Tale of Two Hinghams

Day 7 (6/30/10)

All of Eileen and my favorite Kayaking areas are lakes with rivers that either run into or out of them. Most have slight differences between the lake and the river, obviously, but nowhere is it more pronounced then Hingham. The lake is kind of a dirty sometimes smelly little mill pond on the onion river. It is bordered on the east shore by huge ostentatious houses. Apparently if the Department of Natural Recourses had their way they would remove the dam and allow it to revert back to its original state which as I understand was a notable trout stream.The other side has little development other than a small business area and a couple of cabins. Once you make the last turn out of the lake it gradually changes into a clear stone bottomed stream. It becomes almost magically peaceful. Unfortunately you can only go so far before it narrows down to the point where you just can’t go any further. It is on the trip back where the change is most noticeable. As you come around the last left hand turn you are accosted by a huge behemoth of a house. At the same time you notice the water getting dirtier. It is almost a metaphor for human influence. We did have some fun on the lake though. First we spent quite a while chasing a blue heron around the lake. We could never get real close to it though. One of the more interesting observations we made in the lake was of a swirling orb of little black fish like animals. We are assuming they were tadpoles. We tried to get a picture or video of them with Eileen’s underwater camera but the wind was too strong to be able to get the kayak stationary enough. All in all it was great day. I almost wish we could get to the river without having to go through the lake.