As the summer wanes and the crowds retreat from our coastline, now is the best time to jump into a kayak for a day to tour the remote inlets and rocky shores from Ipswich to Gloucester. By Tamsin Venn, photographs by Joel Laino.
In summer months, the waters around Cape Ann can resemble a kicked hornet’s nest, with motorboats zooming about in a frenzy. Come September, the Evinrudes hibernate, and as heat of an Indian summer lingers, the calm waters along the coast can be had all to yourself-the best time to meander in your sea kayak.
If you could plan any sea kayaking trip on the North Shore for a day, the Ipswich-to-Annisquam jaunt couldn’t be a better selection. Start at Pavilion Beach in Ipswich and paddle behind Crane Beach to the quiet waters around Hog Island. Continue out the mouth of the Essex River, follow Wingaersheek Beach to Annisquam Lighthouse, and finish at Lane’s Cove’s breakwater. Tidal estuaries, sand dunes, salt marshes, a 17th-century farm, a lighthouse, and the open ocean await you on this 10-mile journey that follows the shoreline almost entirely. Early morning is the best time to start, before the winds come up; bring a picnic and make a day of it. Later, tuck into one of the local eateries at day’s end to refuel and relax.
Your journey starts in Ipswich at Pavilion Beach, which joins Little Neck to Great Neck. Most kayakers launch at the north end, where there’s plenty of free parking. From the beach, you look over to Sandy Point Reservation, at the southern tip of Plum Island. That stretch of beach is state owned, allowing for kayaks to land. (Plum Island National Wildlife Refuge stretches eight miles north and prohibits landing.) Beyond is Ipswich Bay and the hazy outline of Cape Ann.
After launching, turn right (south) and paddle into the mouth of the Ipswich River. Then bear left toward the marshes into Fox Creek, a tributary of the Ipswich River. You have now entered the territory of mud, grass, and minnows. You are also now behind Castle Hill and The Great House, a large English Stuart-style mansion built by Chicago plumbing magnate Richard Crane in the early 1920s.
Head for the Hay Canal Bridge, which is on the road to Crane Beach. In 1820, a business called the Essex Canal Company built the half-mile canal from Fox Creek to the Castle Neck River to aid in transportation. The idea was to take the logs that came down the Merrimack River from New Hampshire forests to the shipbuilders in Essex. At the time, it was a huge success, but then the railroad arrived, the mud closed in, and it lost its commercial value. Now it’s just a narrow channel through which motorboats and kayaks travel.
After the bridge, paddle another few minutes until you reach the main channel, known as Castle Neck River. Now head for Hog Island, the large drumlin that looms ahead. Keep in mind that Fox Creek dries out at low tide; you must paddle through here three hours on either side of high tide. Once in Castle Neck River, you will be able to find a deep channel even at low tide.
In the late 1990s, Massachusetts Audubon spearheaded a project to protect thousands of acres of marsh behind barrier beaches from Hampton Harbor, NH to Gloucester in what is known as the Great Marsh, the largest span of marsh in New England. The Great Marsh includes this Essex Bay Estuary (as well as the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Parker River, and Ipswich River). Officials hope to improve sewage treatment and septic systems, as well as curtail animal waste and fertilizer run-off, making shellfish bed closure a thing of the past. The beautiful marshes you are traveling through make up just one corner of this vast expanse of 25,000 acres.
In early September, you will see wisps of pale sea lavender growing on the marsh and surviving high tides. The rest is a sea of grass. Spartina alterniflora, which the tide covers twice a day, is tough and wide; the coarse Spartina patens grow higher up and only get covered in the flood tides. Harvested in colonial times for salt marsh hay to feed livestock, this plant saved the farmers having to feed the cattle an extra salt ration. Prized by garden clubs, it is an excellent mulch with lots of nutrients minus the seed heads of grass and weeds. The alterniflora was also used for roof thatching; come back in October when the grass turns russet gold and you’ll see why.
In September, bird migration is in full swing. Many shorebirds start migrating south in July, peak in August and September, and go into November. For kayakers, the best time to spot sandpipers scuttling along the mud flats is at mid-to low tide. But you can always see the bigger birds; most notable are the great blue herons, which flock here in numbers before heading south. You will also see white egrets. The smaller ones are the snowy egrets with yellow feet, also known as golden slippers, while the larger great egrets have black feet.
By now you’re ready for a break. Remember, you’re going to take your time doing this trip. Keep Hog Island to your right, and at the Trustees of Reservations dock at the end of Hog Island, pull your boat up onto the beach. The Trustees of Reservations manage about 2,100 acres of beach and marsh, including Crane Beach and Castle Hill and seven islands in the Essex River Estuary and Bay.
Take the 3.5-mile trail from the dock to the top of the island. Hog Island, now known as Choate Island, is a truly magical place. It was the summer home of Masconomet, chief of the Agawam Indian tribe, who liked the high vantage point and the great fishing and clamming in the area. In winter, he and his tribe retreated to the woods in Middleton and Topsfield. In 1638, the Agawams sold the island, which eventually the Choates bought and built a house on in 1725-the prominent dark-brown colonial house, named for United States Senator Rufus Choate.
Choate and Long Island, connected by a causeway, were working farms in the 18th and 19th centuries. You’ll also walk past the 1778 Proctor Barn. Cornelius Crane, son of Richard Crane, and his wife, Mine, are buried at the top of Choate Island, which overlooks Plum Island Sound. Choate Island is open year-round 8am to 4pm, and it’s best to allow a minimum of two hours for a visit here.
After a picnic, paddle over to the back of Crane Beach to what’s known as the inner beach. The water tends to be warmer on this side, and you can land a boat wherever you want. In late summer, the beach is filled with what my British cousin likes to call “gin palaces” or large motorboats, moored three and four abreast, but in September, you’ll have the place to yourself, along with sanderlings, crickets, and a sailboat or two.
Leaving the shores of Crane Beach, you will exit through the mouth of the Essex River. That mouth can be turbulent at times, especially when the wind is going one way and the tide another. Cross over to the Victorian mansions on the other side, round the point, and follow Coffins Beach, around Farm Point, to Wingaersheek Beach.
Right across from the Annisquam Yacht Club (note the sailboats moored and a flag flying), you can land on Wingaersheek Beach for another break. That spot is at the north end of the Annisquam River, which opens into Ipswich Bay. At the other end, it empties into Gloucester Harbor, making Cape Ann an island. That geographic fact is celebrated every July in a challenging 22-mile open ocean race for paddlers around Cape Ann called the Blackburn Challenge, sponsored by the Cape Ann Rowing Club. The club’s original intent was a fun outing with an overnight on Thacher Island off Rockport, but the event has now turned into a three-plus-hour race, attracting some of the world’s best paddlers.
At the mouth of the Annisquam River in 1631, colonists settled in Annisquam Village, a delightful collection of clapboard houses on quiet streets. In those days, Annisquam rivaled Gloucester as a fishing and shipbuilding center, strategically located on the edge of Massachusetts Bay. The river was considered an important harbor of refuge for vessels traveling along the coast. As you paddle up the shore, you pass a series of coves that provided shelter from storms, known well by seafaring vessels. Those now provide the same havens for kayakers.
After the Annisquam Yacht Club, you will pass Annisquam Lighthouse. Government officials built the lighthouse at Wigwam Point, a common meeting ground for local Native Americans, to serve as a marker for the entrance to the Annisquam River in 1801. In 1897, they replaced a second lighthouse with the white brick tower you see now. They added a foghorn in 1931, but soon decided to operate it only from May to October so summer residents could sleep peacefully at night. The Coast Guard completely renovated the lighthouse in 2000, replacing several thousand old bricks, and today it is automated, though a Coast Guard family lives there. On a clear day, when you aren’t concentrating on waves casting spray onto your face, you can see the New Hampshire coastline and Mount Agamenticus in Maine.
Although a sleepy town today, Lanesville was once a great fishing port where you could bring back a boatload of fish from Ipswich Bay. Later, the cove became prosperous for granite quarrying, but when that industry died in the 1930s, it left a quiet village with granite stoops and colorful flowers, completely untouched by national superstores.
Paddle through the breakwater, make a sharp left, and land on the concrete ramp. This will mark the end of your North Shore paddling day. Best of all, you don’t have to travel far to experience all of this; a splendid coastline sits right here in your own back yard.