Father's Day on the Spicket River

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I think I may have mentioned on this blog in the past that my wife is an "inside girl".  Kayaking isn't really her thing but on Father's day she grudgingly obliges.  Last year we kayaked the Ipswich river and that was a little long of a paddle for my wife so she pleaded for a shorter paddle this year.  So the Spicket it was.  My daughter, who is now 4, is much more excited about kayaking now that she is a year older and had been looking forward to our special trip. 

Someone posted a comment on this blog that they had used a put-in off Lowell Street in Methuen so I wanted to check it out.  My regular put-in, at the end of Pine Street is pretty good, but it is right behind a private business so I am always worried that my car will get towed.  The Lowell Street put-in is just before the turn for pine street.   There is a large public parking lot and a very short walk to the water.  The only issue with the put in is there is a 3 foot retaining wall that you will need to climb down to get to the water.  It wasn't that bad actually, even with a four year old.  There were some pipes stuck into the ground at the top of the wall giving you something to hold onto while climbing down.

As we were heading out, Joyce Godsey, one of the members of the Methuen Rail Trail came by to take our picture.  They have been working hard to promote the Rail Trail and the River for kayaking so she was excited to see us out there.  After our photo op we headed upstream toward the bird sanctuary.  We were paddling against the current but the Spicket moves so slow it is barely noticeable.  Lots of wildlife on this trip.  We saw Great Blue Heron, red winged blackbirds, turtles and a couple river otters.

When I paddled this section of there river last year there was a large tree across the river just past the heron rookery.  It seems that someone has removed the tree making it possible to now paddle upstream into New Hampshire.   On this trip we paddled a few hundred yards past the Hampshire Road bridge although the map above does not show it since the battery on my iPhone died.  There is another tree across the river at this point.  We paddled up to it today and it looks like I could have easily paddled through, this wasn't the case last year so I have a feeling someone has done some work on this tree as well.  I may have to take a solo trip sometime soon just to see how far upstream I can actually paddle.  Our trip back was slightly faster with the current pushing us along.

Total distance paddled was 4 miles and we are on the water for about an hour and a half.  Not a bad way to celebrate Father's day with my girls.