Assabet - Acton to Concord - March 26, 2017

Running the Damondale Dam

I got a nice surprise on Friday – an email from Jonathan looking to do some paddling.  I couldn’t paddle on Saturday, but Sunday was open, so I sent an email off to Suasco Al, Tommy and Bill, and we set up a trip on the Assabet. Tommy brought Mena, and Lora and Pat joined from Facebook, so we had a nice group.

We would be running the section of the Assabet from Acton to Concord.  It’s a pretty section that is mostly flatwater except for the broken dam at Damondale.  The river was at a nice level – 2.5 feet, 200 cfs.  We had quite a mixture of boats – Bill and I paddled tandem in my Mohawk; Tommy in his Osprey and Jonathan in his Courier paddled solo; Mena was poling in Tommy’s Souhegan; Lora and Pat were in whitewater kayaks; and Al had his long boat.

Through the blow-downs

We put in at around 10:30 at the Acton Canoe Launch.  The morning started off sunny and warm, but gradually clouded over and got chilly.  We spent a little time playing at the broken dam at Damondale before heading downstream. 

There were quite a few blowdowns below the dam, including the river wide strainer that gave us trouble last time we were here.  The canoes had better luck getting over than the kayaks, so I got out into waist-deep water to help - drysuits are wonderful things! We stopped for lunch in West Concord, and it started to rain just as we pulled into the take out at Lowell Road in Concord at around 2:00.  Nice trip.

Taking a break at Leaning Hemlocks

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Maynard Gage
Al's post at Trashpaddler's Waterway Wonderings