Yes, that is right. It is February 23rd, days after snow, a few days till it snows again and it was 60 degrees! How could Des and I not pack up and get on the river? Ironically we were planning on going to Lake Rico, but when we got there the lake was still frozen. It was disappointing but I knew that the Taunton River would be thawed by this point, and the end of Nemasket usually thaws quickly in the days sun. You'll see patches of snow still along the river as we paddle. I had been hoping to get in a trip actually in the snow this year, but it never happened.
This was also my first chance to use my drone while kayaking. I mentioned my Mavic drone in my last blog post, and once I get used to the complexity of flying while paddling, and gain some confidence shooting around water like this, the shots I will be getting should be incredible. I did not use the drone the first half of our trip at all. I needed to spot come good landing sites.. My plan was to use the drone on the trip back, once I knew I could have clear areas to land close enough to the river that I could easily grab it from the kayak. The drawback to the Mavics portability is its lack of area to grab the drone while it's in flight. There isn't large landing gear like on the Phantom that gives you surface area to grab without getting your hand chopped up by the props. I had to opt with finding landing spots. This could be a problem in the future on some rivers. We will see. You have to agree though that the video it takes is amazing and rich, and the shots it can get are pretty impressive.
You can review some of my early blogs on this route if you want further detail on the rivers. I have many post from Nemasket River on my blog, and you can find them by CLICKING HERE. Keep Paddling!
