There was a distinct feeling of fall in the air yesterday when I led eight canoeists and kayakers from the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club to a pair of islands in Merrymeeting Bay.

We put in at the Bowdoinham boat launch -- on the Cathance River -- and followed the falling tide into the bay itself. Numerically we comprised six solo kayaks plus my Bear Creek Cubby canoe.

Two of the solo yaks were lightweight Kevlar, built in Freeport by Lincoln Canoe and Kayak.

Eight canoeists and kayakers from the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club launch yesterday on the Cathance River in Bowdoinham.
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High paddles and high spirits on the Cathance River.
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Al Kimball approaches Bird Island in Merrymeeting Bay.
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My intention was to stop briefly at Bird Island, then head southwest toward the islands near the mouth of the Androscoggin River. But a stiff breeze was kicking up across the bay, and my group and I didn't feeling like paddling two miles against the wind.

Beaching at Bird Island yesterday.
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Instead, we got back in our boats and headed a few hundred yards east, to nearby Brick Island, where we stopped for a leisurely lunch.

Lunch on Brick Island.
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Sue Stableford and Nelle Harnig share a laugh on the rocks on Brick Island.
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Reluctantly concluding that there was too much wind to comfortably continue our explorations of Merrymeeting Bay, we headed back up the Cathance River, stopping briefly to admire some wildflowers. By this time, the tide had turned and we happily accepted a boost from the flood tide back to Bowdoinham.

Linda Gerlach among the cardinal flowers.
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An ice cream stop is the traditional wrapup for a MOAC trip, a tradition obviously relished by Nelle!
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Needing a quick paddling escape to capitalize on an unexpected free afternoon, I motored the 12 miles to Scarborough Marsh yesterday and spent a pleasant three-plus hours riding the tide up and down.

Two kayakers explore Scarborough Marsh yesterday.
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By putting in near the end of the flood phase, I was able to head west with the tide a few miles up the Dunstan River, explore a bit, then ride the ebb tide back to my car.

Paddling west with the tide yesterday.
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Despite its name, Scarborough Marsh offers miles of clear paddling in open channels.
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Despite its name, Scarborough Marsh offers miles of clear paddling in open channels in three connected estuarine rivers. Best time to canoe or kayak is close to high tide, when you can enjoy wide-open vistas.

If you don't have a canoe or kayak and want to give it a try, check out Maine Audubon Society's Scarborough Marsh Nature Center. They rent canoes and give frequent guided tours, both by paddle and by foot.

There's been a lot of talk about the trash problem on the Saco River recently, and yesterday I had a talk with somebody who's doing something about it: Fred Westerberg, canoe livery owner and supervisor of the Saco River Recreation Council.

Canoeing the Saco River is a very popular activity.
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Many canoeists head down the river and camp along the sandbars.
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But let's back up a bit. PaddleME's entries for Aug. 1 ("Sunny Day...") and Aug. 6 ("Adventure Club paddles..." included photos of disgusting trash piles left on the river's famously scenic, picnic-friendly sandbars.

Trash left on a sandbar by thoughtless paddlers.
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The Aug. 1 entry drew the following comment:

"LOL You post as if the people who litter will read it and learn! They don't care they won't be back til next year and we will have it cleaned by then. Here is a thought. There is a select group making good money off our river. How about they volunteer their employees to cruise the river every so often and clean up. I am sure they could barter for more help. They could hand out trash bags and set up trash dropoff points along the way that they could maintain. Seems only fair. Not saying their clients are the problem, just that they have a vested interest in a beautiful river."

Another pile of garbage left along the Saco River.
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Fred and Prudy Westerberg, owners of Saco River Canoe and Kayak, have been in the business for 35 years. Fred's an organizer and supervisor of the Saco River Recreation Council, an association of canoe liveries and related interested organizations.

SRRC hires a crew of teenaged trash picker-uppers throughout the summer months. Every Monday through Thursday these kids paddle one section of the river and pick up the trash left behind -- such as the piles in my photos.

Fred Westerberg has been in the canoe rental business for 35 years, and he's the supervisor of the Saco River Recreation Council, which hires a crew of teens to pick up trash each summer.
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The council also hires part-time patrollers -- off-duty police officers -- plus a number of "river runners" and other people who maintain a presence on the river, especially on the busiest weekends. But on the busiest weekends, the yahoos can still keep a few paddle strokes ahead of the good guys.

Fred told me that SRCC's efforts cost $46,000 each summer, with about 80 percent of that sum paid by half a dozen canoe liveries such as his own.

Fred emphasizes that the liveries only deal with a fraction of the people on the river. He says that 20 to 40 percent of the people bring their own canoes. But the SRRC picks up after everybody.

"Eighty-five or 90 percent of the people on the river are good people," says Fred. "But we're dealing with the 10 percent jerks and idiots."

Four friends and I paddled about 20 miles of the Androscoggin River yesterday, enjoying what many people consider to be its most scenic and appealing stretch.

Find the Andro's "Top 20" between Shelburne Dam, in Shelburne, N.H., and Davis Park in Bethel.

Four members of the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club paddle down the Androscoggin River yesterday.
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Here the river threads its way eastward between the main body of the White Mountains on its south and the majestic Mahoosuc Range to its north.

The 20 miles of the Androscoggin between Shelburne Dam and Bethel are the most attractive.
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The river character ranges from riffles and tiny rapids to quickly moving flatwater. There are many islands; most were built up from alluvial deposits and covered with trees.

There weren't many people paddling yesterday. My friends were newly joined members of the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club; two were with me last week on the Saco River. The other two had recently paddled the Saco on their own.

We all agreed that the Andro is a much superior experience in many ways, including general scenic interest, cleanliness and absence of yahoos.

A family canoes the Androscoggin River yesterday.
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We saw more fishermen than paddlers, perhaps because of the publicity surrounding June's catch of the Maine state record Rainbow Trout in this section of the river. That 24-inch, 6.52-pound beauty was caught June 5 by Stephen Day of Madison.

The Upper Andro Anglers Alliance is trying to promote fishing on this section of the river, and that recent record really helps! Rocky Freda, owner of Sun Valley Sports in Bethel, was guiding one party of fishermen in a drift boat.

But my group was more interested in paddling, and we covered the 20 miles in a bit more than six hours, including a lunch break and a swimming stop.

Irene West paddles down the Androscoggin River yesterday.
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After taking out in Bethel and reversing our car shuttle, we headed south on Route 26 for an ice cream break -- the normal finish to a MOAC summer trip.

Irene West enjoys the ice cream break after yesterday's Androscoggin trip.
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Paddling Merrymeeting Bay is always interesting, but it's always more interesting to do it with Friends. Such as Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, the 700-member organization that's dedicated to preserving and protecting the fascinating waterbody at the confluence of the Androscoggin and Kennebec rivers.

Yesterday I joined one of FOMB's outdoor interpretive trips, led by volunteer Anne Hammond, an old paddling pal. She began with maps and charts of the bay, and explained how the Lower Kennebec Regional Land Trust, an independent sister organization, owns several key properties on the bay.

Anne Hammond, a volunteer trip leader with Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, talks about ecology and land preservation yesterday.
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Seven of us total, including John Eder, FOMB's executive coordinator, paddled out to Bird Island for a short visit, followed by lunch on nearby Brick Island.

Heading out from the Butler Cove put-in yesterday.
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Anne seemed particularly interested in the wild rice, which abounds in the bay, and provides forage for many thousands of ducks, especially in the fall.

Paddling amidst the wild rice that is so abundant in the bay.
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Exploring Bird Island, a tiny islet that is owned by the State of Maine.
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We saw two eagles, one sitting proudly in a pine tree on Parker Head, and another flying about a quarter mile away.

Several short-nosed sturgeon jumped for us.

Paddlers show their enthusiasm after lunch on Brick Island.
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Several of yesterday's participants mentioned that they were looking to join a group of like-minded people for recreational activities such as paddling, and I passed out some brochures for the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club.

Thirteen members of the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club paddled 14 miles of the scenic Saco River yesterday. Make that 14 MOACers, if we count Cuzzin' Clementine.

We launched at Rt. 160 (Brownfield Bridge) and wrapped up at the River Run take-out in Hiram.

Members of the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club launch their boats at the Brownfield Bridge (Rt. 160) yesterday.
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Numerically we had one tandem canoe (my Bear Creek Cubby) plus 11 solo kayaks. Six guys and seven gals who came from as far south as Kennebunk to as far north as Windsor.

MOACers show their enthusiasm at the start of yesterday's trip.
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Pam Bailey paddles toward the camera.
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Boats beached on a sandbar for a swimming break.
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MOACers swimming in the Saco River yesterday.
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We made two stops to swim and one for lunch. In each case, we found an inviting sandbar.

Lunch stop on a sandbar.
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At lunch, Pam Bailey's Cuzzin' Clementine entertained us with her comedy act.

Cuzzin' Clementine, a close relative of Pam Bailey, entertains us.
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Although the 14 miles of the Saco between Brownfield and Hiram sees less traffic and less trash than the more popular shorter sections in the Fryeburg area, we did see some appalling abuse of the river. At one point, several MOAC paddlers stopped in order to completely extinguish a fire that had been left smouldering by careless campers, and I stopped to photograph a gross pile of trash that was left on another (otherwise) beautiful sandbar.

Trash pile on a sandbar on the Saco River yesterday.
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Our total time on the river, including the three breaks, came to just under six hours. After taking out and loading up, about half of us stopped in Standish for ice cream -- the normal wrapup for a MOAC summer trip.

Kim Matthews enjoys an ice cream cone on the trip home. Note Kim's official MOAC T-shirt!
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Two friends and I paddled down the most popular section of the Saco River yesterday. We purposely picked a weekday to avoid the crowds, but we couldn't avoid all the trash that they left behind.

Jonathan Keck and Cherie Perkins are two friends I met through the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club, and we've frequently paddled together over the past decade.

Jonathan Keck paddles stern yesterday on our trip down the Saco River.
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Cherie Perkins paddles her 12-foot Walden down the Saco yesterday.
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Soon after launching at Canal Bridge (Route 5) we noticed many hundreds of cans -- mostly beer cans -- littering the river bottom and tossed up on the banks. And walking on the Saco's famous sandbars and swimming off the beaches was treacherous due to the large amount of broken glass.

And the trash pile left on one of the sandbars was really gross!

Trash pile left on a sandbar on the Saco River yesterday.
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I've been paddling the Saco in the Fryeburg area for more than 20 years, and yesterday was the worst I've ever seen in terms of trash.

I don't want to sound too negative. The water was still clear as ever and those of us paddling yesterday had a pleasant trip.

Paddlers enjoying yesterday's superb weather on the Saco River.
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Several of the sandbar campsites were occupied.

Campsite on the Saco River in Fryeburg.
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Cherie glides past a campsite.
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