North River - May 7, 2006

[pat]

K1: Chip, Nelson, Ron, Todd, Mike, Lynn, Karen, Craig, Pat
Skerry: Stephen, with Lisa & family

We often take the North River for granted. Most of us have lived fairly near it our whole lives. For anyone who's been kayaking for at least a year or two, it's not high on your list of paddling destinations. With the exception of exiting at the Union Street launch during low tide, there are few challenging areas, and no experienced kayaker is going to raise their eyebrows when you tell them you've paddled the North River.

But there's no getting around it - for flatwater kayaking, with the diverse scenery and no shortage of launch areas with plentiful parking, it probably offers more than any other trip in eastern Massachusetts. And for this reason, it was the perfect trip this early in the season.

And with ten boats and 13 participants, it was the largest WTP trip yet! All of us were in kayaks, except for Stephen, who spent the day showing off by rowing his entire family.

Everyone met at the Hanover launch at about 9am and unloaded. Several drove their cars to the Union Street launch where Sue and I were waiting to shuttle. Nelson had other commitments and could only do an abbreviated trip, so he left his car at the Pembroke launch.

Chip waited for for a while, but since "time and tide wait for no Craig", he finally headed for Union Street. Without much in the way of overflow seating in my van, a couple of the guys had to sit in the floor for the ride back to Hanover, but no cops spotted us, so we made it back in time to launch soon after 10. Craig had arrived by then, after a few wrong turns trying to find the launch.

Our launch was timed fairly close to high tide in Hanover, so we had a gentle current to help us along. This was a good thing, since we had a moderate breeze fighting us throughout the entire trip. During the early stages, the river is relatively narrow with trees fairly close to the edge, which cut down on the breeze.

Much of the trip was uneventful. We paddled down the Indian Head River to where it meets up with Herring Brook and forms the North River. We then paddled past folks launching their pontooned river boats, under the bridges of Route 53 and Washington Street. Lynn and Karen stayed with us for a bit, but had to turn back, as they were parked at the Hanover launch. I'll bet that return trip under the Washington Street bridge got their hearts pumping!

We stopped shortly before the Pembroke launch to stretch our legs. Some just took the opportunity to hang out in the middle of the river or to try out Nelson's new ONNO paddle.

We then continued on. Nelson decided he needed just a little more paddling, so he continued with us until we started approaching the Route 3 overpass and then turned back toward the Pembroke launch. It was unfortunate timing on his part, as we came upon quite a bit of amazing wildlife after that.

We spotted a moose, which was attacked by a bear, both of which were picked up by a flock of eagles, which were subsequently startled when the Swedish Bikini Team parachuted in...

Ok, so none of that really happened, but if Nelson asks you about it...

We then stopped at Couch Beach for lunch and an extended break and Chip fired up the gas grill. What - you don't bring a gas grill with you on your kayaking trips? Chip brough a huge bag of kielbasa, and hot dogs and burgers were cooked. We hung around for a while thinking of all the lies that we were going to tell Nelson when we saw him again, while Stephen's girls charmed the socks off of everyone, playing around the area.

Time was pressing on Todd's schedule, so he took off a little ahead of us. Soon after, the rest of us packed up everything and headed back out on the final leg of the trip. The wind was getting fairly brisk, but the current was picking up a little to make up the difference.

We made fairly good time and arrived at the Union Street launch. The access way is fairly narrow, so Stephen burned up a little time by paddling past Union Street and back, something he might not do again, based on his pulse rate of 275 when he made it back to the launch.

Upon final approach to the landing area, Craig demonstrated his Half Roll (patent pending) and did a largely successful test of his waterproof jacket. The rocky beach at low tide is extremly slippery, but we all managed to get the boats out of the water and up to the cars.

Craig, Mike, Chip, Ron and I hung around for a while for a PPR, talking about the trip and planning future ones. We all agreed it was a great day and we can't wait for more trips.

Bring on the summer!!!

(I'll try to add some photos soon...)

[Birdseye]

We spotted a moose, which was attacked by a bear, both of which were picked up by a flock of eagles, which were subsequently startled when the Swedish Bikini Team parachuted in...

You guys saw a flock of eagles.... the band from the 80's. They made some pretty wild videos..... did you ever see "Girls on Film"... awesome.

[Chip]

Nice report Pat.

Nelson, I think you mean the Flock of Seagulls and the video was "I Ran". The Flock of Eagles did Hotel California. Duh!

[Birdseye]

Nice report Pat.

Nelson, I think you mean the Flock of Seagulls and the video was "I Ran". The Flock of Eagles did Hotel California. Duh!

Right you are my good man, but the video I saw was Girls on Film and involved mud covered bikini clad women trying to knock each other off of a slippery pole. Makes for some pretty good video (IMHO but I don't know how SWMBO would feel about it. KNOWWHATIMEAN )

[Chip]

Gotcha. Say no more, say no more. Nudge, nudge.

I was always partial to Robert Palmer vids.

[colonialsinger]

I just want to get it on the record that I was part of this trip - and my name is Lynn. Serves me right for shaking everyone's hand and introducing myself as "colonialsinger." There is a Wendy, though, that I've paddled with from time to time. Look forward to more trips with you guys and hopefully can stay longer next time! Lynn

[pat]

Sorry, Lynn. I got the name off of the Duxbury trip report. I wasn't sure if it was Wendy or Lynn, but Wendy sounded familiar. I should have asked.

[Birdseye]

Nice report Pat.

Nelson, I think you mean the Flock of Seagulls and the video was "I Ran". The Flock of Eagles did Hotel California. Duh!

Right you are my good man, but the video I saw was Girls on Film and involved mud covered bikini clad women trying to knock each other off of a slippery pole. Makes for some pretty good video (IMHO but I don't know how SWMBO would feel about it. KNOWWHATIMEAN )

Chip... I guess Girls on Film wasn't done by A Flock of Seagulls it was Duran Duran. I stand corrected. I hated the 80's music anyway.