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

Links:

My Pictures

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

Assabet - Acton to Concord - June 4, 2016

We had a nice group for our annual RICKA trip on the Assabet River.  We ran the section from Acton to Concord.  The river was definitely low (1.6 feet, 35 cfs), so we got some new scratches on the composite boats.  The Damondale Dam was runnable on the left.  There were lots of blowdowns, but we only had to portage one, and we probably would have made it over that one if there was more water.  Would have been a great level for poling.

Running the broken dam at Damondale

Links:

My Pictures

Maynard Gage

Assabet - Acton to Concord - May 17, 2015

Taking a break for lunch

On Saturday I paddled the Pemi in Bristol.  On Sunday I led a RICKA flatwater trip with Sharon on the Assabet River from Acton (Acton Canoe Launch, 63 Powder Mill Road) to Concord (Old Calf Pasture, 250 Lowell Road). It was a good weekend.

The Assabet was a little on the low side for this trip - 2 feet on the Maynard Gage.  We we made it through fine, but I wouldn’t want to run it much lower.  It did make the run through the Damondale Dam easier. Below Damondale, the Assabet slows and we encountered a number of blow-downs.  We stopped for lunch in West Concord, and then continued downstream.

Running the Damondale Dam

There was a lot of erosion along the banks of the Leaning Hemlocks section, but it looked like someone had propped up the stone with the memorial to George Bartlett.  Egg Rock was high and dry where the Assabet converges with the Sudbury to form the Concord.  From there, it is just a short paddle up into the Old North Bridge and the Minute Man National Historic Park. Good day. 

At the Old North Bridge

Links: 

My Pictures

Maynard Gage

Assabet/Concord - Acton to Concord – May 31, 2014

Green tunnels

Last Sunday I paddled though Powder Hollow on the Scantic River – site of the Hazard Powder Company.  Yesterday, we put-in below the Powder Mill Dam on the Assabet River in Acton. Fortunately, the gun powder mills on both of these rivers are gone, and there were no explosions on either day.

Yesterday, I led a RICKA trip in the Assabet River from Acton (Acton Canoe Launch, 63 Powder Mill Road) to Concord (Old Calf Pasture, 299 Lowell Road).  We had twenty boats including two special guests – SuAsCo Al and Tommy T. 

Running the broken dam

We met at the Acton Canoe Launch at 9:30 to unload boats and run the shuttle.  The shuttle was actually the toughest part of the trip, but we got back to the put-in at around 10:45, and began launching the boats.  The river was at a nice level – 2.5 feet on the Maynard gage.  About halfway through the process, I looked up and saw Tommy T. paddling upstream.  He had put-in at the Route 225 Bridge on the Concord River, and paddled upstream about 10 miles to meet us. 

We finally got all the boats in the water around 11:00 and began our decent down through the quickwater below the Powder Mill Dam.  About a mile downstream from the Powder Mill Dam is the broken dam at Damondale.  This dam is breached on river right, and we queued up to run the shoot through the breach before continuing downstream. 

Egg Rock

Below Damondale, the Assabet slows and large trees shade the river forming “green tunnels” along several sections of the river.  It seemed too early for lunch, so we passed the usual lunch spot in West Concord and continued downstream.

Folks were starting to get hungry as we paddled through the Leaning Hemlocks section.  We found the memorial plaque to George Bartlett, checked out the plaque at Egg Rock where the Assabet converges with the Sudbury to form the Concord, and stopped for lunch at the Old Calf Pasture. 

Minute Man Statue

From there, it is just a short paddle up into the Old North Bridge and the Minute Man National Historic Park.  We posed for a picture below the bridge before heading ashore to check out the historic sites including the Minute Man Statue, the 1832 Monument and the Old Manse. 

Tourist gathered on the Old North Bridge as we posed for a picture

Links

My Pictures

Maynard Gage

Al’s blog

Minute Man National Historic Park

Old Manse

Assabet - Acton to Concord - December 31, 2011

Al running the broken dam

As 2011 came to a close, I got out for one last run with Al, Tommy and Jeff on the Assabet River. We ran the section from the Acton to Concord. The level was great - 3’, 300 cfs on the Maynard gage.

On the way to the put-in, I checked out the class II section of the Assabet that runs through Maynard. It starts below the Ben Smith Dam just upstream of where Route 117 splits off of Route 62. There are a few features by the big clock in Maynard center (Walnut St.). The last bit and the gage can be seen from the parking lot where the river goes under Routes 62 and 27. The take out is at the Elks Hall on Route 62.  Minimum lever for running this is 250 cfs.  It looked fun at 300 cfs.  It's a short run, maybe a mile.  The Boston AMC use to do their Spring Ice Breaker run here.

Tommy practicing peal-outs

We put in at the Acton Canoe Launch which is on Route 62 (Powder Mill Road) near Moscarriello's Equipment and the intersection with  High Street.  The day was cloudy and damp, but it never rained.  It was colder than I expected, and we found 1/2 inch thick ice on some of the standing water.

The river starts off as flatwater with the occasional riffle until we reached the broken dam at Damondale.  This is a class I drop with a big big rock in the middle and a big eddy on river left.  Jeff and I ran it first followed by Tommy and Al.  Everyone made it through without difficulty.

Approaching the Old North Bridge

We continued downstream passing by the Leaning Hemlocks and the Memorial to George Bartlett (who arranged many outings on the SuAsCo rivers in the 19th century) before reaching Egg Rock where the Assabet River converges with the Sudbury River to form the Concord River. We paddled up to the Minute Man National Historic Park before taking out at the Calf Pasture on Lowell Road in Concord.  Great day.

Links:
Al's Trash Paddler blog entry
Assabet River Gage in Maynard
Minute Man National Historic Park