Assabet River - not exactly NS

[tedious]

Although it's a bit off the beaten track for this board, my wife and I paddled the Assabet River upstream from Hudson Center on Saturday and had a good time.

I am pleased to report that some kind soul has cut through a snag that used to be a stopper about 1/4 mile upstream from the Rt. 495 bridge. We went a bit farther than that, up to where North Brook comes in from Berlin. I went about 100 yards up North Brook in plenty of water until I was stopped by a small waterfall. Had to back out - 5 foot wide brook and 17 foot kayak. Could have continued on up the Assabet, but were out of time at that point. Another day we'll have to see how far we can get.

The water level was very good for this time of year - just about perfect, in fact. There is one chute that is tough if the water is too low, and another farther upstream that is impossible to get up if the water is too high. As it was, that upstream chute required some quick paddling (actually had a small standing wave). It was a blast coming down though!

The water is a bit mucky with duckweed in the slower sections, but not too bad overall. Saw many turtles, a couple of absolutely huge blue herons, and some other giant bird that I didn't get a close look at - my brain said "eagle" from the quick glimpse I got of it before it flew off, but who knows what it really was - big though.

Tim