On Sunday the 26th met up with a friend at Little Farms Road in Framingham and headed down the swollen Sudbury. Another friend couldn't go but offered to pick us up and so we had a chance to do the many miles downstream to Lincoln.
This is a beautiful part of the Concord River system and we were very lucky to get the benefit of the flood after a few days of rain. It would have been possible to navigate back upstream to Little Farms against the current but tough, especially skirting the newly fallen trees that were almost blocking the river and made us keep our eyes open. After a few miles, in Wayland, the river widens significantly (though it doesn't get very wide), and the current slows and the vistas open up. It was a partly cloudy day and we kept conjecturing about which towering bank of clouds would turn into a thunderhead ... we actually heard thunder at several points ... but we stayed dry and had the benefit of spotty sun.
We heard plenty of birds all the way downstream, but they stayed hidden while the trees were thick. When we became but specks in the fresh water marsh, the red-wing blackbirds were all around us and the swifts started buzzing us with a frightening insouciance. We finally saw a hawk or two, though at other times in that part of the river I've seen 6 or more at one time. We spotted no river mammals, but assumed they were very busy under the water. The level was way high all the way down, and we finally floated under the route 117 bridge and headed for the take-out just North of it, where our friend met us right on time.
Another wonderful day on the river. Passed about 5 parties in that whole 3.5-hour stretch (not counting bass fisherman, who I suspect come from a different universe) and we all agreed that not being outside on a day like that was criminal!
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