Sunday, January 19, 2025

Manville to Albion - January 19, 2025

It’s been a slow start to the paddling year for me. I got out for a couple of trips in December, but I also spent a lot of time with my mother getting ready for Christmas. Unfortunately, she fell in her house the weekend before Christmas, was admitted to the hospital, and passed away peacefully in her sleep on Christmas night. Not the holiday we were hoping for. 

Since then, I have been busy with the final arrangements, cleaning out the family house and settling the estate. There is a lot to do, and it hasn’t left much time for paddling.

I was a presenter at the Introduction to Canoe Camping session put on by the NH/AMC yesterday. Working on my presentation was a nice distraction from everything else that was going on. The turn-out for the session was great, and it was fun to catch up with so many old friends and to meet so many new ones. It would be a great thing for RICKA to do and I think we would get a good turn out as well.

Talking about paddling is one thing, but I still wanted to get out to do some paddling, so today seemed like the day. With a snow storm predicted for tonight, it was cloudy and gray, but the temperatures were up in the 40’s. My first thought was to head to River Island Park, but the river was low. Instead, I decided to paddle below the Manville Dam.

I put in at Sycamore Landing, which is the headquarters for the Blackstone River Watershed Association/Friends of the Blackstone. Rather than paddling up to the Manville Dam, I decided to paddle down to the Albion Dam. My very first paddling trip was on this section of the river with my father back in 1989. This was also the first trip that I did after my father passed away in 2020. That day was cold and gray as well. Now, I miss them both…


Mom, Dad and Julie paddling on the Blackstone Canal in
Lonsdale in 2006 at the first trip that I led for RICKA

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