I took a short Kayak trip last week. I don't get to do many of these since my wife's car is the one with a roof rack and she does not like to give her car up.
I put in at the mouth of the Saugus River (Massachusetts). This is an urban setting. The theme of this trip is American Industry. The photo below is of part of GE's aviation complex in Lynn, MA. Lynn was the 'birthplace of the Jet Engine.'
The navigable part of the river is all tidal estuary. I headed upriver on an incoming tide. It was a little tough at first with wind and waves (I have a river kayak, not an ocean kayak), but pretty quickly the estuary narrows up to look more like this...
I saw plenty of ducks and geese, great blue heron, and was serenaded by Red Winged Blackbirds most of the way. I caught a glimpse of a large brown animal exiting the water. It was much bigger than a muskrat, I think it was an otter. I was not fast enough to get any good wildlife photos.
My goal on this adventure was to reach the other extreme of American Industry, the 'Saugus Iron Works.' Here it is coming into view...
This was the first iron works in America, starting in 1646. The source of iron was 'bog iron' from the nearby swamps. Today the site is run by the National Park Service. It is all closed up due to the Coronavirus, so I sort of snuck in through the backdoor
The last bit was too shallow to kayak, so I had to wade through the mud to reach dry land.
The blast furnace. The place produced about one ton of cast iron a day which was ultimately worked to produce the nails, kettles, axes, saws, and wagon wheel that were needed in the New World.
I kayaked back out against the still-rising tide. In total it was about a 6 mile, couple hour trip. On the way out I had to go under this bridge which was now barely passable. I had to lay back in the kayak and kiss all the spiders who were dropping down own me from the underside of the bridge.
It was good to get out there for a bit.
I put in at the mouth of the Saugus River (Massachusetts). This is an urban setting. The theme of this trip is American Industry. The photo below is of part of GE's aviation complex in Lynn, MA. Lynn was the 'birthplace of the Jet Engine.'
The navigable part of the river is all tidal estuary. I headed upriver on an incoming tide. It was a little tough at first with wind and waves (I have a river kayak, not an ocean kayak), but pretty quickly the estuary narrows up to look more like this...
I saw plenty of ducks and geese, great blue heron, and was serenaded by Red Winged Blackbirds most of the way. I caught a glimpse of a large brown animal exiting the water. It was much bigger than a muskrat, I think it was an otter. I was not fast enough to get any good wildlife photos.
My goal on this adventure was to reach the other extreme of American Industry, the 'Saugus Iron Works.' Here it is coming into view...
This was the first iron works in America, starting in 1646. The source of iron was 'bog iron' from the nearby swamps. Today the site is run by the National Park Service. It is all closed up due to the Coronavirus, so I sort of snuck in through the backdoor
The last bit was too shallow to kayak, so I had to wade through the mud to reach dry land.
The blast furnace. The place produced about one ton of cast iron a day which was ultimately worked to produce the nails, kettles, axes, saws, and wagon wheel that were needed in the New World.
I kayaked back out against the still-rising tide. In total it was about a 6 mile, couple hour trip. On the way out I had to go under this bridge which was now barely passable. I had to lay back in the kayak and kiss all the spiders who were dropping down own me from the underside of the bridge.
It was good to get out there for a bit.
“Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”
John Greenleaf Whittier
the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”
John Greenleaf Whittier
