A Low and Slow Sudbury River

Advancing clouds coincided with my ascent of the Sudbury River yesterday morning.  Despite it being the Columbus Day holiday things were fairly quiet.  There was hardly any wind and temperatures gradually rose out of the 40's.  The view upriver towards Route 2 was a peaceful one.

Water levels remain on the low side as can be seen by the inscribed stone at Egg Rock...

It's hard to imagine the inscription being submerged as it occasionally is in springtime.

Before reaching Route 2 a deceased beaver was seen not far from his lodge...

Past Heath's Bridge in the area known as Conantum a cormorant stood erect...

This guy looked different than the cormorants I usually see...

...and I believe it is a Great Cormorant which is considered uncommon around these parts.  According to my guidebook, they're usually found on rocky ocean shores to the north.

At Fairhaven Bay the little stone boathouse sat snugly on the shore...

A pair of ospreys were seen at the bay's south end.  One of them led me upriver for a while, similar to the way belted kingfishers fly ahead from tree to tree.  He paused long enough on one tree for a photo...

A blue heron patiently awaited its next meal...

Fishermen seen along the way reported good fishing, mentioning bass and northern pike recently caught.

Reaching the mouth of Pantry Brook, I found the short channel to the sheet piling dam completely blocked by a series of beaver dams...

Makes me wonder if the deceased beaver seen earlier had possibly worked himself to death!

That fate was not going to befall me, on this day anyways, as I was moving in a slow and deliberate manner. 

Earlier on the holiday weekend, Mrs. Trashpaddler and I attended a wedding which concluded with the bride and groom leaving the reception via canoe.  The groomsmen carried the canoe, with the bride seated inside, down a path to the Charles River...

 
Then the groom pushed off from the shore, jumped in, and the newly wedded couple began their journey together down the river of life...

...and on Sunday we biked from Belchertown to Northampton on the Norwottuck Rail Trail...

...which brought us across the 7 span 1400 foot long bridge over the Connecticut River...

The view upriver between the western shore and Elwell Island...

Meanwhile, back on the Sudbury River, the MBTA commuter rail bridge is getting a makeover...

Note the floating yellow booms that are no longer floating.

Because of the low water levels trash of an older and more mature nature was recovered...

There were several beer cans that pre-dated our 1983 Bottle Bill.  A milk bottle from the 1950's with a very faded label indicating Dairy Products by Buttrick (in Arlington, MA), and an old beer or soda bottle embossed with French Bros Co Lexington, MA dating to about 1915.  It was found in the shallows where the Assabet and Sudbury Rivers join to form the Concord.  Other (newer) trash consisted of glass and plastic bottles, Styrofoam, plastic bags, an empty propane cylinder, and plastic bags.  YTD = 5004

New Dam on the Assabet

Approaching Gleasondale via the Assabet River late this morning I was surprised to find a well constructed beaver dam holding back a good portion of the river's flow.  The nocturnal engineers wisely chose a narrow spot (about 25 ' across) and took advantage of the low water levels of late.
While portaging around their structure I stopped to take a closer look from above...

A few more moonlit nights and they might seal the deal.

This stinkpot turtle (I think) seemed lost in thought...

  Above the dam a small painted turtle was unconcerned by my presence...

 

 

A great egret was seen near Sudbury Road...

 

 

Blue herons, mute swans, and wood ducks were also encountered.

 

Fall foliage was colorful in places...

 

 

Today's trash haul...

 

A 5-gallon Poland Springs bottle stood head and shoulders above the rest.

 

YTD = 4936







Collecting Bottle Bill Evidence

When boating on the river, as I did yesterday morning, many plastic containers such as the ones pictured above are encountered.  They're escapees from our state's recycling program better known as the Bottle Bill.  The containers pictured above are comprised of empty spring water,vitamin enhanced water, and Gatorade bottles.  Each container was designed to be used just once.  All of them could have a better fate if we expand our state's Bottle Bill to include them.  Our neighboring states of Maine, Connecticut, and New York have already done so.

Of course these weren't the only unwanted items in the half mile section of the Sudbury River I paddled yesterday.  There were also glass bottles, aluminum cans, Styrofoam cups, plastic bags, a fluorescent light bulb, and nip bottles.  This picture shows the whole group, before the containers that could be included in an expanded Bottle Bill were separated out...

 

In the 7 years I've been braking for trash on various rivers, yesterday's haul was typical:
recyclable containers having no deposit outnumber those that do by a 3 to 1 ratio.   That figure agrees with the reported fact that 80% of containers with a 5-cent deposit are recycled whereas only 23% of those containers having no deposit are.  If we expand our Bottle Bill, we can reduce litter by about one third saving our cities and towns millions of dollars per year. 

Some respected civic leaders who support expanding our Bottle Bill include Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, former Boston Mayor Tom Menino, and my State Senator Jamie Eldridge.  Additionally, there are groups that have long advocated for protecting our environment such as: Environmental League of Massachusetts, Sierra Club, MASSPIRG, League of Women Voters MA, and Mass Audubon.

Now, not every container found in the river is undesirable.  Every once in a while I see the outline of a glass bottle sticking out of the riverbank.  More often than not the bottle pulled from the muck is broken.  However, yesterday that wasn't the case when an old (1956) Cream Top milk bottle emerged completely intact with most of its original color label remaining...

The uniquely shaped bottle came from the Twin Maple Farm in Saxonville (a village in Framingham) which was located about a mile upriver from where I found it.  It was made to hold cream in the upper bulb shaped section and a quart of milk in the lower section. The label shows a bespectacled doctor and says: "See your DOCTOR once each year! See your DENTIST every six months!  Drink TWIN MAPLE MILK EVERY DAY".

This kind of bottle brings to mind a simpler time, long before our present "throw away society".  The rugged container would be conveyed to the customer's home by the friendly milkman, reside in the customer's ice box till empty, and then be returned for cleaning and sterilizing before, once again, being refilled with milk and cream.  It was just common sense and that equated to what we now call sustainable.

Certain beverage producers are spending millions of dollars on television ads in an attempt to convince us that deposits on single-use products are not necessary, yet they themselves use deposits to get back the containers they value.  I'm referring to those 5-gallon plastic bottles of Poland Springs or Belmont Spring water delivered to homes and businesses for use with dispensers and companies such as Budweiser who won't sell you a keg of beer without collecting a hefty deposit on said keg.  Oddly, these companies don't call their use of a deposit a "money grab".  However, that's the term they use in their anti-Bottle Bill ads when describing a 5-cent deposit meant to help get single-use containers recycled and out of the environment.  Just because beverage producers don't want their plastic and aluminum single-use containers back doesn't mean that we, as a society, can't place a value on those containers to help get them recycled and keep them from ending up as litter.

I think of the role being played by the Vote No on Question 2 folks in regards to our Bottle Bill being expanded as being just another obstacle to our progress.

Obstacles were many on the river yesterday.  There was this bony section looking upstream...

...and this beaver dam blocking access to the oxbow's outlet...

    ...and this mess of twisted wood a half mile downriver...

Rising water levels will eventually help in allowing passage of boats beyond all of them, just as rising awareness will help voters overcome the millions of dollars being spent by certain beverage producers and grocery chains to obstruct expanding our Bottle Bill.  They're wagering that folks will just buy their ad campaign's bogus numbers and won't investigate the issue themselves.  I'm hoping they're wrong and that folks will research the issue before ultimately deciding to vote Yes on Question 2.

Nashua River Trash Patrol by NHAMCP

This past Saturday the New Hampshire Appalachian Mtn. Club Paddlers conducted the final trash patrol of their 2014 series.  Patrols were held on the first Saturday of each month starting in May and going through October.

Club member Denise Hurt organized and led the series.  Saturday's patrol started at the Pepperell Conservation Area and 10 paddlers worked their way downriver towards the dam in East Pepperell.
Conditions were cloudy with occasional mist.  A low-lying area of shore on the river's east side provided a good bit of floatable containers.  Others found similar pockets of trash on the river's west side.  All in all we collected 361 recyclable containers (transparent bags in photo) and 200 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish (black bag in photo).

Just before we got underway we were reminded of the change in seasons by several gunshots in the nearby area.  Shortly, a camouflaged boat came ashore with 2 adults assisting a young hunter on the first Youth Waterfowl Hunt of the season.  The young hunter had bagged 3 mallards.  There will be another Youth Waterfowl Hunt next Saturday (10/11).  The regular duck hunting season will open on October 14 and run through November 29.  A second season will run December 20 to January 10.  Time to start wearing some blaze orange when on the water.

Back on the river, this mute swan was cleared for landing...

Despite the cloudy skies some fall foliage was on display...

Post patrol, participants enjoyed lunch provided by D'Angelos.

Like other participants, Mrs. Trashpaddler felt a sense of satisfaction...

Congrats to Denise on a successful second season!

River Speaks Bottle Bill Truth

After being bombarded for the past few weeks by deliberately misleading television ads urging me to vote No on Question 2, I began to wonder if, perhaps, I'd missed some sea change in the world of recycling.  The folks paying big bucks for the ads really want me to believe that having a redemption value on aluminum and plastic bottles is as outdated as the horse and buggy. They tell me that 90% of the people in Massachusetts have curbside recycling, even though they know full well that figure is inaccurate.  They say politicians will get any unclaimed deposits and they know that isn't true as well.  They use images showing one gallon dairy containers when they know an expanded Bottle Bill will not have any effect on dairy products.
 
So, this morning I decided to visit the river and see what it had to say about all this.
I launched my boat into the Nashua River in Lancaster and paddled upstream to where the Nashua's north and south branches meet.  Along the way I picked up all of the litter found floating and stuck behind branches and rocks.  The photo (above) shows the total trash recovered in that short stretch of river.

Next, I separated out the containers that would be covered by an expanded Bottle Bill...

...they numbered 50 "expanding" out of the crate: water bottles, Gatorade, Powerade bottles, and an Arizona Iced Tea aluminum can.  That's close to one third of the total litter removed today in just 1.9 miles of river.  Another 51 plastic and glass containers were either non-redeemable or once were redeemable but the labels were missing.  Only a handful were good enough to actually be redeemed.
In addition to the containers were 60 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as nip bottles, Styrofoam cups, and a Mylar balloon.  Total pieces of litter were 161.


The fact that an advertisement firm would produce an ad campaign filled with deliberate untruths doesn't surprise me one bit.  What does surprise and disappoint me is that companies such as Stop & Shop and Roche Bros. would allow their good names to be associated with such.

Three Days, Three Rivers: Pawcatuck, Thames, and the Long One

I was able to get an early jump on this past weekend of splendiferous weather.  Late Friday morning, with my boat, tent, and sleeping bag aboard, my car and I drifted down an un-crowded Route 395 which runs a little west of the Connecticut and Rhode Island border. Reaching Norwich, CT, a short foray was made into Rhode Island to the small town of Bradford on the Pawcatuck River.  Having launched at the Bradford Fishing Access I was soon paddling upstream on this river's calm waters (photo at left).

Another kayaker had just exited the river and mentioned having enjoyed his hour or so paddle up to the rapids and back.    I proceeded to do the same, and not another soul was seen until I'd reached Burdickville Road...

 ...where a guy was fishing from the bridge.  The river gets very shallow here, and just above the bridge were the rapids the other kayaker had mentioned.

Along the way was this old medicine bottle...

...and this attractive camp site...

It's part of the Burlingame Mgmt. Area and had room for several tents.

This 3.5 stretch of river passes under the high speed rail line between Providence and New Haven at 2 locations.  This was the more easterly of the 2 bridges...

 

The trains running through this area are electric powered and the sound they make is less a rumble and more a whoosh.  Several were heard, but none seen.

Back at Bradford a small trash haul was beached...

...and I was off to the Mystic KOA in N. Stonington, CT with just enough daylight remaining to set up camp.

On Saturday morning the river Thames was explored starting from the Stoddard Hill Boat Launch in Gales Ferry, CT.  Don't look for any signs to this boat launch, as there were none that I could find.  It's close to Storybook Rd. and that's what helped me in locating it.  As launch sites go, it's a nice one...

 ...though at high tide it might be difficult to fit under the low railroad bridge.  Shortly, I passed under it and out into the Thames River, aka Mohegan River, aka Pequot River, aka Great River.  Whatever its name, it's a tidal reach of some 15 miles from New London on Long Island Sound up to the confluence city of Norwich, CT.  I paddled with the tide up the upper section of river and soon encountered Poquetanuck Cove entering from the NE.  I passed on exploring the cove concerned the rising tide might prevent my getting back under the railroad bridge.  Continuing upriver I reached the Route 2A bridge where the Mohegan Sun casino came into view...

After passing the casino, on the river's west side, I passed under another railroad trestle to gain access to Trading Cove (where Native Americans traded with Europeans)...

 ...and was rewarded with this view...

This peaceful cove was a haven for osprey...

 

...and egrets...

...and herons...



After experiencing this magical spot I turned around to see the majestic Mohegan Sun from this perspective...

Then it was back to the river and further upstream.

I passed the former American Thermos Bottle Company facility on the river's east side...

I've probably owned a thermos bottle or two made there.  The facility closed sometime in the 1980s.

Shortly I reached the head of the Thames at Norwich's Chelsea Landing...

To my bow's left is the Yantic River and Holly Hock Island.  To the right is the Shetucket River which I paddled into and up until running out of water near Greenville...

This was where a canal returned to the river (left) from a dam further upstream.  The original riverbed was all rocks with little water to the right.  This was my turnaround point.  Approximately 2 miles further up the Shetucket is the location where Mohegan warriors captured the Narragansett sachem Miantonomo in 1643.  A little further past that spot is where the Quinebaug River joins with the Shetucket.

In the shallow waters of the Shetucket large numbers of good-sized fish were seen.  Some that I recognized were carp and striped bass.  Others were unfamiliar to me, but several fishermen mentioned shad as a possibility.

Heading back down the Shetucket, this view of Norwich was enjoyed...

Back at Chelsea Landing I ascended the Yantic River a short way, passing the Norwich Harbor sign...

The sign notes the harbor as established in 1659.  The Yantic flows to either side of Holly Hock Island where a marina and wastewater treatment facility are located.  Near the island's upper end, I turned with the tide and began my trip back to Stoddard Hill.  Along the way, I stopped in a cove where this old wreck lies aground...

My modest trash haul also aground...

I'd had perfect conditions for paddling the Thames and after returning to the KOA campground I enjoyed a second night of tenting in perfect conditions.

My newly acquired recyclables were welcomed into KOA's well equipped recycling program.

Day three called for an early start in order to meet up with Capt'n Dangerous and Ellen who were down from the Adirondacks.  We were to meet in Old Lyme, CT at the Ferry Road Boat Launch on the Connecticut River.  They found the location AOK.  Me, not so much.  What should have been straight forward somehow got me completely disoriented.  Finally, I threw in the towel and entered the address into the GPS. 

At any rate, we were soon launching into the mighty Connecticut River near the point where it empties into Long Island Sound...

We headed downriver towards Griswold Point, passing under the long bridge carrying Amtrak trains on the Northeast Corridor...

The bridge was down to allow this Amtrak train's passage...

It was still slack tide when we reached Griswold Point and looked across the river towards the lighthouses on the Old Saybrook side...

Once the incoming tide got started we explored the Back River behind Great Island...

...causing fiddler crabs to run and hide...

Once back on the river proper we proceeded upriver beyond the Rt. 95 bridge and Calves Island.  With such incredible weather power boat traffic was increasing by the minute so we headed into Lord Creek where more tranquil waters were found...

On our way towards Lord Cove, near Goose Island, we encountered this immature eagle who'd also found serenity there...

There were small cliffs between Calves and Goose Island...

The skies above were busy with osprey, turkey vultures, and a few eagles. 

A small bit of brackish trash...

Mylar balloons proving, once again, that what goes up must eventually come down.

I still can't believe just how great the weather was these past three days. For late September in New England it was like a dream come true.