Greetings from one of the Massachusetts Paddlewise members... I'm looking for insight to paddling the waters behind Plum Island, MA. More specifically, the Parker River and Plum Island Sound. Has anyone paddled these waters, and can you give me advice on where one might put in to the Parker River and/or Plum Island Sound. I suppose the Rowley River is another option. Also, when is the best time to put in - say, a couple hours before high tide, etc? Thanks for any and all advice. Gary ______________ Gary R. Meehan Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics High Energy Astrophysics Division M/S-31 60 Garden Street Cambridge, MA 02138 phone: 617.495.7381 e-mail: gmeehan_at_cfa.harvard.edu www: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~meehan *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
At 09:38 PM 7/24/2002 -0400, you wrote: >I'm looking for insight to paddling the waters behind >Plum Island, MA. More specifically, the Parker River >and Plum Island Sound. Has anyone paddled these waters, once or twice... The North Shore paddlers network http://www.nspn.org is another possible source of info. >and can you give me advice on where one might put in >to the Parker River and/or Plum Island Sound. I suppose >the Rowley River is another option. Also, when is the >best time to put in - say, a couple hours before high >tide, etc? Starting from the north end of Plum Island sound. Launch from the breakwall on Water Street into Joppa flats. This is about a 3 hour (to either side) window around high tide. Lots of good fishing - based on the fisherman and big swirls as I paddle. I like this launch site because parking is free and the launch is easy and clean. The launch is in the Merrimack river and can get choppy if it's windy. Paddle along the right shore going along plum bush to get to the backside of Plum Island. It's about a mile paddle to the plum island river Plum island bridge. On the west side of the bridge over the plum island river there are a few parking spaces. The launch is okay. But the paddling is good, great birding. I expect there is a 3 to 4 hour window around high tide here. Check a map if you are paddling from here. Clive Cisler (http://www.csisler.com) had a great posting about going up Pine Island Creek by mistake and getting very stuck in the mud. You might be able to launch from Pine Island Road, I've never tried, parking could be an issue there. That takes you south to the Parker River. The town landing on route 1A is by permit only. It is possible to launch there and park at the town green. I don't think it's worth it. I park at the end of Cottage road and launch from there. Probably only unusuable 1 hour to either side of low tide. This is one of the more usable launch sites at low tide. You might be able to launch from Fernalds Marina, but I've never tried since I use Cottage road. My favorite stretch of river in this area is the little river, a branch off of the parker river just upstream of route 1. You can either launch from near 1A or launch off Hay St. Launching from Hay St I would put a window of 2 hours either side of high tide for. Further upstream on the Parker River you can launch from Middle road. This is a nice paddle through the marsh. It's extremely unlikely you'll encounter other boats. The launch can be tough though and I would limit it to 90 - 120 minutes either side of high tide - unless you like mud. On a fairly high tide the water flows over Middle Road.... If you want fresh water you can park at Central St and paddle upstream. There are a couple of carries around old mill sites, one of my favorite stretches is between the Byfield Snuff Mill and route 95. From Central St you can also paddle downstream but it involves and incredibly ugly launch (carrying through the culvert) There are a few more freshwater launch sites upstream, ask if you want them. For the Rowley river there is a public landing at the end of Railroad Ave. I'm not sure of the tidal window - maybe 4 hours either side of high tide. Down in Ipswich you can launch from Pavilion Beach at Little Neck. I've only done this off season. On the Ipswich river you can launch from the town landing on Jefferey's Neck Road. I got charged $5 per boat to launch here one year and haven't been back. Instead I launch from next to the bridge on Labor In Vain Road. This is a nice place to launch from to paddle out to Cranes Beach. There is parking 100 yards back down Labor in Vain road at some conservation land. I think the window for this site is 3-4 hours either side of high tide. Kirk *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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