AMC Paddle - Swampscott River (Tidal)

I am getting a late start on paddling this season.  Possibly because hasn't been obscenely hot this spring.  Possibly because we've been super busy almost every weekend.  Whatever the reason, it's finally time to get the kayaks out and get paddling.

Today's trip is a tidal out-and-back trip on the Swampscott River.  I have never been here, so I thought it would be a fun trip.  

We start at put on NH 108 in Stratham NH.  We want to put in at 11am because high tide is at about 12:30.  That way, we will be able to ride the tide upstream all the way to Exeter.

Lots of space at the put-in, so we're not on top of one another.

We're on a wide river, so the Cap Horn will do today.  The grade to the river is gradual and easy.

The original leader had to beg off today, but there are still 7 of us: 
Tom, Lynn, Max, Michelle, Kevin, Nick, and me.

It is a full five miles up the river with very little civilization and no places for take-out along the way.

We are going by a lot of marshland.

Exeter is home to Philips Academy, a prestigious (and exclusive) college prep boarding/day school. 
The sixth oldest boarding school in the country, boarding tuition is around $71,000.   They have about 1,100 students in grades 9-12, but their acceptance rate is only about 1 in 5.
The boat "dock" (above) is new and impressive....

... as is the boat house itself.

Coming into town, there is an easy-to-find public boat ramp.

The town of Exeter is so cute.  There are book stores, coffee shops, a toy store, ice cream shop,
 and even a music store with instruments and records.

I think this is worth of a return visit.

Quintessential New England. 

Along the river, there's a winding walkway.  Perfect for taking our lunch break.  
After the tide turns (going out), we get back into the boats and head down river. 
Again, the tide will help carry us back the 5 miles.

Arriving back where we started, we have to avoid getting swept past by the tide, while we wait for other boaters to get their craft out and clear the boat ramp.

As expected, our total distance was 10.03 miles over 4h30m.  However, our moving time was only 3h.

A great way to start the season.

Orienteering Season Begins

 It's true, ski season is not quite over (thankfully).  But it is late March, so the end is coming soon.  It's a weekend and we have the grandkids, so it's an opportunity for my grandson and me to get out into the woods and sharpen our orienteering skills

The season begins with a BYOM (bring your own map) event where members can download maps for the various courses then hit the trail at their convenience.  

My teenage grandson and I head out to the Acton to do the Orange course.  It says it 3.5km, but that's only if you travel in straight lines, which we don't because that's not the way the trails run.  

We park at roadside church and head off to find the start.  This course is on both sides of the road.  I look like we'll do 4 controls on the west and then head across the road (and the lake) to capture the other 6 controls and finish.

It's a late winter day with temps only in the 40's so we really doing winter hiking.

Just before we cross the bridge to the other side of the lake.

Just after the finish!  Yay!

The lake is actually pretty marshy, but very pretty in late winter with no bugs!

We cover the course in a little over an hour and a half.  The runny thing was that my friend John did the course a couple days later and finished ahead of us by a little over a minute.  He told me that he did self timing, so with the QR code timing we did, we probably actually beat him.

Paddling with a teenager

 It's a hot summer Sunday afternoon.  What better is there to do than to spend some time with my grandson and do some long overdue paddling.  After all, it did rain for 13 successive weekends this spring, raining out quite a few soccer games.  Finally, there's a little time to enjoy the outdoors.

Since he's now taller than both his mother and grandmother, it's time for Dominic to paddle the 12' yellow kayak.  Pardon the picture of the phone case.

The waters a Lake Tully in Royalston are very calm near the campground. 

We decide that a little exploring is in order, so we head up the river out of the main part of the lake to see what's there.

We head up the river quite a ways, but I'm guessing it will take at least another 15 minute to reach the upper lake, which will add a total of 30 minutes to our outing.  We opt to not wear ourselves out today.

Dominic suggests we pull up to one of the islands to take a swim.  We take a look a several potential landing spots and find one to our liking.

I have to make this photo extra large so you can actually see Dominic swimming in the water.  The water in the lake is very shallow and we had to swim out that far just to avoid standing.

We travelled 4.61 miles in 2h18m, but we stopped for a 30 minute break so our average speed was 2.6mph.  The good news is that we made it home in plenty of time for dinner.

Here's the Strava link for additional details:  https://www.strava.com/dashboard?num_entries=20

Travelling to Adventures

 I've been driving my Toyota RAV4 for over 10 years to all the adventures you have read about in this blog.  At a major milestone it is only fair that we give a little credit to this very reliable vehicle.

Here was the odometer last night as I was driving up Johnny Appleseed Lane.  Sure "100000" is cool, but "234567" is cooler (especially when it's 18 degrees).

Starting the Ski Season 2023-2024

 It's the first day out of a new ski season.  Yes, Alex & Monica were out on Wachusett Opening Day (Friday after Thanksgiving), but it was much more crowded that day and I'm only a few days behind.  I'm ok with that.  I parked in Row #0.

It's a bluebird day in the 20's this morning with very good conditions.  Still only Conifer open from the top and three other trails elsewhere.  They are blowing snow like crazy.  I had to raise my skis going up the lift to avoid getting sticky snow on them.  See the Strava link for details.

Best of all, I saw "Nicole" who does the daily snow report.  She told me to make a few turns and I would make it into the video.  See below from 1:06 to 1:12.  That's six whole seconds of fame!

It was a great outing:  6 runs (on Conifer Connection), 5600 vertical, over 10 miles in just 59 minutes.  And I made it back in time for my 10:30am meeting.  Woo-hoo!

Stramski with Friends

What happened to this paddling season.  Well, for one thing, it rained.  A lot.  But we finally have a sunny Saturday to squeeze in a paddling adventure.  We set out from Stramski Beach in Marblehead, a place we've launched from numerous times in the past.  How far can we go?  We are in the mood for ice cream.  Can we paddle that far?   Unfortunately, we do have a time constraint today.  so perhaps Marblehead Harbor is a stretch.  Hmm.

 So we turn around when we get a good view of the harbor so we can meeting our time requirements. We paddled back, loaded up and still had time for ice cream.  Priorities are priorities.  

Very strange no to have pictures this trip.  We were busy enjoying the day.

• Distance

  3.99 mi
• Speed

  2.5 mi/h
• Time

  1h 52m

Trustees - Jewell Hill

It's Sunday in the summertime.  Betsy is busy, but my mom is available, so I encourage her to join me on a hike at a local Trustees area that I have been wanting to go to for a long time:  Jewell Hill in Ashburnham.  As we're driving up the rather challenging country roads, my Mom inquires:  "Have you been here before?"  My response, "What's the fun in that?"

We check the map.  It's not overly challenging, so we should be able to make it to the top of the hill.

This property is an old farm with lots of wide open fields.
Following the trail map, we choose the most gradual ascent to the summit of Jewell Hill.

Near the top, the trees are a little shorting giving a fine view to the north.

To the east, the view is even better.

Mom takes in the view from a bench conveniently located at the top.

Here's the requisite shot to show I was actually hiking here, too.  Note the trail condition is very good.

It is very common to find stone walls in the middle of the woods in Central Massachusetts,   
This hails back to the 19th century where the entire landscape was cleared as farmland.

Coming down the mountain, we heard "machine noises". 
This tractor was mowing the grasses of the surrounding fields.
Big circles.

Almost made it back.  Look this is almost the same picture as the one at the beginning, except that there are trees in the background, not farm buildings.

Here are today's stats.  A nice walk, with a nice view, on a nice day.

• Distance

  1.45 mi
• Elev Gain

  271 ft
• Time

  34m 19s