On the Mighty Merrimack - by Maria MacLellan
We had a delightful paddle on the Mighty Merrimack.
Igs catered breakfast, lunch and dinner. Due to use of duct tape, the chips were still crunchy at our halfway picnic.
There we had a brief but
lovely view of an incinerator stack. Unfortunately, low hanging clouds soon obscured it from sight. Now all we
had to look at was a blue heron
on the far bank.
The almost big catastrophe was the breaking of Pauline's PFD zipper. Steve risked his life and traded his for hers
knowing that he still had
to run the wild rapids ahead unzipped. (Editor's comment - Alex swapped PFD's with his Mother, not Steve.)
The Class 0.02 rapids, as Alex labeled them, were turbulent. Ian slammed into a fly fisherman who then told (and
helped) him to"Shove off!"
Albert almost got his "hair" wet. Ig & Jenny, having felt the Merrimack's wet kisses on previous
dates, were content to enjoy just a wave and a
stern bow this trip. Patrick kayaked with his feet up and told us the history of the bridges under which we glided.
Casey and Maria, experienced paddlers, bragged that canoeing was as easy as falling off a log. Then they demonstrated
the logroll technique
with their keel perpendicular to the current.
Lily and Sparky welcomed puppy Cadie and taught her a new trick - peeing on submission.
For those whose couldn't be with us, we talked about you. For instance, the group "met" James Conley
Mac MerckLellan in his 4x6 images.
Attached is evidence that my digital camera survived the swamping.
Some other pics . . .
Alex, Pauline, Steve, and Ian
Steve, Alex, Pauline, and Ian in the mist . . .
Ian, Albert, Jenny, and Igs
Patrick, Alex, Albert, Igs, and Steve
Patrick
Igs, Albert, and Patrick
June 26, 2004
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