Charles - Medfield to Natick - August 7, 2021

Heading out

With a good part of the club heading off to the Adirondacks the first week in August it can be a tricky time to run a RICKA trip. Still, there are usually enough people around who want to paddle, so I put a trip on the calendar for the Charles River.

The Charles River arises at Echo Lake in Hopkinton, and flows generally east for 85-miles, zig-zagging through 22 cities and towns in eastern MA before emptying into Boston Harbor. There are a number of great flatwater trips on the Charles including the Bays Region from Natick to Wellesley, the Elm Bank Reservation from Wellesley to Needham, the Lakes District from Weston to Waltham and the Dedham Loop.

Passing the Praying Girl

On this trip, we would be running the section from Medfield (101 West St, Medfield, MA 02052) down to the Natick Dam (South Natick Dam Park, 9 Pleasant St S, South Natick, MA 01760) - about 9-miles. We met at 10:00 and ran the shuttle down to the dam. Fortunately, we were able to grab four parking spots on the street at the take-out. The alternative would have been to park at the Hunnewell Baseball Fields up the street (22 Pleasant St S, South Natick, MA 01760).

This section starts off in marshland before entering into woodlands at the Rocky Narrows Reservation and the Mass Audubon Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary. We stopped for lunch at the picnic site at Rocky Narrows. The trip ends at the So. Natick Dam after passing by the Praying Girl statue and under Sergeant’s Bridge.

The crew at the Rocky Narrows Picnic Site

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