Adventure Hat Journal: Nashua to the Sea

[Note: This post was originally published on another blog on 9-May-2013. Due to pressures from "normal" life the Nashua to the Sea expedition is still just a dream.]

My biggest adventure goal for 2013 is to explore the Nashua River from its source to the Merrimack - and then trace the Merrimack to the sea. That might not seem like a big adventure to some people but, you have to start where you are, and for most of my life I've lived within two miles of the Nashua.

I decided to get started last weekend with a warm-up paddle in Groton, Massachusetts.

May 4 was bright and breezy for this year's opening day of Nashoba Paddler which is located next to the Route 225 bridge. I was a season pass holder last year and had a good time on the river there so I will be a season pass holder this year as well.

Nashoba Paddler rents kayaks and canoes and also runs special nature outings from time to time along the Nashua or its tributaries. You can take the kayaks and canoes away with you to use elsewhere so that will be a great help to me on my expeditions this summer.

One thing I enjoy about Nashoba Paddler is the opportunity to use several different makes of canoes and kayaks. For my first trip of the season I took an Old Town Discovery 174.

This outing on May 4 was just a warm-up session. I paddled south (upstream) past the boat house where young rowers or scullers from Groton school were putting out to do sprints.

I was planning to turn around at the old railroad bridge where the Squannacook flows into the Nashua but when I got there I decided to keep going to just past the Route 2A bridge on the Ayer-Shirley line, so that's where I finally turned around.

Coming back was tough because of the strong breeze blowing almost straight up the river pushing the bow left or right. I finally had to kneel down in the canoe and scoot forward to push the bow deeper into the water. That helped but it was still hard staying on course.

 On the return trip I turned into the "Dead River" area and saw lots of turtles basking on logs. I believe these are Eastern Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta picta) but if anyone knows better, please correct me. In the photo below there are at least 11 turtles sharing the same log.

This is an especially beautiful stretch of river along here with the Groton Town Forest to the west and Groton Place and Sabine Woods to the east. Along some stretches you can easily imagine that civilization is far away.

Today was a good start for the 2013 Nashua to the Sea Expedition. The next step will be to find a good starting point at one of the sources of the Nashua.

Copyright © 2016 by Joseph Wayne Gadway

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