Winding Down in the Valley

With yesterday's last job of the day leaving me close to the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge boat launch, enjoying the final hours of daylight while afloat on the Nashua River seemed a capital idea.

Since having launched there last Sunday and heading downriver, yesterday was an upriver trip.

The day's earlier clouds had disappeared leaving bright blue sky above the Pan Am Railways bridge (opening photo).

Passing close to a tree branch at a narrow passage brought me eye to "eyes" with this alien looking creature...

...which I believe is a silkmoth caterpillar.

The trip upriver required dodging shallow sandbars and passing around or under fallen trees such as this one...

After 2 miles I turned about and headed downstream as the light began to fade.

Nearing the railroad bridge the rumble of a slow moving freight train could be heard...

 

 

By the time I reached the take out, a little further downriver, the train's horn could be heard in the distance sounding for grade crossings in Lancaster.

 

My trash haul (including a fire extinguisher and 2 more left footed sandals)...



 

 

...was soon packed away and I stopped along the road to say farewell to the now quiet valley in the shadow of Wachusett...



Oxbow's Otters and Osprey

Woke up a little early this morning and headed to the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge in Harvard, MA arriving there about 20 minutes after sunrise.  Things were on the quiet side at the canoe launch and there was a feel of fall in the air.

My downriver progress was interrupted by numerous stops for bottles trapped behind snags.  This plastic sake bottle was a first of its kind...

Can only wonder what this over-sized Canada goose head may have been for...

The cries of an osprey were heard and an occupied nest was spotted atop one of the taller trees...

...seems late in the season for there to be chicks.

  No sooner had I left the area of the nest when this pair of river otters were encountered...

One is by the right margin and the other to the left.  Both had telescoped their heads up above the water's surface but I would have had to have been much quicker on the draw with my camera to have caught them.  I would see them several more times as I neared Route 2.
This scent mound was in the same area and may belong to them...

Below Jackson Road I turned around and headed back upriver, seeing this green heron along the way...

This morning's trash haul...

This much was gathered from a 3 mile stretch of the Nashua River.

This past Friday, an after work paddle covering the same distance on the Sudbury River in Wayland produced only this...

Go figure.

First Dog Day of the Season

Launched in the pre-dawn at Lowell Rd. in Concord and headed down the Concord River this morning.  The river was like glass and a light mist hung above the water.



The Old North Bridge looked sleepy but the Concord Minuteman was already up and at the ready...

A classic Dog Day of summer was in the making just around the bend...

...and the hibiscus were basking in the light...

With water levels so low old bottles were there for the taking such as this Pureoxia bottle...

Didn't see a soul all the way down to Davis Hill where this view...

...downriver was taken in before turning about. 

On the way back upriver Cardinal flowers were getting a little time in the sun as well...

At Great Meadows Landing there were vehicles and a good number of blue coolers on the small beach.  My guess is that a sampling project of some kind was being set up.  This power boat was heading towards the landing with still more blue coolers...

Of course it's also possible those coolers might be filled with lobster and beer.

Almost hit this snapper with my paddle...

This blue heron allowed a photo...

Once back at Lowell Rd. I decided to continue into the Assabet River as far as Willow Island.  Since the water level was so low and the noon sun was nicely illuminating the bottom I figured I'd take another stab at finding the hatch cover lost there several years ago.  Though I didn't find the cover, it was a perfect day for wading back and forth across the river...

At another shallow section of the Assabet this usually submerged stone wall had me thinking it might be remnants of a Native American fish weir...

The inscription at Egg Rock was high and dry and brought to mind the image of a man standing there while inscribing the text into the stone...

Today's trash haul had quite a few glass bottles...

Appropriate for a Dog Day I moved about as slow as possible covering 8 miles in 7 hours and enjoying every moment.  Did I mention just how much I hate winter?

NHAMCP Pennacook Patrol

Another first Saturday of the month rolled around yesterday which meant Denise Hurt and the New Hampshire Appalachian Mountain Club Paddlers (NHAMCP) would be conducting a waterway trash patrol.  Yesterday's patrol was on the Merrimack River and started from the boat launch near the New Hampshire Technical Institute's athletic complex in Concord, NH.  The sign (at left) explained the site's earlier historical significance.

The boat launch there is a good one used by both powered and non-powered boats.  All boaters using the launch walk past this kiosk...

...providing loaner life jackets for children not having one.  A great concept.

Boats were fitted with trash receptacles before being launched...

Working in pairs we patrolled the river and it's banks for trash.  Some worked downstream to the Route 393/202 bridge while the group I was with went upriver towards the Route 93/4 bridge...

...where "Wilson" rode again.

Just beyond the highway was this majestic railroad bridge...

The eastern side of the river sported some high sandbanks in this stretch...

...and colorful flowers on the western side...

When all was said and done we'd removed 129 recyclable containers and 154 pieces of rubbish from this relatively clean stretch of river.  Included in the haul were 3 air mattresses, a shipping pallet, and a Coleman camp shower...

Bags were provided by Concord's Blue Bag program...

...and Denise and some of the patrol's 11 participants gathered around the bagged haul.

In preparation for this trip I'd glanced at my copy of A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers by Henry D. Thoreau and noted the author's mention of  "..a scene of rare beauty and completeness, which the traveler should take pains to behold".
The "scene" mentioned could be viewed from atop the Pinnacle in nearby Hookset which I stopped at on my drive south...

Thoreau describes the Pinnacle as "a small wooded hill which rises very abruptly to the height of about two hundred feet, near the shore at Hooksett Falls".

From the parking area it's only a 15 minute hike to the top along a well maintained trail...

Thoreau noted "you can see up and down the Merrimack several miles each way".  The view up...

...and down...

...with Hooksett just below...

Strange that on a beautiful Saturday not another soul was seen on my hike.  The only indication that someone had been here since Thoreau was this...

On the way down some "Indian Pipe" were seen growing alongside the tranquil and shady path...

Low Down on the Assabet

Quite a contrast between last Saturday's paddling in the choppy ocean waters off of Cape Ann and today's paddling along a tranquil Assabet River in Concord.

The inscription at Egg Rock was found to be high and dry.  In fact finding water deep enough to paddle in the Assabet was challenging in places.


These Cardinal flowers served as a reminder of how our summer is getting long in the tooth...

 The day's hot temperatures brought this white-tailed deer to the river's edge...

...who was joined by an associate...

More real estate than usual at Willow Island...

Trash recovered along the way...