The Androscoggin Riverlands State Park on the western side of
the river protects twelve miles of the
waterfront from development.
The Eastern side of the river has almost no development, making this a quiet,
lovely place to paddle with several opportunities to get out and stretch along
the way. A few islands long the way make for a nice spot to stop for lunch. |
| Put in at Center Bridge Rd. in Turner, ME |
 |
| Inlet along the river -- calm shallow water paddling |
 |
| Island lunch stop |
A couple of unfortunate situations occurred resulting in the
quietness of this stretch of the river today. One, the river was terribly polluted
for decades due to dumping from industrial activities upstream. Two, a hydro-dam
constructed in 1925 in Auburn, created an impoundment that stretches up river
14 miles and forced residents to evacuate the land along the river.
The lower
end of this stretch is more open and exposed to boat and float plane traffic. The
upper end seems to have less boat traffic and there are several inlets that are
shallow and fun to explore.
There wasn’t a lot of wildlife I think because we put in
late morning when the animals seem to be less active. In less than two feet of water I inadvertently came close to
a large turtle with an oval shell that was about twelve inches long. The head
was almost as big as a baseball. I think it was enjoying the warmth of the
shallow sunny water and was probably more startled than I.
A small box turtle was sunning himself on a log, and I was
disappointed that we didn’t see more turtles on logs or rocks. A few fish were
jumping, a Blue Heron flew off in front of us, several Dragonflies darted
around and hitched rides on our kayaks, and other birds flitted about.
The put in has a decent ramp and bathroom facilities
(portable) and lovely tree-lined frontage for picnicking. I am not sure if the
water quality is okay for swimming.
A Maine Warmers heating pad feels great on stiff shoulders at the end of a day of paddling.
