AMC Paddle - French River Oxford to Webster

Can you say "obstacle course"?  Well that's pretty much what today's river adventure consisted of.  Between the swift water and the numerous trees that extended nearly the entire width of the river, we had a challenging but enjoyable time on this sunny day.

Today's excursion is on the French River from Oxford to Webster in southern Worcester County.  The original plan was to paddle downstream, eat lunch, and then turn around and paddle back upstream.  However, with the plentiful rains that we have had in recent days, the current on the river was pretty swift.  Furthermore, navigating against the current around all the obstacles strewn in the river might be a bit too difficult.  Our leader, Elaine, left it up to see how many people would like to round trip and and many would like to shuttle.  Most opted for the latter option, so by the time we took most of the cars down and got back to the put-in, we didn't actually launch until around 10:23am.

Just to note, as you can see by the map, we are traveling pretty much due south paralleling I-395 so the access to the river was very easy.

The put in spot was very nice.  The home across the river has wonderful views, no doubt.

We were also just below the Hodges Village Dam, a US Army Corps of Engineers project.  Much of the recreation area here is above the dam, but we are launching below it.

I made this picture extra large so you could see the tree crossing the river.  We had to scoot to the extreme left side of the river to get by.

Further along, we did have some wide open spots, too.

A train lines runs alongside the river as we near Webster.

Just before our take-out, we pass under the old B&A Railroad Trestle. 
According to Google Maps, it is an historical landmark.

Our one way distance today was 5.65 miles done in a time of 2:03.  This actually worked out well for me, since as it is springtime, there are still a lot of projects to do around the house.  At least I got some play time in before work time.