N. Weymouth to Long + Rainsford Islands - April 6, 2012

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norm
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N. Weymouth to Long + Rainsford Islands - April 6, 2012

Post by norm »

Good Friday is better to me when it includes a kayak trip! I sent out an email to many folks I thought might be available and found that many people have to work. I knew Sue was available and Sandy switched work days to get free, so we had at least three participants. With 46 degree water temps, I really prefer having a group of at least 3 for safety.

The goal for the day was Fort Strong on the northern end of Long Island. I wanted to get out there before it becomes more restricted when Camp Harbor View is open. I don't know that they definitely restrict access, I just assume they don't want visitors strolling through when the buildings are open and when campers are around. Plus, there is less worry about people messing with your boats this time of year as you leave them unattended while hiking around the islands.

I chose George Lane Beach as a launch spot again. When we arrived, it was windier than I expected, but it was blowing straight in from our destination, so it would be a bit of a slog on the first, long, 5.5 mile leg. I didn't really bother taking any pictures worth sharing on the way out. It was just a good, solid, tiring workout. I was enjoying my brand new P&H Cetus HV, finding that it doesn't weather-cock as quickly as the Kajak Sport I've been paddling for a few years.

As we passed Rainsford and got closer to Long Island, the water was calmer and I took a picture of the checkerboard water tower on Long.

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There was a good stiff breeze blowing over the low section of the island where Camp Harbor View's main grounds are located.

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The water near shore was nice and calm for a beach landing but there seemed to be a lot of sharp boulders blocking access to the beach. It was hard to tell if it was a continuous sea wall or not. There appeared to be enough breaks to allow escape later...but we found out that was not true. I picked a spot that I thought looked like it had a gap in the stones that was big enough to pass through later and headed to the rocky beach.

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I checked the GPS to see if it operates ok from inside the Cetus small front deck hatch and was happy to see it was tracking our trip just fine. It had taken 2 hours to paddle the 5.5 miles into the wind, so we were all ready to sit down and have some lunch and rest. Lunch was not very relaxing due to the chilly wind on our backs, so we were anxious to get up and start walking after eating.

The low part of the island between the hospital buildings and Fort Strong is now dominated by a fairly new day camp for Boston kids, Camp Harbor View.

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The biggest building is apparently a rec hall and probably a cafeteria also.

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We headed toward the old fort area past the climbing apparatus.

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Sandy couldn't resist trying out a low tight rope walk that has hanging helper ropes 4 or 5 feet apart.

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Next we continued toward the fort area and if we were not already trespassing, we now definitely were, as we proceeded through a gate with a sign on the right: "No Trespassing, Violators Will Be Prosecuted".

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To the left was a roadway to the docks with some buildings that looked like they might be part of the old nike missile site that was later used by the Boston Public Library for book storage.

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To the right was a roadway toward the shore that initially looked promising to reach the Fort Strong structures we could see from the water, and it was closer, so we went to the right.

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There was a small structure that looked like a small WW2 vintage gun emplacement.

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The road curved around inland after a view of the water.

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But after turning inland, the roadway ended with a pile of waste pavement and dirt. I took a look beyond and found that the road ended.

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It looks like the island's shoreline has eroded considerably in this area as there is a small brick structure with no land around it any more.

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We decided to see if there was access to the fort a little further up the shore by climbing along the sea wall, but it didn't take long to realize that was not going to be easy or promising.

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It was time to backtrack and head to the other side of the island.

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A closer look at the buildings I'm guessing were part of the nike missile site.

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Halfway across the island, looking to our left across the Camp Harbor View fields.

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Near the northern shoreline and the boat pier are the tennis courts and basketball courts with a nice pavilion between them for relief from the sun.

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In the summer there will be docks in the water at this pier.

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The pier looks wide enough and strong enough to drive onto.

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A little shed at the start of the pier.

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Beside the shed are two trails heading uphill, one a little steeper and closer to the coast than the other.

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Our guess was to try the steep road with the hope it leads to the lighthouse.

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Looking back down the roadway.

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The reward for the steep hike was a nice unobstructed view of the lighthouse as you round the corner.

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The threshold under the door had a date of 1819. I'm not sure if this particular structure is that old or if that is the date of the original lighthouse.

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A look from the inland side.

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Further up the road is Fort Strong.

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This approach brings you to the northwest end of the Fort. Sue heads right in to take a look.

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Looking in the open doorway reveals a small room with a collapsed ceiling and half ripped up floor. We did not venture inside.

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Just outside the doorway was an open manhole. My guess is that this whole place was harvested long ago for anything metal that could be hauled away. The only metal objects to be found were embedded in the concrete.

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There wasn't much else to see here so we moved a little further down the road to find another more interesting spot to enter.

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Sue led the way back into the fort again and we started looking around the big gun emplacements.

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Each gun emplacement had a corresponding open concrete shed area nearby with holes in the floor accessing rooms below. My guess is that there was a hoist system to lift artillery shells and maybe powder bags from storage areas below.

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The next shed over had a diagonal hole leading back down to the area below.

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We continued around and checked out every battery.

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There were stairways to the lower levels. Some were in better shape than others. I forgot to bring a flashlight or headlamp, so we didn't explore the lower levels.

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Sandy and Sue explore another pair of concrete sheds.

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We continued along the gun deck level.

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Looking back shows how the batteries are offset, not lined up in a straight line.

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Looking into a tower area at the end of the deck, my guess is that it was a stairway and that it had metal stairs that have been ripped out.

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Looking south towards Rainsford Island. Notice there are no railings, just sheer drop-offs.

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The southern-most gun emplacement was at a lower level than the other four.

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Sandy and Sue at the end of the road checking out the southern view.

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The view - Peddocks and Rainsford.

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Sandy climbs an old ladder to get a better shot of the view.

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We turned around and started heading back the way we came. Notice how this support pillar is cracking and the outer slab it supports is starting to slip lower.

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Above one of the stairways it looks like a visitor from the past neatly left his mark.

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Contrasting views of the deterioration of the stairways leading into the gun wells.

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The fort is not a quiet place. Planes passed over every few minutes. Bea was not able to join us on this trip because she was picking up her daughter at the airport. I was wondering if her daughter flew right over us.

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Next, we climbed to the top of the ramparts to see what was up there and found that someone had painted KENNEDY across the top.

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Also up top, we found a couple Geodetic survey markers.

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I think we saw all that was safe to see and we started to make our way back down to the roadway.

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Sue started down the road we had come up on but I wanted to check out the other part of the loop road, so I called to her to come back and go down the other way. Can't miss anything!

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The road had nothing new to see and ended up in just about the same place at the pier.

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When we got back to the beach, there was a bit of a problem...we had paddled in over a sunken sea wall and now there was no easy way to get back out. The drop-off on the water side was too deep and the rocks too slippery to chance trying to carry the glass boats over and attempt to launch. The only choice was to wait till the tide went out a little further to reveal some beach.

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Sue sat down for a rest on the beach near the boats while Sandy and I took a walk past the camp rec hall to the beach on the north side of the island.

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It looks like they just added sand to a neatly manicured sand berm as a beach to hang out on outside the rec hall.

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Between the rec hall and the hospital section of the island there is another old WW2 concrete bunker or gun battery. I took a walk around it on the beach side.

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The inland side looks like they filled it in with earth to close it up.

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Beside the old bunker are a few of the camp's boats and a pavilion with picnic tables.

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At the base of the hill that goes up to the hospital area is a very nice pool complex.

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When I got back to the beach, Sue was still relaxing against an old building foundation.

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There tide had now gone out enough to reveal enough beach for us to launch safely.

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We just had to find a path of flat, dry rocks we could safely carry our boats over.

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It was a bit of a carry up the beach from where we had landed the boats, but it was the best alternative for a difficult situation.

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The lessons learned were: landing on the south side of the island is difficult and it would be easier on the north side, exploring Fort Strong could be dangerous and you must watch your step, visiting this time of year may afford clear passage without hassles from security.

Finally back on the water after almost 2 hours exploring.

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Our original plan was to try to paddle out to Spectacle Island also, but the wind conditions and tough 5.5 mile slog to get to Long Island from Weymouth made us modify the plan to instead go to Rainsford Island and explore the eastern drumlin we had not checked out in our previous two stops on this island this year.

Rounding the eastern end of Rainsford.

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It took less than a half hour to travel the 1.4 miles into the little cove where the big party campsite is.

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I tried to choose the sandiest spot to land my new boat on it's maiden voyage.

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Heading up off the beach onto the eastern drumlin, you immediately come across another nice campsite with a good size fire ring and a big grill.

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There's also a couple simple benches and a tree swing.

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Heading up the hill through the trees. The trail is pretty obvious and clear this time of year.

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Reached the northernmost bump on the eastern drumlin.

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Sandy and Sue with Georges Island in the distance between them.

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The sea wall below this area is pretty much flattened and the cliff is undermined and pretty steep.

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Behind us is an area of uneven ground that looks like there might be old overgrown foundations underneath.

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We had to watch our step as there were holes here and there that were fairly deep and some had water in them.

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Heading west, there was a trail into the bushes and trees.

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I'm not sure how difficult it would be to get through that area when everything had grown in, but the trail eventually came out into the open at the westernmost tip of the island.

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The sea wall was intact at the base of this area, so the hill down to the beach was grassy and not eroding, but still pretty steep.

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Sandy and Sue with Hull's Windmill Point and Peddocks Island in the background.

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There's a pretty good view of Georges Island from here too.

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Heading back I was wondering what kind of tree this is?

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Going down a trail into the some trees, Sue kept finding old bottles and figured this was an old bottle dump.

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Take a look at this old Pepsi bottle and how thick the glass is.

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Back into the tall grassy area. I bet this tree provides some welcome campsite shade in summertime.

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We went out to the beach where there is a long pole set across three milk crates to form a nice bench.

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Sandy and Sue tried it out and found it very stable.

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There was a good view of the little cove where we landed our boats from here.

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Back on the beach where we landed there were some odd tire tracks. Looks like they might be made by one of those Sealegs power boats that has three wheels for landing and driving onto beaches. I came across a video of these boats earlier this year and found that there is a distributor in Hingham, so maybe we'll see one in person some day. http://www.sealegs.com/home-about

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On our way back to North Weymouth, we had to deal with a little swirly water just off Rainsford and then a little opposing current as we passed through West Gut. There were no commuter boats till we got close to the Fore River channel and we just waited a few minutes for them to pass.

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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: 9:44am
Land on Long Island: 11:49am Distance: 5.47 miles
Depart Long Island: 1:42pm
Land on Rainsford: 2:18pm
Depart Rainsford: 3:09pm
Take-out time: 4:34pm
Total Distance Paddled: 11.2 miles


Thank you Sue for coming out even with a soar throat and cough - I hope the salt air helped and you felt better the next day.

Thank you Sandy for switching your work day to join us. I like having at least 3 people on a cold water trip.

And thanks for exploring! I like getting out of the boats sometimes and walking around these islands full of history. We had a really full, fun day.


Norm
Last edited by norm on Wed Apr 18, 2012 7:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
centered
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Location: Stoughton, MA

Re: N. Weymouth to Long + Rainsford Islands - April 6, 2012

Post by centered »

Thanks, Norm. Always fun to be on the water. :D
Sue
P.S. you are on fire with the trip reports!
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kayakerjnj
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Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:12 pm
Location: Randolph MA

Re: N. Weymouth to Long + Rainsford Islands - April 6, 2012

Post by kayakerjnj »

Norm,

I'm starting to get worried about you. You must have a clone that has the time to put all these amazing reports and photos together :P

Great pictures and a fun report.

Thanks for sharing!
Paddle with a big smile, its contagious 8)


Jordan
User avatar
norm
Posts: 2126
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 12:13 pm
Location: Stoughton, MA

Re: N. Weymouth to Long + Rainsford Islands - April 6, 2012

Post by norm »

kayakerjnj wrote:I'm starting to get worried about you. You must have a clone that has the time to put all these amazing reports and photos together :P

I wish I had a clone so he could stay home and be "on-call" for work for me this week while I went out and did more paddling and picture taking. But, can't complain about having a good job I guess.
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