First trip of Spring on the Assabet

Paddlers' Place
#1

I got a nice surprise on Friday – an email from my paddling friend Jonathan looking to do some paddling. I couldn’t paddle on Saturday, but Sunday was open, so we set up a trip with P-netters TommyC1 and Nipmuchants (and a few others) on the Assabet River in MA.

We would be running the section of the Assabet from Acton to Concord. It’s a pretty section that is mostly flatwater except for the broken dam at Damondale. We had quite a mixture of boats – I paddled tandem with Bill in my Mohawk; Tommy in his Osprey and Jonathan in his Courier paddled solo; Mena was poling in Tommy’s Souhegan; Lora and Pat were in whitewater kayaks; and Al had his long kayak (don’t ask me what brands the kayaks were).

The morning started off sunny and warm, but gradually clouded over and got chilly. The river was at a decent level, so we spent a little time playing at the broken dam at Damondale. From there, we picked out way through the blow-downs down to Concord. It was just starting to rain as we pulled into the take-out at Egg Rock, so our timing was perfect.

Few pictures here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eckilson/albums/72157681871164735

#2

What! I’m friends with Tommy on FB and he didn’t let me know about this…I might’ve even showed up with a canoe. Ah well, too far away to go for me right now anyhow;–But maybe when things warm up a bit more.

Love the milk crate attached to the front deck of the kayak, btw. Now that’s something ya don’t see everyday, except maybe on SOTs in Florida.

#3

Kayaks do such good things! :wink: Accolades to Al. Always enjoy your photos.

#4

Al (Nipmuchants) deserves lots of accolades. He had that milk cate filled with trash by the end of the trip. We should all be more like Al and clean up the river as we go.

#5

Yes, kudos–I didn’t mean it sarcastically about the milk crate…Just how unusual to see(I’ve attached them to the back decks of yaks, myself.) I guessed the purpose was for clean-up, but wasn’t really sure.