Monday, April 6, 2020

Light at the End of the Tunnel

In the northwest corner of Massachusetts a long, dark, damp, and cold railroad tunnel passes beneath Hoosac Mountain.  For the past 150 years the Hoosac Tunnel allowed trains to enter the mountain's base and emerge 4.75 miles later on the other side...until an ominous event occurred on February 13, 2020.  A cave-in eliminated the "light at the end of the tunnel" and the structure was closed disrupting rail service to New England.  Men and machines began working around the clock in making the necessary repairs.  In the ensuing weeks another ominous event known as the Covid-19 Pandemic took hold and our concept of normalcy is forever changed and uncertain.  Over the past month or so there's been little sign of hope or "light at the end of the tunnel" for either situation...until yesterday when I heard the news that the Hoosac Tunnel had finally reopened, and the first train passed through it. Dare I say this news provides my first bit of optimism.

So yesterday in honor of the tunnel being reopened I decided to paddle the tunnel's length (4.75 miles) on the Sudbury River in Concord, MA.  I started at Egg Rock at the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet rivers where the rock's inscription was nearly submerged...
...and set my odometer to zero.  Then, after imagining myself entering the tunnel's East Portal, I began paddling the tunnel's length with hopes of reaching daylight again at the other end. Early in the trip upriver I passed Bill who enjoyed a regal perch above the flood-swollen river.  His throne was at the end of the old Reformatory Branch railroad which long ago crossed the Sudbury here...
 
Following 1.5 hours of steady paddling under appropriately cloudy skies, my odometer finally showed I was approaching the tunnel's West Portal which actually was Lee's Bridge at Route 117...

For myself and perhaps others familiar with the Sudbury River this little exercise provides a better appreciation as to just how long the Hoosac Tunnel is.   Thankfully, as of yesterday, there's once again a "light at the end of the tunnel" and that fact gives me a sense of cautious optimism.

With such high water levels I decided to pay a visit to where Pantry Brook enters the Sudbury River and see if passage over the dam was possible.  It was...
...and thus allowed me to enter the large wildlife management area impounded by the dam...

With newly buoyed spirits I returned downriver passing these two beavers sound asleep atop their mostly submerged house...

Not much in the way of trash...
...hopefully it's all quarantined somewhere.

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