AMC Paddle: Nashua River from Still River Depot

The Nashua River is my home town river.  It passes right by the bottom my street, Johnny Appleseed Lane, here in Leominster.  It is traveling south at that point, but turns around to head north when it meets up with its southern branch in South Lancaster.  From there it continues a northerly journey through Massachusetts towns in Worcester and Middlesex Counties until it finally flows into the Merrimack River in Nashua, NH.  Besides the local stories that we know about the river, much can be learned from a paddling guide I used on this trip available from the Nashua River Watershed Association.

This AMC outing was postponed from a couple weeks ago due to a pretty intense rainstorm.   Today, however, was a near perfect day. 

Our adventure started at the Still River Depot put-in off Rt 110 in Harvard.  It was 39 degrees when I woke up, so we had a rather chilly start to the day, with some paddlers in winter coats.

The paddling could not have been prettier.  Much of the summer algae was gone, replaced by a blanket of leaves on the water's surface.

Still water.  Fall colors.  Picture perfect.

We had nine paddlers on this trip, all in kayaks.  My, how times have changed;  it used to be canoes always outnumbered kayaks on trips like this.

At one point, we explored one of the little tributary coves winding away from the main part of the river. 
Lilly pads abounded here in the shallows.

This was really cool.  A new special landing dock at Hospital Road. 
You paddle your boat into the v-shaped chute ...

... then pull yourself and your craft up over the rollers to a larger dock area when you can exit.

You get to keep your feet dry.  After landing, we headed up the bank to a nice lunch spot.
Prior to stopping, some of us continued to head down river to the Ice House Dam up at Rt 2A in Ayer.
There was a take out there to allow an easy portage around the dam, but that will be another trip.

After lunch, we headed back upstream to our starting point.
Along the river's edge stood the ruins of a foundation and this old stone fireplace.

Since there was almost no current in the river, the paddle back upstream was easy.  Besides the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge, we also passed by the Fort Devens South Post where Army Reservists do weekend training.  Shots could be heard from the nearby rifle range.  We also passed by MCI Shirley Prison and underneath busy Route 2.

It was a leisurely outing today. Our total time on the river was 5:22.  The mileage to Hospital Road was 9.0 miles, while the total mileage and time to the Ice House Dam as 11.2 miles with 4:00 hours of paddling (it was an extra 25 minutes and 1.6 miles each way beyond Hospital Road).  By afternoon, it did warm up to the low 60's so those winter jackets finally did come off.