Excellent one-way paddle down the middle stretch of the Ipswich on a warm 75F fall day. Water levels were medium 2.63 ft / 58 cfs on the South Middleton gauge. Parked at High Street (Rt 97) Canoe Launch then ubered back to start. First section was very windy through marshland with beautiful folliage on trees set back from the wetlands. Only negative was gunfire in the distance, possibly from Danvers Fish and Game back upriver. Paused for brief break at the sandy beach below Thunder Bridge. Passing under the I-95 bridges in Topsfield the river became swampier, enough water to navigate around many downed trees, but sometimes hard to pick out the path of the river. Did eventually run into two river-wide blowdowns that required portage, one was an enormous 200-year oak tree just ahead of the Salem Rd bridge. Saw a handful of boaters on the second part of the trip. Wildlife was quiet, a pair of cardinals, blue jays, one blue heron, possibly a cormorant.
Start: Mortalo Landing (Rt 62), Middleton, MA
End: High Street (Rt 97) Canoe Launch, Topsfield, MA
Trip distance: 6.25 miles
Trip time: 2.5 hours
Put in at Mortalo Landing, quickwater under Rt 62 bridge
Gorg foliage
Nice beach below the low clearance Thunder Bridge
Approaching the massive I-95 bridges
Tree brain?
Huge oak blowdown blocking the river
High Route 1 bridge
The takeout
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