Here's Bea heading toward the river.
I liked this condo complex with lawns on the river. It's tucked behind a taller condo building, but it looks like they might have their own private dock too.
Two rail bridges for the Red Line and the Commuter Rail and the car bridge in the background. The building on the right used to be a Brinks armored car business and now it's a health club. There is a walkway along this side of the river.
A sign for the Dorcester Harborwalk.
There were a couple research buoys like this one in the river. My guess is that the "UMB" stands for UMass Boston.
Anybody who drives the expressway every day will recognize these two buildings.
There's a little park with a small boat launching ramp and docks near the Granite Ave. Bridge. This is a potentially good launch spot if you just want to paddle in the river.
The Granite Ave. draw-bridge. Sign says you need to call an hour in advance to get the bridge open after October 31.
Looks like the locals marked the channel with trees like they do on the Cape at Rock Harbor. I think there may be real markers during the regular season.
The people in these houses have a nice view of the river and marsh.
Bea spotted this mangy looking large bird in a tree in the marsh. When it turned, Bea said it's tail looked red, so I guess it could be a red-tailed hawk.
A colorful shot of the turn in the river just before the yacht club comes into view.
Milton Yacht Club with almost all boats out of the water for the season.
The remaining few boats that are still at their moorings.
A nice apartment or condo building with a commanding view of the end of the navigable part of the river.
The Milton Yacht Club flagpole and the park beside it.
Ducks cruising around looking for a hand-out.
We swung around to the right of the apartment building and continued up river under the MBTA bridge. I was surprised at how much current was flowing out of the river.
Beyond the railroad bridge, the banks of the river get a little steep.
Not much further up-river are former mill buildings. In the late 50's to mid 60's the Walter Baker Chocolate Company owned most of the mill buildings. My Dad worked the night shift at Bakers when I was born.
Most of the buildings are now residences.
You can still see some of the old sluiceways under the buildings.
There's a dam somewhere around the corner, but we couldn't make it far enough up-river to see it due to the rocks and shallows. I headed up the eddy on the left against a building foundation but there were rocks in the way.
I told Bea it was fairly clear for her to move up in her glass boat and I tried swinging over to the right side eddy to try to see further around the corner.
Bea inspects the building foundation.
I got a little more view from the right side, but it looked impassible even in a plastic boat. Too much shallow water current...and too cold to take a chance on getting wet if I tipped over.
On the way back down-river, I decided to poke into one of the old sluiceways under a building. This one had no water flow. It was now blocked off.
Bea headed back down-river, admiring what's left of the fall foliage I guess.
Trying to get a little artistic with a shot under the railroad bridge.
Across from the Milton Yacht Club is a little park area before the expansive marsh area. This is where we chose to land and have a lunch break.
There was a nice little spot to pull the boats up on marsh grass without sinking in mud.
There were some paths in the park but no chairs or picnic tables.
We picked a spot on grass across from the yacht club.
I guess we could have had a bench if we landed on the other side, but we're used to roughing it.
The ducks came over and hung around in the water below us while we ate.
We kept seeing Orange Line trolley cars cross the railroad bridge. Bea likes the old style, colorful trolleys but we only had a few seconds where we had a full view of the whole car before it was obstructed by the sides of the bridge. It became a contest to see who could catch a full view shot. Here's the best I could do.
A family stopped nearby with a loaf of bread for the kids to feed the ducks. After they left, Bea decided to give the rest of her bread to the ducks also. I think she enjoyed watching them go crazy getting to the bread.
Before we left the park, we took a quick look around.
Still in search of fall foliage.
The wind was stronger on our way back out of the river but now it was in our favor. Bea tried to use her paddle as a sail.
Another look at the park between the Granite Ave. bridge and the Keystone building from a different angle.
The expressway across the river with the Pope John Paul II Park and State Street South in the background.
As we passed under the expressway, we saw a seal. I never expected to see a seal in the Neponset River!
The flags in Pope John Paul II Park show how hard the wind was blowing on our way out.
The Boston skyline from the Neponset River mouth.
The darker colored side of the National Grid gas tank and the rest of the skyline.
Here is a topo map of the area with our track highlighted.
A few specs from the trip:
Launch time: 9:30am
Distance to Milton Lower Mills: 4.24 miles
Stop for lunch: 11:28am at 4.5 miles
Back on the water: 12:07pm
Take-out time: 1:14pm
Total Distance Paddled: 8.43 miles
Thanks for joining me on this trip Bea. I hope we can keep the paddling season alive for a few more weeks!
