Upper Falls neighbors kicked of this 4th of July with swimming, canoeing and fishing in the Charles River under Echo Bridge this morning.
The Friends of Hemlock Gorge organized the event and it was a treat. With the summer upon us, I was thrilled to try out this fabulous swimming hole for the first time.
It’s just a block from our house so there is definitely more Charles River swimming in my future.
Thanks to the Friends of Hemlock Gorge for launching this new holiday tradition … and for everything else they do for my favorite park land.
Is swimming allowed any other day?
@Isabelle – I have no idea.
@isabelle – years ago my wife and I were on a cross country road trip. We drove through a little town beside a beautiful river somewhere out west.
I asked the woman behind the counter at a gas station “can I swim in that river?” She looked really confused … “I dont know. Do you know how to swim?”
I’m sorry I was out of town and couldn’t take part in something I hope will become another great Upper Falls and Hemlock Gorge tradition. My only concern involves the huge, very huge and numerous Snapping Turtles that we took care to avoid when we were kids. One Snapper chomped off the toe of one boy that dangled his feet in the water on the Upper Falls side of the reservation and that left a vivid impression that persists to this day whenever I’m near that spot on the river.
Fortunately no snapping turtles were spotted and no digits were lost during yesterday’s swim.
This sounds great. When I was young growing up in Oak Hill Park we swam in the Charles river there.
It just dawned on me that I might have conjured up some unnecessary fears about bites from Snapping Turtles near Hemlock Gorge when I recounted the story of a kid that lost part of his toe to a Snapper back in the early 50’s. The incident took place in a small and murky inlet near the new spillway dam on the Upper Falls side of the reservation where there is almost no movement of water. That’s where Snappers like to hide and feed. Fortunately, there is fast moving water at the beach area where the swimming took place on July 4th, probably because of its proximity of the upper dam near the old factories.
The Charles River was polluted in the mid fifties. There were dead fish and foam floating on the still water near the mill below the mill falls. So, we never swam in the river in the mid to late fifties.