Sunday, March 28, 2010

Nashua River - Flood Stage

I went out on the Nashua River saturday - technically I guess it is at flood stage. It was very fast - when I went from Pepperell to Rt. 225, the water was doing something I'd not seen before.
Looking at the river from the downstream side of the 225 bridge, there were rapids. Not huge rapids, but waves with white water. Very strange for that part of the river. Just upstream from that the water was unusually fast - virtually impossible to paddle upstream. So, I got to hit the rapids downstream ;-)
All in all, still a good day, some new debris, and I picked up a good bit of it, but always more - especially when there is flooding like there has been.
Well, looks like more rain on the way, we'll see what that brings.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Kayak Season Opener

I declare kayak season is open! Yesterday I put in on the Nashua River at the Pepperell/Groton line. The water was still pretty high from the previous week's rains, but not too bad.
I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of trash... typically after a flood, there's a ton of trash in the river, but not this time. I paddled from Pepperell up to the Boathouse and back and only collected one basket full of trash. No tires. No hazardous or nasty stuff. Just some bottles and cans and cups.
Nice day, the river's in good shape, and kayak season is here... all is right with the world.