and more severe than anything these men might have expected.  Fresh water and wood for fuel were in short supply.  An outbreak of scurvy took the lives of 35 settlers and sickened another 20.  Those who died are said to be buried beneath the grass.  As a result of their miserable winter on the island, the expedition's leader, Sieur De Monts, had most of the buildings disassembled and transported to Port Royal in Nova Scotia where they were re-assembled; a more favorable location where the colony survived.  One positive outcome from their experience on St. Croix Island was Champlain's creation in 1606 of the Order of Good Cheer at the Port Royal location..."We spent this winter very pleasantly, and fared generously by the Ordre De Bon Temps, which I introduced.  This all found useful for their health, and more advantageous than all the medicines that could have been used."  Individual members of the order competed in seeing who could bag the best game for weekly feasts during the winters.  The feasts also included entertainment.  As a confirmed "winter hater" I, for one, can certainly appreciate the need for an Order of Good Cheer!

Back on the mainland at the International Historic Site I got a chance to stand next to the larger-than-life bronze figure of Sieur De Monts (Champlain's boss) ...

  

2024 was a good year for first-time visits to other historically significant places:

Deer Island (another island of misery) in Boston Harbor which I paddled out to from Winthrop, MA...

Moswetuset Hummock in Quincy, MA also paddled to from Houghs Neck...

...the Myles Standish Cairn at Squantum's northern tip in Quincy, MA commemorating his and Tisquanto's having landed there (visited by foot)...

...Annawan Rock in Dighton, MA (visited by foot)...

...the Miery Swamp in Bristol, RI where Metocomet's life ended (also by foot)...

...the Reuben Colburn Homestead where the 200 batteaux for the 1775 Arnold Expedition were hastily built alongside the Kennebec River (by foot on perhaps 2024's hottest day)...

 

Over the course of the year I paddled away from boat launches in all six New England states as well as one in Passamaquoddy Bay in New Brunswick, Canada. 

In Maine I scouted a circumnavigation of Verona Island from the viewing platform atop the Penobscot Narrows Bridge, and camped at both Chewonki Campground in Wiscasset and the KOA Bucksport/Ft. Knox.  Also drank in views of a few more Maine lighthouses: 

On the Kennebec River were Squirrel Point Light...

...the Range Lights further upriver at Fiddler's Reach (paddled past)...

...and the Doubling Point lighthouse (paddled past)...

Fort Pownall Light in the Penobscot River (paddled to from Sears Island)...

Experienced these ponds for the first time: Asnacomet in Hubbardston, MA, Coachlace, Mossy, and S. Meadow complex in Clinton, MA.

Enjoyed some fine paddling with fellow paddlers Oz and Roger on the Sudbury River, Denise and company through the lock at Cromwell's Falls on the Merrimack River, and my grandson John on Concord's Walden Pond...

  

Wildlife encounters that will keep me wondering what or who is around the next bend in the river included:

This eagle at Lee Island (Puddlestone Island) in the Kennebec River...

...this buck along the Assabet River...

...and this newly-hatched diamondback terrapin? turtle in the tidal portion of the Connecticut River...

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention an unexpected capsize that occurred early in 2024.  I made two mistakes...first, paddling on a day when solid ice lined both shores, and secondly, allowing my boat to become perpendicular to a strong current.  Fortunately I was dressed for immersion and had brought along a pair of warm and dry gloves. Without such gear things could have gone south real fast.  I was also very lucky not to become separated from my boat. Lessons learned. 

Trash, mostly of a plastic nature, was still there to be found especially behind fallen trees.  I did notice a decline in the number of "nip" bottles.  Recovered 1,644 of the pesky little bottles this year compared to 3,553  in 2023.  Hopefully the decline in numbers is a good sign and not just the result of 2024's lower water levels. 

The oddest and probably most valuable thing found afloat in 2024 was a Concrete Testing Kit in the Assabet River...

...which probably had been tossed into the river by thieves.  Thanks to the laminated calibration certificate found inside the case the kit was re-united with its rightful owner.

Other unusual finds were a plastic bait tub found in the Concord River...

...and a gallon of transmission fluid  also from the Concord River...

May 2025 bring Peace and Good Cheer to all!