Long Pond, Lakeville - 4/19/10

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norm
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Long Pond, Lakeville - 4/19/10

Post by norm »

The weather turned rainy and chilly again after a great start in early April. Patriot's Day, Monday, was looking fairly decent in the forecast but the tides and wind were not favorable for a morning salt water trip. Jordan had received clearance to paddle after his shoulder surgery and was supposed to have picked up his new boat on Saturday (got rescheduled). Jordan, Lora and I traded emails and phone calls to coordinate a Monday morning paddle, inland at Long Pond in Lakeville. We met at 9:00am at the southern end of the lake at the state boat ramp which is actually in Freetown.

I knew the water might be high after the flooding rains in March and early April, but I thought it would have receded more by now. The water of Assawompsett pond was still lapping at the side of Route 18 near the Lakeville Town offices. There were still sign boards, barrels and cones marking spots where the water crossed the road in the past few weeks. I was the first to arrive at the boat ramp parking lot and found that is was partially blocked by road cones. The cones were actually there for restricting the traffic to one lane across a little bridge beyond the boat ramp, but at first it looked like they were blocking access to the parking lot. I was lucky that I had no traffic behind me and I decided to run over a cone and go into the lot for a look. I fixed the cone that I had moved to make it easier for Jordan and Lora to turn into the lot. I drove to the boat ramp and was surprised by the amount of white-caps on the water. We knew the wind would be coming from the north but expected it to be tamer inland.

Jordan was the next to arrive. He had that ear to ear smile he gets when he's about to hit the water. I could tell there was no way I was backing out of this trip. He was very quick to untie my boat and start gearing up. I figured if he was willing to paddle into the wind, then I should be able to handle it too. Lora arrived and we all finished getting ready. Of coarse Jordan was the first to hit the water....still smiling....

Here's a picture of the flooded boat ramp and the grassy area we were able to launch from.

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This is a house beside the boat ramp. Normally there is some yard between the house and the lake.

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Ducks swimming in somebody's front yard to stay out of the rough water in the background.

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Once we started paddling, I didn't get any good pictures till we got to the north end of the lake, 3.3 miles into the wind. We started off heading pretty much straight into the wind but took advantage of the first island, Goat Island, to take a short break for a sip of water. This was only 3/4 of a mile from the ramp. For the next leg, we continued up the east side of the lake past Lewis Island, without stopping this time till we got to the next island 1.5 miles north. This island is named Nelson Island and normally there is a sand bar that extends from shore so that residents can walk out to the island in waist deep water. It looks like it will be a while before it gets that shallow again. After a little bit longer break, we proceeded all the way to the top of the lake where there is a marshy area that separates Long Pond from Assawompsett Pond. On the drive down, I noticed that this marsh was flooded enough that it might be possible to paddle the long boats through it. The only problem was that the opening to the stream was not visible. We headed to the west shore to find an opening and made our way into the marsh a couple hundred yards. It was a little scratchy paddling through the bushes and didn't look all that interesting so we turned around and headed back out after a few snapshots.

Here's Jordan, still smiling because he's finally in his boat and paddling as well as ever.

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Here's Laura with a swan in the background.

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Looking south as we leave the marsh area. I don't think there is really a 20 percent chance of rain today!

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After leaving the marsh, we headed east to a circular canal that takes you through a small island neighborhood with some very nice houses. Just about every home has a boat dock and all of them were underwater. Many of the homes had the boat-lift docks with canopies above them - they can lift their boats out of the water and keep them under cover. The water must be 4 to 6 feet higher than normal because you could not even paddle a kayak under the canopies right now.

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This house has to win the contest for the most toys. We'll have to come back in summer to see what toys they keep under all the canopies.

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Lora and Jordan giving a swan plenty of space.

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Around the corner we came upon a bridge with low clearance and got to play kayak limbo. Jordan went first.

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Jordan (the engineer) inspected each support beam while he was under there.

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Lora tried to lift the bridge out of her way.

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We all made it through safely and continued through the canal.

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Last time I was here it was summertime and one of the homes had a sea plane. Found it! But it was stored away in the hangar with the sports car.

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Can you imagine taxiing the plane through this opening to get out to the lake?

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When we got out into the lake, it seemed like the wind had gone down a little until we got further south. We enjoyed traveling right down the middle of the lake, riding the wind and waves all the way back to the take-out. You can't do that in a kayak on this lake most of the time due to all the motor boat traffic. The only boat we saw while paddling was another kayak off in the distance. We had the place to ourselves today.

We were able to paddle right up onto the grass at the take out.

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We took our time unloading our boats and getting out of our dry suits. As we finished loading our boats onto our vehicles, a family with a motor boat showed up to go for a cruise around the lake. Jordan had an afternoon engagement so he said goodbye and left. Lora needed some food before her drive home so she pulled out her lunch. I was in no hurry to leave, so I pulled out my lunch also and we sat on Lora's truck tailgate eating and watching the family launch their boat. I guess we can count this as our PPR for this trip.

Here is a topo map showing the route we took.

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A few stats from the trip:
Launch Time: 9:30am
Take Out Time: 12:30pm
Number of stops: None
Total Distance Paddling: 8.6 miles
Participants: Norm(norm), Jordan(kayakerjnj) and Lora(Lora925)

Thanks Jordan and Lora for a great day out on the water.

Norm
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kayakerjnj
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Re: Long Pond, Lakeville - 4/19/10

Post by kayakerjnj »

Thanks again Norm and Lora!

It was great day. Norm the pictures you took were great, another great trip report too! I only wish we had the camera when it was your turn to limbo under the bridge. You definitely got the short straw as a car was passing overhead as you went under :)

Fun day for sure, I'm still grinning :D
Paddle with a big smile, its contagious 8)


Jordan
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lora925
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Re: Long Pond, Lakeville - 4/19/10

Post by lora925 »

Great report Norm. Thanks again for another fabulous adventure :P Was great paddling with you both.
Kayak widow
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Re: Long Pond, Lakeville - 4/19/10

Post by Kayak widow »

Yum yum! One of Norm's trip reports for breakfast - and it's calorie-free :!:

Nice to see Jordan's perma-grin back! :D
Like a "football widow", I lose my spouse to kayaking for some part of pretty much every weekend :-)
cgr
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Re: Long Pond, Lakeville - 4/19/10

Post by cgr »

nice report Norm!

One other possibility when the tides aren't favorable for Hingham is look at the south side of the cape, buzzards bay, etc. Today HT is at 04:02 & 16:47 in Hingham. If you go to Westport it's at 00:37 & 13:17. Westport is also a 3 or 4 ft tide vs 8 - 10 ft in Hingham.
KAYAK KEN
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Re: Long Pond, Lakeville - 4/19/10

Post by KAYAK KEN »

Nice report Norm, Thanks again for sharing the day! I am eager to find out how Jordan's shoulder is after his first paddle. Ken
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kayakerjnj
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Re: Long Pond, Lakeville - 4/19/10

Post by kayakerjnj »

Hi Ken,

The shoulder felt surprisingly good afterwards, hopefully a sign of more progress to come!

Couple more months of PT and I should be turned loose!
Paddle with a big smile, its contagious 8)


Jordan
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norm
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Re: Long Pond, Lakeville - 4/19/10

Post by norm »

cgr wrote:One other possibility when the tides aren't favorable for Hingham is look at the south side of the cape, buzzards bay, etc. Today HT is at 04:02 & 16:47 in Hingham. If you go to Westport it's at 00:37 & 13:17. Westport is also a 3 or 4 ft tide vs 8 - 10 ft in Hingham.

Thanks for the suggestion Chris. The part I left out of the trip report was that originally Jordan wanted to get home early and also I knew Lora would be out late the night before, so I didn't think either of them wanted to travel too far.

I really want to paddle the Westport and Slocum Rivers this year...wish I could join Linda there Wednesday but already committed to join an AMC trip in Chatham.
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