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Charles River Sunset Cruises depart from Lechmere Canal, The ticket booth and boat departure is located outside the doors at the canal side of the CambridgeSide Mall. Over the years, I have ridden my bike across a swath of the Mongolian steppe to visit the towering statue of Genghis Khan, and also kayaked nearly the whole 51-mile length of the Los Angeles River. I did this in part because it’s my belief that our current environmental crises—climate change, species die-off, water pollution—are rooted partially in our alienation from nature. Undamming the whole Charles is still more of a green dream than a firm plan.
Charles Riverboat Company
Built in 1778, it powered a paper mill and, later, a cotton mill that in 1807 manufactured the sails for “Old Ironsides,” a.k.a. the USS Constitution. As I approached the dam, I was exceedingly fearful of capsizing a third time, in the dark. My plan was to take out the moment I heard the dam’s rapids, portage around them, and then make a final late-night surge to the harbor in Boston. I opted for a car portage that involved a little planning.
PLAN YOUR TRIP
Early on, when the river was narrow, I saw three discarded lawn chairs lying in the water, up against a clump of fallen sticks. Now, for a few miles, I paddled within earshot of I-95, the giant green highway signs visible from the river. After a couple more hours of paddling, I tied up my kayak, wrung out my bag, and carried it 2 miles into Millis to get some lemon chicken with rice at a Chinese takeout joint. When the timer went off, I caught an Uber back to the river’s edge and found a flat place in the woods to bed down. Your Charles River cruise trip a full-service bar and relaxing cocktail music – the perfect accompaniment to appreciate the majestic sunset over Cambridge.
Cover Reveal: The 150 Most Influential Bostonians of 2024 – Boston Magazine
Before I set out, I locked a bike to a post near where I would get out of the river. When I got there, I stashed my kayak in the woods, retrieved the bike, and rode it back to where I started and got my car. Then I put my kayak on my car to get over 495, dumped my car in a nearby parking lot, and got back in the river.
The 90 Minute Architecture Cruise on Charles River is narrated by a volunteer from Boston By Foot. Enjoy a 90-minute cruise while taking in the spectacular scenery of Boston and Cambridge. After an hour, I neared the Watertown Dam, which likely will be the next to come down after the South Natick Dam. The city council is in support of its removal, and the DCR, which owns the dam, deems it a “significant hazard dam” in “fair” condition.
It could be several years before the South Natick Dam comes down, and even Norton doubts the scheme to free the entire Charles will be a reality in fewer than 20 years. But hearing about this potential shift was enough to get me excited. Some people want to see Antarctica before it melts away; I felt a desire to see the Charles before its dams are torn away. I wanted to know what hints of natural splendor still exist on the Charles, even now, amid all the dams.
After I portaged over the dam and put my boat back in the water, the river was roiling, its channel narrowed so the current sprang as hose water does when you constrict the flow with your thumb. Suddenly, I encountered lots of boulders and found myself bouncing along through foamy white rapids, my pulse thumping hard in my throat. Other sites in Boston that your guide might point out during your riverboat tour, include Boston University, Fenway Park and the Esplanade, which is a three-mile path that runs along the Charles River. Enjoy a 90-minute cruise while taking in the spectacular scenery of Boston and Cambridge from the serene waters of the Charles River.
Group Architecture Cruises 2024 Schedule
Watertown Man Planning to Ferry People to and from Boston on Charles River - Watertown News
Watertown Man Planning to Ferry People to and from Boston on Charles River.
Posted: Fri, 04 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The 19 dams now on the Charles constitute a vestigial machine-age straitjacket. None of them has a current industrial purpose (though some provide flood control or serve as water supply dams), and most are ancient, making them porous or prone to breaching. They remain in place, though, blocking the flow of fish upriver and turning the Charles into a very unnatural—but often pretty—medley of small lakes. After hundreds of years, dams along the Charles River could come down to let the currents run wild and free—and help the environment. To get a closer look, our intrepid river rat set out to become the second person ever to kayak the iconic waterway's complete length. Parking is located in the mall garage at 100 CambridgeSide Place.
Why I Needed to Kayak the Charles River from Source to Sea
Then I grabbed the bow and frog-kicked the boat toward shore. Miraculously, I found my paddle waiting for me, its progress cut short by a fallen branch. I was able to get back into my kayak fairly easily, but my trip was not exactly going swimmingly. I reached an intact dam just 20 minutes later when I paddled up to the decrepit West Medway Dam, deemed to be in poor condition by a 2023 DCR study. Sitting beside the old stone remnants of a ruined mill, the dam had trees jutting out of its cracked concrete, and they stood sentinel over a partially collapsed concrete wall that frothing water rushed over.
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I portaged this one, dragging my kayak up and down a long, steep hill. I was weary now, sunburnt and dehydrated, with crosshatched cuts on my shins from the riverside brambles. In the fast-moving water, I slammed into a log spanning the river. I grabbed onto the log and realized that if I did nothing, it would only be a matter of time before my grip weakened and I got sucked underwater and possibly trapped under the log.
When I emerged into the sunlight from the tunnel, the concrete civilization fell away. Suddenly, I was in a raging little stream, coursing along through scrubby woodlands and over downed trees caught in the river. The lower price tag for removal was just part of the decision, though. Dam removal provides significant benefits for the natural environment. Pair up your cruise with a lunch at the Cheesecake Factory!
And I wanted to see where the river is most hindered by humans. This radical shift in both vibe and appearance along the river occurred because the South Natick Dam—a wide, 135-foot-long earthen berm built in 1934 and now topped by pine trees—was just ahead of me. It choked and reshaped—indeed, tamed—the river, creating a pond and a gentle waterfall burbling over its concrete spillway. Fall foliage cruises depart from the Lechmere Canal Park at the CambridgeSide Mall! Validated parking available for $4 at the CambridgeSide Mall.
Parking in this garage can be validated for $4.00 at the Charles Riverboat Company ticket booth (only possible to validate parking for this location). This guided riverboat tour will take you past many of Boston's historical and cultural sites. On the Boston side of Charles River, you'll see Beacon Hill, the Back Bay, Boston University, Fenway Park, Museum of Science and Esplenade Park. Cambridge is on the north side of the river, and Boston is on the south side.
On the Cutler Park Reservation, a square mile of preserved marshland, I saw a less common snowy egret—smaller, with a slender black bill—perched in a tree. I paddled about a mile until I came upon the remnants of the Caryville Dam, the very first dam on the Charles that has been deliberately removed. It was once the centerpiece of a thriving little village with its own grist mill, cotton mill, and shoe factory.
In the 1800s, the human stain upon the river was a lot worse. The Pilgrims and their descendants flushed the city’s sewage straight into the Charles—so bountifully, in fact, that on summer days, a ghastly smell pervaded the streets. By 1879, water pollution was such a concern that Boston enacted a “Sanitary Improvement” plan, creating the Fens, a restored salt marsh in the Back Bay, to absorb flood waters and sewage. In Needham, a large white bird, a great egret, flew straight toward me and landed right near my boat, its feet skimming the water, kicking up a tiny wake. It emerged and flew for 100 or so yards, just inches over the water, eyes down as it continued to hunt.
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