Spectacle Island from Wollaston - Saturday - May 26, 2012

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norm
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Location: Stoughton, MA

Spectacle Island from Wollaston - Saturday - May 26, 2012

Post by norm »

I have wanted to hike to the top of Spectacle Island since last year when I visited the island a few times but could not make the uphill climb. I was hoping to get there a few times this year but the weather did not cooperate. So, this time everything seemed to come together and I formed a plan to do a medium length paddle and allow enough time to do a little exploring on the trails of Spectacle Island. There is going to be a tall ships parade on the 4th of July this year and I was thinking Spectacle might be a good vantage point for viewing and wanted to see how many good spots there are to set up a blanket for the day.

The chosen put-in time would put us on Wollaston Beach at low tide but I was pretty sure we could find a spot that was not too muddy. It turned out that there is a good spot with an opening in the sea wall a little closer to Tony's Clam Shop than the Clam Box. The group would be six people. There was a little debate about what to wear for the conditions, 58 degree water but 80 degree air temperatures. Jim and Archee dressed for the water temps in dry suits. The rest of us chose less serious clothing choices. My opinion was that we all knew each other had rescue skills, would be staying close enough to get a swimmer back into a boat quickly and the air temperatures were warm enough that drying off and warming up would not be a problem, so dry wear was not required.

Almost ready to go.

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The plan was to head out towards Gallups Island and go around it if the group was up to it and the conditions were right. When we got out past Rainsford, the group was spreading out and the boat traffic seemed a little too much to bother making all the channel crossings necessary to venture out and around Gallups. There were plenty of fishing boats around too.

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Looking out toward Boston Light, it was very hazy anywhere off in the distance.

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We decided to avoid the traffic and channel crossings and turned left around the end of Long Island.

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It was good to watch the traffic from a safe distance and not have to worry about it.

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While we were going west from Long Island and heading for the northern end of Spectacle Island, we watched a large container ship come out of Boston in the main, President Roads channel right toward us initially and then turning and passing us broadside. A few of us recognized the shipping line, Cosco, from last fall's trip from the gas tank through the harbor to the Charles River.

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It looks like Audrey is enjoying her new Surge kayak.

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The group spread out a little again as we approached Spectacle Island.

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But we gathered up as we came around the northern end of the island.

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We landed outside the beach area near the visitors center on the west side of the island and carried the boats up above the high tide line since we were planning to stay for a couple hours. Jim and Archee were happy to get out of their dry suits.


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There were a few people enjoying the beach, even wading in the water.

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We chose a grassy spot to sit and have lunch.

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Archee had a late night working and only had a few hours sleep, so he chose to try to take a nap.

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Most of the island's visitors arrive on the catamaran shuttle boats.

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After lunch we took a walk over to the visitor's center. I wasn't the only one with a camera.

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The pier where the shuttle boats land is huge and can accommodate a lot of people.

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There is a nice, large, public marina for big boats to tie up at and a sandy beach that could be used for landing kayaks.

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The inside of the visitor's center is bright and airy with high ceilings and lots of windows.

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On the pathway outside is a bunch of granite stones all lined up - looks like they just stood up the lefovers when they were done.

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After using the facilities, we went out for a walk to the top of the north drumlin. Part way up, at about the middle of the island, there is a nice band stand.

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The circular trails provide beautiful views. Too bad it was so hazy on this particular day, but it provides a good reason to return for more visits.

Thomson Island.

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Logan Airport.

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Castle Island. Some day I'll have to get a picture from the other side of the island. I don't like the city background.

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It was too hazy to get pictures of the outer harbor islands, but Deer Island was close enough...

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Jim, Audrey and Barb took the walk all the way to the top of the north drumlin.

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A few lucky people got special treatment - must have been friends of a grounds-keeper or something.

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I don't think I'd want to kayak to the inner harbor from here.

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There was too much traffic to bother crossing the channel and going around Thomson Island as I had proposed in the original trip posting. It seemed that everybody had other things to do in the evening so we chose to head back to Wollaston Beach with a goal of getting there by 5:00pm.

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My idea for a safe route across the channel was to travel from Spectacle to Long Island and then cross at the Long Island Bridge, figuring that the boats might slow down when going under the bridge. At least the bigger ones would be funneled under the main, higher span and we'd be able to see what was approaching from both directions. Well, we gathered up at a supporting pier of the main bridge span and waited a few minutes for a break in the traffic. It turned out to be a good spot to see what was coming, but none of the boats seemed to slow down at all as they went by.

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It will be nice when the water warms up some more and we can stop taking so much gear on every trip.

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

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A few specs from the trip:

Launch time: 10:04am
Lunch stop: 1:25pm Distance: 7.76miles
Back on the water: 3:32pm
Take-out time: 4:52pm
Total Distance Paddled: 11.76 miles


Thanks everyone for joining me for the paddle and putting up with the long stop on Spectacle Island.

Norm
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Mark
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Re: Spectacle Island from Wollaston - Saturday - May 26, 201

Post by Mark »

I think Archee's hammock idea is pretty awesome.
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kayakerjnj
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Location: Randolph MA

Re: Spectacle Island from Wollaston - Saturday - May 26, 201

Post by kayakerjnj »

Great trip and a fun report!
Paddle with a big smile, its contagious 8)


Jordan
wildwoman
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Location: Weymouth

Re: Spectacle Island from Wollaston - Saturday - May 26, 201

Post by wildwoman »

My photo contributions to the trip report on this fun trip, including photos of Norm, who rarely gets his picture posted because he's almost always behind the camera. OK, well, only photos of Norm, because I haven't figured out how to resize in batch yet.
And as you can see, I'm still experimenting with resizing!

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Norm_2.jpg
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Norm_3.jpg
Norm_3.jpg (56.26 KiB) Viewed 9440 times



Norm_4.jpg
Norm_4.jpg (6.46 KiB) Viewed 9440 times
Barb
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kayakerjnj
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Location: Randolph MA

Re: Spectacle Island from Wollaston - Saturday - May 26, 201

Post by kayakerjnj »

Great pictures!
Paddle with a big smile, its contagious 8)


Jordan
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