Nashau River - Leominster to Lancaster - December 20, 2024

Put-in at the Veterans Park

Ozzy was looking to do a Winter Solstice paddle on the Nashua River from Leominster to Lancaster. After a busy month with family issues, I decided to join in. We had four boats, all polers – me, Bob, Dan and Ozzy.

The Nashua River has two main stems. We would be paddling on the North Branch, which arises west of Fitchburg and flows generally south for 30 miles until it joins the South Branch in Lancaster.  The South Branch arises at the Wachusett Reservoir in Clinton and flows generally north for 56 miles through north-central MA and southern NH before emptying into the Merrimack River in Nashua. 

Below the first broken dam

I have done most of the Nashua River over the years including the Leominster to Lancaster section of the of the North Branch back in November 2011. I have also done the confluence of the North Branch and South Branch in Lancaster, and the Oxbow Wildlife Refuge in Harvard and the Ayers to Groton, Groton to Pepperell, and Peperrell to Nashua sections on the South Branch.

We met at the take-out at Johnny Ro Veteran's Memorial Park (720 Mechanic St, Leominster, MA 014530) to drop our boats and run the shuttle down to the take-out at the Ponakin Bridge at the Pellecchia Conservation Land & Canoe Launch (MA-70, Lancaster, MA 01523). The river was low – 2.5 feet, 115 cfs on the Leominster gage, but a nice level for poling.

Lunch at Cook' Conservation Area

We started off by poling upstream past Route 2 before turning around and heading down stream. The river twists and turns as it runs through the Johnny Apple Seed State Park and the Lancaster State Forest. We portaged the first broken dam that we ran back in 2011 since it was low and it looked like there might be wood in it.

We took a break for lunch at the picnic area at the Cook Conservation Area. Snow as falling as Ozzy cooked up a nice spread of pierogis and kielbasa with onions and peppers. We had brownies, chocolate chip cookies and donuts for desert. With the furnace fueled, we poled the last section in the snow, including the second broken dam that we ran to the left. The drive home in the snow was brutal, but it was a great way to start off the winter.

Links:

My Pictures

Bob's Video

Leominster gage