Charles River - Millis to Natick - May 9, 2010

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norm
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Charles River - Millis to Natick - May 9, 2010

Post by norm »

When I proposed this trip, I thought it might attract a few more people, even though it was planned for Mother's Day. But, it turned out that the weather made this into a trip for die-hards only. It was obvious when we arrived that this was a day for dry suits and neoprene gloves. The air temperature was not that bad, but it was cool enough to consider wind chill as a factor...especially on wet hands. I started off the day not wearing gloves because I find it harder to take pictures with them on. Quite a few times I questioned that decision. According to the weather history, the max temperature was 55 degrees and the wind speed was 16 to 22mph with gusts up to 40mph. The water temperature did not seem too bad until you took your wet hands out of the water into the cool wind.

We moved up the start time to accommodate the problem that Lora's truck is not equipped to carry more than one kayak. We got everything in place and got back to the put-in by 9:00am and geared up in warm layers inside the dry suits. It was warm enough to go without a ski cap or an ear muff headband. Here's picture of the Forest Road, Millis put-in. There is room for about six vehicles in this lot. Not a problem in early May. I imagine it fills up quickly in summer.

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The river is all curves in this area and not very wide. Perfect conditions for trees to fall across the river during high water like we had in March and April. I was concerned about this potential problem but figured that someone would have cleared any sifters by now. I was soon proven wrong. There was a pine tree and a maple tree down across the river, side by side, within about a half mile of the put-in. Luckily they had both fallen from the same bank and their tops just reached the opposite bank. The only way through was to try to squeeze between the thin branches of the tree's tops and the river bank. We had to pull our way through the pine tree and then make a turn to squeeze through the maple tree. Lora went first and found it a tight fit with her 15 foot boat. I found it an extremely tight turn with my 18 foot boat and just barely got through. I failed to take a picture till I got to safety on the far side, because as you're trying to negotiate through the trees, the current is pushing you around. I did stop to look back and took the following shot from the downstream side. The pine tree is almost totally hidden by the maple tree looking at it from this side. We squeezed through on the right side of this picture - you can just barely see the pine on the right, lower in the water.

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At first we were protected from the wind that we could hear howling through the tree tops. The big hassle for me in the beginning was all the tight turns. My boat is made to go straight. I had considered using my 15 foot plastic boat, but I need practice edging and turning the long boat anyway. And I knew the long boat would be much better when we got to the windy open stretches.

The first wildlife pictures I got were turtles. They were out on the river banks, rocks, sticks, bushes and tree branches that had fallen in the water. They were all looking for a warm spot in the sunlight. Most of the turtles would slip into the water as soon as I reached for the camera, but these guys seem to mostly be looking the other way.

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The only thing faster at detecting our presence than the turtles, were the beavers. Probably saw five different ones through the day, but only caught a distant picture of one. You'll have to take my word for it that the lump in the water right of center is a beaver.

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A little to the left of the beaver was this plump little bird. I'll have to look up what it is.

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Each time we got out into the open areas of the river we had to contend with the serious wind gusts. Sometimes there was no warning a gust was coming till you felt the wind trying to rip the paddle out of your hands and blow you over. I tried changing my blade from a 45 degree offset to 65 degrees, but found this only a little helpful. It was definitely a day for keeping a death grip on the paddle. Even just the steady winds were difficult to deal with at times. The way the Charles curves back and forth, I think we felt the wind from all points of the compass at one time or another throughout the day.

Reaching an area with tree covered banks was always welcome. Here is a picture of one of the protected areas and a tree with very interesting purple coloring.

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The distance to our lunch take-out at Rocky Narrows was nine miles of paddling and then a half mile hike up to the overlook. At seven miles, we could see King Phillips Overlook off in the distance. We could see there was a person in blue sitting on the rocky area, right of center in this picture, above the railroad bridge. If only we could get there more quickly and easilly, but there is no good landing spot on this side that I know of. At this point we were really ready for a break but the Rocky Narrows Canoe Landing was on the far side of the hill. The river makes a big arc around the hill and the hike to the overlook brings you back over the hill to the rock outcropping with a steep drop back down to the river. (You can see what I'm trying to describe on the topo map at the end of this report if you are curious - I kept the GPS with me on the hike to track the distance.)

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After another two miles of paddling, we landed and unloaded our lunches for the hike to the overlook. I was lucky that I had kept my map from last year's trip because the website link had changed and I could not find a new one to print at the last minute when I thought of it. There are something like 5 miles of trails in this park so it is a good idea to have a map with you unless you have time to be lost. The hike is not too difficult, but we were dressed in paddling boots (and dry suits). My boots seemed to have a better grip on the soles than Lora's did, so she had more difficulty on the steep slippery hills than I did. We only stopped momentarilly at Rocky Narrows Overlook because it is mostly blocked by trees. When we reached the King Phillip's Overlook, there were a few people there but they were starting to leave. We chatted with the people for a moment and then settled down on some comfortable rocks in the sun and enjoyed our lunches. We had the place to ourselves for about 20 minutes. We both ate everything we had brought with us.

Here is the view back down the river where we had just come from.

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Looking off to the left is a field that a model airplane club uses.

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As we left the overlook, more people were arriving. We chatted with them for a bit and then started back down the trail. Next we came across 2 little girls and their parents. They were looking for the overlook we had just left, so we told them what we knew about the trail. They had a map from one of the trail-head kiosks...much nicer than my old paper printout. The trail system is pretty well marked and seems to be pretty heavily used, but there were no signs right at the overlooks to confirm you had reached your goal. I'm still not exactly sure which area is the Rocky Narrows Overlook - there are 2 possibilities, but both are nothing compared to the excellent King Phillip's Overlook.

We made our way back to the Canoe Landing, packed up our stuff into the boats for the rest of the trip and shoved off. Lora admitted later that she had a hard time getting back into the paddling rhythm after the lunch break. I was feeling a little tight also, but I knew we still had another 4.5 miles to go and there's no choice but to tough it out. I thought it would be mostly protected from the wind, but we still had a few windy spots out in the open. There are a lot of beautiful homes in this stretch, but I mostly took pictures of the birds and scenery. The battery in my waterproof camera was dead and I forgot where I had stashed my new spare, so I took a chance with my better camera in my home-made water-resistant housing...that was a bit of a hassle but the camera takes better pictures than the waterproof one.

Most of the time Great Blue Herons don't let you get very close. Occasionally you come across bold ones that don't scare off as easily. Look how close Lora came to this one.

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Next we came across a couple geese and their goslings chomping on this nicely manicured lawn.

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I had cruised right past the goslings and had to paddle back to get a better picture, so sure enough, there was an even bigger group of them just another 100 yards downstream.

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The Virgin Mary Statue is still in place on the right side of the river, but there are no beads draped over her hands this year. (And still no bathtub Chris!)

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Just beyond the statue is this private foot bridge. Too colorful not to photograph. I've read that there are rhododendrons planted along the river bank between the statue and the bridge, but I have not been here at the right time of year to see them in blossom yet.

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When you approach the South Natick Dam, you need to be paying attention and not get too close. If your not familiar with the area, you can keep watch for a horizon line on the river. You might be able to hear the waterfall on some days, but not when the wind is howling. Here's a picture of the dam from upstream. Look at the very center where you can see the top of a person that is on a walkway in a park below the dam. You can sort of see the horizon line.

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And if you don't see it in time and get sucked over, this is where you'll end up. It may not look too bad in this picture, but in person, it looked like there is a pretty good undertow at the base of the dam.

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Just beyond the dam there is this little island and then a stone bridge.

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There was another bold Great Blue Heron just hanging around by the island, so I had to take a shot of it from a steady stance on dry ground for a change.

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Here is a topo map showing the route we took. The direction of travel is from the bottom of the picture to the top. Notice how tight the curves are in the first few miles of the river.

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A few stats from the trip:
Launch Time: 9:25m
Take Out Time: 3:00pm
Number of stops: One
Total Distance Paddling: 13.37 miles
Total Distance Hiking: 1.38 miles
Participants: Norm (norm), Lora (Lora925)

We loaded both boats onto my truck and headed back to the put-in using the roads on the east side of the river. We came to an intersection where the GPS was beeping at me to turn right and I noticed there was a Freindly's Ice Cream shop on the corner. It didn't take any arm-twisting for Lora to agree to stop for an ice cream cone. I always prefer a quick ice cream cone for PPR, rather than food and drink, when there's long ride home to deal with.

When we got back to the put-in, Lora's truck was still the only vehicle in the lot. I guess it was too windy for anyone else to enjoy the river by boat. We pretty much had the river to ourselves the whole day. I think we saw just one fisherman, fishing from shore near one of the bridges.

Thanks for another great day of paddling, Lora. Sorry it was such a tough workout this time. It would have been a little nicer without all the wind. But at least it turned out to be a bright sunny day.

Norm
cgr
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Re: Charles River - Millis to Natick - May 9, 2010

Post by cgr »

Nice report Norm. If I had a spare tub I would tow it down to where Mary is.

Avoid low head dams
http://www.boat-ed.com/images/animations/lowhead_dam.html
noseykate
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Re: Charles River - Millis to Natick - May 9, 2010

Post by noseykate »

I did this stretch back when I first moved to Boston, before I'd really stretched my sea kayak wings. I remember it being very pretty. I didn't hike up the cliff but it does call to you to do so.

I think that your purple tree could be a Paulownia.

NK
NorwayLady
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Re: Charles River - Millis to Natick - May 9, 2010

Post by NorwayLady »

Norm, do you have photographic memory or something? Below is a picture from our trip last year showing the Virgin Mary statue with the beads in her hands. I totally missed that part....You are amazing!
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Bea
Proud foster mother of Athena (P&H Cetus LV turquoise-white)
Kayak widow
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Re: Charles River - Millis to Natick - May 9, 2010

Post by Kayak widow »

I especially love your comments and wildlife pictures, with the turtle group being my favorite this time :) It's so helpful the way you clearly point out the fine details of the pictures, like the person sitting on the rocky area high above the river, and the person on the walkway below the dam. It's like one of those pictures showing candlesticks or a face - once you've identified the one you didn't see first, it's hard not to see it the second way again. Great, great perspective of the dam, in particular. You truly have a gift for photojournalism, Norm!

However, I'm now fixated on learning more about the religious statue, especially with the addition of NorwayLady's face-on picture. After viewing 18 pages of religious statues on http://www.maryshop.com (not kidding), I'm wondering if there's a Fatima or Lourdes shrine in the area, or some other religious establishment such as a temple, convent or college. I wonder if the private red bridge is part of the same piece of property. The features on the face of this statue in NorwayLady's picture appears to have a Bhuddist influence, and the beads look more like those used in such a culture rather than rosary or other classically Roman Catholic beads. I wonder if the beads were placed there during only a particular religious season, or for some other temporary reason, or if they just fell off in the weather. I'm no expert on this, but clearly find it fascinating, so I'd love to learn anything that onlookers might know about this statue (which illustrates in just one more way that I really need to take up some sun-free active hobby so I'm not sitting at my table looking at 18 pages on http://www.maryshop.com) :roll:

Either way, keep up the great work! It's great to live vicariously through all of you in the meantime :D
Like a "football widow", I lose my spouse to kayaking for some part of pretty much every weekend :-)
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norm
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Re: Charles River - Millis to Natick - May 9, 2010

Post by norm »

Kayak widow wrote:However, I'm now fixated on learning more about the religious statue, especially with the addition of NorwayLady's face-on picture. After viewing 18 pages of religious statues on http://www.maryshop.com (not kidding), I'm wondering if there's a Fatima or Lourdes shrine in the area, or some other religious establishment such as a temple, convent or college. I wonder if the private red bridge is part of the same piece of property.

All I know about the statue is what I read in a book that I refer to for info about paddling on the Charles River. I quote a bit of that book in last years trip report which you can find at: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1595 And yes, the bridge and statue are part of the same property. The old trip report has a picture of the mansion on the property also.
cgr
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Re: Charles River - Millis to Natick - May 9, 2010

Post by cgr »

Kayak widow wrote:
The features on the face of this statue in NorwayLady's picture appears to have a Bhuddist influence, and the beads look more like those used in such a culture rather than rosary or other classically Roman Catholic beads. I wonder if the beads were placed there during only a particular religious season, or for some other temporary reason, or if they just fell off in the weather.


Joe Francis must have paddled the river before Norm & Bea.
Kayak widow
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Re: Charles River - Millis to Natick - May 9, 2010

Post by Kayak widow »

Thanks for the link to the prior post with the quote about the statue and property. Interesting stuff, indeed. I tried to read the bottom of the statue for a lead today, but couldn't get the whole thing.
Like a "football widow", I lose my spouse to kayaking for some part of pretty much every weekend :-)
johnboy
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Re: Charles River - Millis to Natick - May 9, 2010

Post by johnboy »

Norm, thanks for the trip report and the photos wonderful
Johnboy
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