Hot town – summer in the city.
Manchester NH set a new record high-temperature yesterday peaking at 97 degrees Fahrenheit and breaking the previous record of 93 degrees in 1977.
Here’s my big shout out and thank you to the couple on Pinard Street who sold me their old Stearns 1k-116 kayak ten years ago. Yesterday, some 10 years later, this twenty 22-year-old inflatable Kayak and I took to the Merrimack River just North of the city to get relief from the heatwave that is lingering here.
Barely 10 minutes out of town and complete with natural cooling and built-in social distancing, the river was a welcome relief from the hot pavement of downtown. The only congestion points were at the ramp access waiting for people with their boat trailers to do their thing. The beauty of the lightweight kayak was that it tucks under my arm and offers quick and easy water access.
Unlike speedy powerboats, the Stearns is designed for slower hand-powered exploration of the waterways. Not suitable or graceful enough for white water but the perfect antidote for overheated indoor space where storage and transport are an issue.
Oh, the discoveries you make as you crawl along the shoreline of this riverway. The Merrimack looks so much cleaner these days thanks to the Clean Waters Act. It was easy to see small fish among the rocks in shallow water where powerboats are unable to maneuver. Of course, being an urban river in these parts, you do come across some less desirable debris from other people’s outings. How nice it would be if the power boaters could take the time (and having the capacity to haul out) some of the junk that accumulates under trees and snagged by fallen tree limbs in the back eddies. But, no, I’m not going to show you photos of that here.
One can almost imagine a sense of wilderness solitude as long as you re-imagine the drone of cars speeding along 3A as the wind and the roar of motorcycles as thunder. It was possible to pull in the paddle and just slowly drift downstream hugging the “eastbound” side of the “Southbound” lane, but wait, those are the wrong terms to use for floating on this wide stretch of river. The power squadron keeps to the deeper waters leaving the shallows to intrepid explorers like me. The reward was hidden rest spots and rope swings hearkening to easier times and some delightful displays of nature’s artwork.
Want more details on river access? Check out NH Fish and Game Department or contact me at Keith@KeithSpiroPhotography.com for more specifics about this section of the river.
