TNCC - Friday Night Paddle

Friday night we managed to get the Thursday Night Canoe Club (aka TNCC) out for a paddle. Yes folks, Thursday Night Canoe Club paddles on Friday nights. Why? Because we can. Friday nights permit later paddles and more beer. Assuming of course commitments for Saturday morning are nothing more than, well, nothing. And this Fridays paddle was far from disappointing.

Trip Report

Scott, Doug, Sadie, AC

Merrimack River - Franklin NH to Boscawen NH

Trip Mileage = 11.5 miles

Put In - Behind Franklin High School

Take Out - Welch Park

Weather - 83 degrees / Sunny. No Wind. Full Moon.

Wildlife - Adult Male & Female Eagles throughout trip; Injured Deer (left front leg) river right just below USGS Gauge; Broad Shouldered Hawk at confluence of Pemi and Mack; Beaver; Muskrat; Great Blue Heron; Biggest MF fish I have ever seen just upstream of Stirrup Iron Brook. Guessing it was a Salmon, but its size was 24 - 28 inches. Did I say HUGE?

An incredible amount of wildlife this trip. Jimmy E was missing this one as I was texting him from the river with eco-updates. Damn technology has no place on the river other than smearing our good time in everyones face that doesn't join us! But seriously, this night was incredible. The mature Eagles, which I haven't seen since last year both piloted the river for prey before their nights rest. Trying to photograph Eagles with a small point and shoot is no easy task, and of course I never have my full system with me when the wildlife finally decides to show up. Hand held from my canoe as the night grew later and the light dimmer, I had to pan my shots to get something sharp, which I managed to get a few showing the Eagles slightly larger than a spec in my photo. The deer we came across appeared at first clumsy as it fell into the river as Scott and I were like WTF? but after a closer inspection, it had an injured front leg. Guessing it was either hit by a car or had taken on an infection by a predator strike such as a pack of Coyotes. Regardless, a beautiful deer for sure that I felt bad for as I don't think it could even make it up the 40 foot bank to forage for food.

We came across a rope swing across the river from Webster Place Cemetery which was a new addition to the river this year. A few teenage kids were front flipp'n and back flipp'n from it as I did 20 years ago. Yeah! 20 years ago. A group of campers on a small island river right just upstream from the County Farm put-in, which was a bad place to camp, boy. Bad!

But the real bonus of the trip was the full moon. We were passing by Gold Star around 8:30 as the moon was coming up from across the corn field. We meandered down stream to find a spot just below the bridge and finish the moonrise and our trip. Check out the pics at my gallery.