Tuesday, June 29, 2010

hot kayaking

Kayaking trips coming hot and heavy now, as is the weather.

On Friday June 25th I went down to the 117 put-in after work and headed upstream. Water levels are very low right now and being sunken down into the riverbed I didn't have the great view of the wide-open marshes the way I did last time I came through there. But I had even more of a chance to see all the birds and muskrats, who were quite active. I also saw thousands of small dragonflies with drab coloring, perhaps because they're young. I thought one settled on my bow, facing forward, but he was on there for so long that I realized it must be some piece of straw that got stuck to my bow. I turned around before the route 27 bridge and paddled back downstream for a 2-hour trip or so. When I got out of the kayak and went to pull her up on the bank, the piece of straw became a dragonfly again and flew away.

On Sunday the 27th Dave and I went to the Lowell Street put-in, where it was very muddy with the river so low. Crowds of people were paddling various things up and down stream, but we detoured immediately onto the Assabet and didn't see a soul for an hour or so, until we ran into a couple of other kayakers in West Concord. We continued to the route 2 bridge, and then turned around and floated back. Strange how few birds there were on the Assabet. We saw one muskrat, a couple of extended family groups of Canada Geese, and a group of large ducks(?) with red ruffs.

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