Charles River Trip Backwards - 9/18/11

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norm
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Charles River Trip Backwards - 9/18/11

Post by norm »

This trip was organized by Steve H. He titled it "Charles River Trip Backwards", I guess because people tend to start in the river and head out through the locks to the inner harbor. Steve planned to do it in the reverse order to avoid the afternoon winds in the more open waters. This was a very good choice. The winds and wave chop were bad enough in the morning that I would not have wanted to deal with them in the afternoon at the end of a trip.

Steve did a nice job organizing the car shuttles. Since this was a one-way trip, we all met at the beach on Morrisey Boulevard across from the National Grid gas tank and unloaded our boats and gear. A few people stayed with the boats. Then, we took 3 vehicles to the take-out, left 2 there and rode back in the third.

This was a great trip with interesting sights around every corner. I was so busy dealing with conditions and traffic and trying to take pictures, that I never noticed the interesting clouds in the sky until I looked at the pictures. I really enjoy re-living these trips through the pictures.

We had a total of 7 people on the trip: Steve H., Rick W, Sue, Bea, Ali, Audrey and me. Chip really wanted to do this trip too, but couldn't make it. I know there were one or two others that wanted to do the trip also but were not free that day.

It was a little cool to start the day, with temps in the 50s, but warmed up to the mid 60s in the afternoon. We were launching at almost dead low tide.

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We all helped each other carry the boats down to the water on the slippery rocks.

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Then headed out amongst the boats moored at Savin Hill Yacht Club.

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Looking into the cove beside UMass Boston where they have their research boat docked. We'd get a closer view of that boat later in the day.

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UMass Boston.

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Kennedy Library. The wave chop picked up as we got past the shallows at the end of Columbia Point.

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Heading across Old Harbor, South Boston.

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I believe this is the L Street Bath House, with the Boston skyline in the background.

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Looking off to our right, the rounded hills of Spectacle Island.

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Looking over Pleasure Bay at a ship stacked high with shipping containers.

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Audrey with the new pavilion used for fishing along the outside of Pleasure Bay.

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One of the outlets of Pleasure Bay show how low the tide is.

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There was some sort of charity walk happening at Castle Island and I think it was just starting as we paddled by. It sounded like a pep rally for the participants as people on loudspeakers shouted out instructions. I swear one of the women speakers sounded like Sarah Pailin. I think Sue told me later in the season that her sister was at this event and assured us that Sarah Pailin was not there.

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The older fishing pier on Castle Island as you turn the corner into the Inner Harbor.

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A more personal look at the UMass research boat, bearing down on us from the inner harbor. This thing put out a huge wake with 3 foot, sharp swells and they never slowed down as they went by us.

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A closer look at the bow and port side of the container ship that towered over Pleasure Bay.

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Looking to our right, a sailboat with the airport in the background.

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One of the hotels at Logan Airport.

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The financial district behind the South Boston waterfront.

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Bunker Hill Monument beyond the inner harbor.

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The South Boston waterfront piers.

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The Boston Fish Pier.

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Bank of America Pavilion.

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The building on the left is the new ICA - Institute of Contemporary Art. The building on the right is a new office building that blocks the harbor view from my boss's office.

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Approaching the busy end of the inner harbor.

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The boring side of the Federal Courthouse.

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A tourist harbor cruise ship coming out and the water getting still choppier.

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Harbor Towers Condos with the Custom House between them.

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The New England Aquarium.

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We had to pause for a few moments in the chop as the Majesty slowly made its way toward its dock.

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Making our way through all the moored sailboats.

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The big power boats all seem to be at slips rather than moorings.

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A few different styles of waterfront condos. I guess this is the North End.

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A fire boat tucked in amongst the condos.

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The Coast Guard Station.

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Audrey asked me to get a picture of her in front of a Coast Guard ship for a friend.

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Looking across to a nice big condo building on the Charlestown waterfront.

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The U.S.S. Constitution and the Bunker Hill Monument.

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The TD Banknorth Garden.

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Arriving at the Charles River Locks. The signs said to "Sound 2 Long and 2 Short Blasts and Wait For the Green Light" to get the operator to open the lock. We didn't have a horn, so I tried blowing my whistle. We couldn't see an operator anywhere, but there must have been cameras or a control room somewhere out of our view because I think they had seen us and started opening the lock before I blew the whistle. It was fun to use my whistle for the first time though.

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Heading into the lock. The sign on the pillar of the overhead walkway says "Colonel Richard Gridley Locks". I had to look it up to find out that Gridley was George Washington's first army engineer. I like it when they name things after historical figures from long ago. This is actually a newer dam, lock and pump system. The older dam has the Museum of Science built on top of it. The purpose is to control the Charles River basin from flooding tides and to allow drainage of the basin via pumps when necessary. Here's link to a wiki page if you want to read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_River_Dam

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It was interesting to see the size of the locks. I read there are 3 locks. 2 smaller and one larger. I think we were in one of the smaller ones.

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It felt kind of strange when the gate behind us closed and we were captive in this odd place.

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It didn't seem to bother Sue. I think she was just ecstatic to be out of all the harbor chop! She had just started sea kayaking one month before this trip.

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The water slowly rose, almost imperceptibly, and then the gates in front of us opened and the traffic light turned green for us to leave. Apparently you are supposed to move away promptly and Bea doddled near the gate too long taking pictures. A voice came over a loudspeaker and asked Bea to clear the area immediately!

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When you leave the locks, on your way into the river, you are then under the Zakim bridge.

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Looking up at the bottom of the Zakim bridge.

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Next we passed under the 2 railroad drawbridges that carry all the commuter rail trains in and out of North Station. I didn't realize there were 2 draw bridges as we went under it - noticed it when Googling for information to put in this report. There are 2 sets of tracks on each bridge and they split into at least 10 sets of tracks for North Station platforms.

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After the twin train drawbridges, there is an open area that probably acts as the queue in the summer for boats waiting to use the locks. There are parks on both sides of the river here.

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On our left was the Nashua Street Park and the Suffolk County Sherrif's Department building.

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On the right was North Point Park with Hult International Business School in the background.

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The street past the business school, Education Way, leads right into the water. This is where the Boston Duck Boat tours enter the river. Right after entering the water, they pass under a walkway bridge that is part of the park.

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I don't know how many duck boats there are in the fleet, but we must have seen at least a dozen of them.

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We kinda mulled around this area for a while and a few people explored the little canals in North Point Park.

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Ever seen a tyrannasaurus rex while kayaking?

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When everybody was done exploring this area, we gathered up near the long canal through the old dam that formerly was the lock before the new dam was built. We waited for a few power boats to come through. One was big enough that they raised the O'Brien Highway drawbridge, so we got to see a little of that action. There is also a higher fixed bridge that carries the T green line trains. This must be quite a bottleneck in the summertime.

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After the boats passed, we made our way into the canal and kept to the right.

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There was still more traffic coming toward us...more duck boats. The duck boat passengers would quack at us and we'd gobble gobble back at them.

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Looking to our right after emerging from the canal, there was a nice view of the Museum of Science and a yacht club on the Cambridge side of the River.

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Still seeing duck boats out in the open water. I was curious and had to look up what their water route is. The map shows that they enter and exit the river in the same spot and cruise up and under the Longfellow Bridge where they make a big sweeping turn and head back.

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Heading toward and under the Longfellow Bridge where they are performing extensive repairs.

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Heading into the lagoon near the Hatch shell for a lunch break. Steve knew there was a public dock there that we could use.

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Going past the Community Boating dock, it looked like there was a person getting a sailboard lesson.

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There were a lot of boats still at their moorings, but plenty out sailing also.

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Steve was the first to reach the dock where we landed for lunch.

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Conveniently for us, there was nobody else using the dock so we just took it over for a while.

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There was a nice spot with benches to sit and enjoy lunch while still close enough to watch our gear. The area was quite busy with families walking, riding and roller blading around but I didn't take any pictures while I sat and enjoyed lunch. I did get a couple shots of the others when I got up to look around, but I didn't catch Audrey or Ali before they got up too.

Sue and Bea.

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Rick and Steve.

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The view from our lunch pier back toward the Longfellow Bridge.

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Looks like they leave one of the howitzers on display at the Hatch shell.

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I took a walk around to see the front of the shell and it looks like it was used most recently for a MixFest concert.

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Gearing up to continue on up-river.

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As we started to paddle away from the dock, there was a choice to head back out into the river or go under a bridge and follow a waterway along the Esplanade. We didn't know if the waterway had an exit at the other end, but I was willing to give it a try and Bea joined me. Everybody else headed back out into the main section of the river.

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As we entered the Esplanade waterway, there was an empty business that looks like it rents out rides in gondolas. At first we hoped it was an ice cream shop.

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Looking back at the Hatch Shell from the water and bridge we had come under to enter the waterway.

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A lone duck scurries away from us.

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The walkway bridges that lead out to the island walkways are very picturesque with vines growing along the railings and walls.

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A bunch of swans with Storrow Drive in the background. I guess they must be accustomed to traffic noise.

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Each bridge seemed to have walls in the water under them, I assume this is to limit the size of the boats that pass under, or at least force them to move to the center of the arched bridges. There seemed to be falling trees near each bridge also.

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They don't just have playgrounds for kids along the river, they also have a spot for adults to exercise.

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The landmark Citgo sign. We must be getting near Kenmore Square.

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The Hyatt Hotel on the Cambridge side of the river.

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The Boston University Bridge with the graffiti covered railroad bridge underneath it.

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Bea, Sue and Audrey are the yellow boat club for today.

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The Riverside Boat Club.

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Heading for the Cambridge and Western Ave. bridges, we finally moved over to the right side of the river.

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Another thing I did not notice until I looked at pictures by Bea, is the different color domes on the towers of Harvard University buildings.

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Heading for the John Weeks Bridge, we've managed to wander over to the wrong side of the river again. Apparently you are supposed to stay to the right when paddling on this busy river.

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Another Harvard building with a colorful dome.

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The Weld Boat House.

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The Newell Boat House.

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The geese on the river don't move out of your way until you're right on top of them.

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The Head of The Charles Regatta boat house.

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And the last picture I got before my camera battery died was the Charles River Canoe and Kayak Kiosk where you can rent all sorts of kayaks.

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Our take out spot was Christian Herter Park. We loaded up my truck with 4 boats and 3 people and Steve's truck with 3 boats and 4 people and headed back to the gas tank at Morissey Boulevard where Bea and Ali's cars were parked. We transferred the boats to the right cars and said our good-byes. It was a long day and there was nothing conveniently close-by for post paddling refreshment.

Here is a topo map of the area with our route highlighted.

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A few specs about the trip from my GPS:

Launch Time: 8:51am
Lunch Stop: 11:49am Distance paddled: 8.34 miles
Back on Water: 12:44pm
Take-Out Time: 2:05pm
Total Distance Paddled: 13.2 miles


Thanks for organizing an excellent trip Steve. I hope you don't mind me writing up the trip report for you. I know you had some issues with a previous report and the picture upload methods on the WTP site (which I bypass using links). Hope to see you and Rick on more trips next year.

It was nice to meet Ali also. I don't recall if she has joined any WTP trips in the past. Hope to see you again also.

And it's always nice to paddle with my yellow kayak buddies Bea, Sue and Audrey.

Norm
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Re: Charles River Trip Backwards - 9/18/11

Post by centered »

Norm, it was nice to look back on that trip after 2+ months, amazing how much you don't see, or forget, the first time. Thanks for posting it.
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Re: Charles River Trip Backwards - 9/18/11

Post by Birdseye »

Nice job Norm. Love the Duck Boat pics.
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Re: Charles River Trip Backwards - 9/18/11

Post by NorwayLady »

Thank you for writing the report, Norm. Here are some of the pictures I took.

From the launch:
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Sue being new to seakayaking looking good on the water!
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Norm taking Boston traffic head on
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I barely managed to put the camera away before the wake hit...
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Norm trying to take pictures which was not easy with the very confused conditions
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This sign is posted at the entrance to the locks
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The "doors" to the locks closing...in no time! Also notice that the water mark says 11
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As we exit the water mark is at 7, but I could have sworn we went UP. I am still trying to understand this....
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All of us at lunch time. Nice setting with plenty to look at
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Thank you everyone!
Bea
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