Special guest blog post by Keith Attenborogh:
Thursday, I was on the Ipswich River, putting in at Riverbend in Ipswich where the Ipswich River Watershed Association headquarters is located. I was scouting for a planned Meditation Paddle that I had been asked to support, checking conditions, blowdowns and the like. Just a bit below the railroad trestle, had an “extended” (4 minute or so) encounter with a beaver who came out of the brush with fluffy brown fur, slipped into the water about 10′ or so from the canoe, swam a bit paying no attention and then headed downstream. I checked out some of the eddies below the bridge to see if they had changed at all over the winter (they hadn’t) and was about to head upstream, when he reappeared and accompanied me for a minute or so before going his own way.
On my return downriver, I was heading into an eddy on the other bank of the river – heard some rustling in the bankside brush, just a bit upstream. Put down the paddle, got out the camera and let the eddy take my back upriver (slowly) and there he was again. Just floated up the eddy while running the camera. Very cool.
Paddles two and three were Saturday morning, starting with the Meditation Paddle, organized by North Shore SING working with IRWA. I was one of two escort paddlers accompanying the group. A nice morning on the river. Saturday afternoon was a second paddle, this one on the Parker River, Michael and I joined by Dave, saying a last farewell to White Rose Canoe. Our doors closed March 15th, but the new owners are maintaining the docks and hand launch, so we could take some time to just flow with the tides.
Beaver footage courtesy of Keith: