Charles River - 10/16/11 - Millis to Natick

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norm
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Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 12:13 pm
Location: Stoughton, MA

Charles River - 10/16/11 - Millis to Natick

Post by norm »

This year's fall foliage is quite a let-down everywhere that I've been. I had hopes that it might be better inland than what I've seen along the coast, but it turned out to be a bit disappointing on the inland area of the Charles River.

One-way river trips with car shuttles can be a hassle, but things got much easier when Skip joined the trip and offered to bring his trailer. There was a little glitch in the original plan when Sue had car problems Saturday evening, but we made it work. I picked up Pam and Sue and we met Skip at the take-out where we transferred the boats to his trailer. We left my truck at the take-out and all rode to the put-in in Skips van. At the end of the day, we managed to get 3 boats on the roof of my truck and one inside along with all four of us.

The weather was very nice, with off-and-on bright sunshine and temps that started in the 50s and rose into the 60s during the day. The water level was quite high for this time of year so there was a good push from the current all day. Occasionally there was some wind, but nothing of much significance for sea kayaks...felt sorry for a few people we saw in short recreational kayaks.

Sue, Pam and Skip at the beginning of the day.

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The tree colors were very subdued. It seemed like many trees had lost all their leaves and others had not started to turn color yet. But occasionally there would be a colorful tree or bush and sometimes the sun would cooperate and make them stand out.

Here is the scenery taken in before our lunchtime hike.

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We moved along pretty quickly all morning and arrived at the Rocky Narrows Landing at about 12:30. We had launched on schedule at about 10:00 and traveled 9 miles in 2 1/2 hours. I don't think we hurried at all, so I guess we really got a good push from the strong current.

The hike up to King Philip's Overlook seemed more strenuous than past trips. I'm not sure if it was from my lack of exercise this summer or because we were following Sue the tri-athlete, it seemed like she was walking downhill as we hiked uphill.

There wasn't much color to see from the overlook this year. The model airplane field across the river had a helicopter buzzing around instead of planes.

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We hung around at the overlook for almost an hour before hiking back down to the boats. The water seemed even calmer and the air temperature was now warmer. I think we all chose to wear one less layer of clothing for the rest of the paddle.

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There seemed to even less tree color for the rest of the trip. Just a little color here and there.

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Most of the day, Sue used her new home-made Greenland paddle, but in the end switched back to her euro style paddle for the last mile or two.

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Here is a topo map with the route we traveled highlighted. The trip starts off at the bottom of the picture. Notice how much the river winds back and forth at the beginning of the trip.

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A few stats from the trip:
Launch time: 9:57am
Stop for lunch: 12:27pm, Distance paddled: 8.88 miles
Arrive at overlook: 1:06pm
Left overlook: 1:55pm Distance hiked: 1.49miles
Back on water: 2:26pm
Take-out time: 3:35pm
Total Distance Paddled: 13.47 miles


Thanks Pam, Sue and Skip for making this a fun day even though the foliage was not great this year.
Last edited by norm on Thu Oct 20, 2011 1:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
centered
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Location: Stoughton, MA

Re: Charles River - 10/16/11 - Millis to Natick

Post by centered »

Thanks Norm, for the lift and another good paddle regardless of the less-than-brilliant foliage. It still looked pretty from our vantage point on the river. Thanks also to Skip for ferrying us all to the put-in.
Sue
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kayakerjnj
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Location: Randolph MA

Re: Charles River - 10/16/11 - Millis to Natick

Post by kayakerjnj »

Another pretty day on the water!

Great scenic shots Norm!
Paddle with a big smile, its contagious 8)


Jordan
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