I met my friend Steve at 9:30 this morning at the Swift River Boat Ramp at the intersection of Cold Spring Road and River Road in Ware.  Within minutes, we had donned our PFDs and unloaded his tandem kayak, which is light-weight but very stable, into the placid waters.  We decided to first paddle upstream toward the Quabbin, then drift with the current back to our starting point.  Around noon, we were back at the boat ramp where we got out to stretch our legs and eat our snacks.  Then we headed down the river toward Palmer, paddled around a quiet backwater, then again headed back to the ramp.

It was a beautiful summer day, and we saw quite a few people on the river banks or out on the water, either fishing or paddling their canoes and kayaks.  It remained sunny all day but it was not oppressively hot, and although we occasionally saw clouds of insects, they didn’t really bother us.

I was amazed at how clear the water was; it’s quite shallow for most of this stretch of the river, and I’m sure we saw trout or some similar species of fish.  At one point, we watched a snake swim across the river and slither up the opposite bank.  Other animals we noticed in this riverine habitat were dragonflies and damselflies, turtles, ducks, and a great blue heron.  On the banks, there were goldenrod and asters aplenty, and we also saw a patch of gentians (Gentianaceae).  In the cove where we turned the kayak around, we saw both water lilies and a pond lily.  According to a map I consulted, most of the land we saw is part of the Herman Covey WMA, a Commonwealth designation, I think.  North of the put-in, the WMA begins on the western shore and south of it, on the east.

As I’ve said many times before, I’m not a photographer, but I had my camera with me and felt compelled to snap a few photos.  Here are the ones I didn’t delete:

Left: This is a typical view of the river, looking south; you can see the tip of the kayak at the bottom right (I sat in the front).  Center: We saw a number of downed trees, most of which we could avoid, though some create snags for the unwary paddler.  Right: This is my homage to Monet; I call it “Water Weeds.”

Left: A raft of ducks (possibly Aix sponsa) rested together at this juncture.  Center: I tried a close-up of an individual.  Right:  We saw many water lilies (Nymphaea odorata, one of the oldest of the flowering plant lineages) but a single pond lily in bloom (Nuphar variegatum).

Thank you to Steve for inviting me to join him on the Swift River.