Coastal Resource Center: checked out!

Well, the CRC looks great. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. The paddle got off to a slow start as we were watching the weather closely this morning. Looked nice when I got up at 5:30, but by the time I was halfway through a cup of coffee and on my first New York Times article of the day, it was pouring down. I pushed back the paddle until 8:30, but it was still raining when we got to the old river docks. Fortunately, the thunderstorms had moved up north, and the three of us paddling were happy to do so in the rain. Roland saw us setting up and stopped by to say hi and warn us of a friendly 'gator in Pass Picada. We found two gators in the Pass, and two more as we paddled up the Apalachee River. That was suprising given that the gator hunting season just ended a couple days ago. About halfway up the Apalachee, the rain stopped and the sky began to clear. At that point, we would be hit with alternating shots of warm, humid air and cooler, slightly drier air. Personally, I lived for the cooler blasts. Coming around Kings Battery, we picked up a bow wind, but also a following current, which kicked us along at an easy 5-5.5 kts. We reached Sardine Pass pretty quickly and turned in to check out the Coastal Resource Center, which looks like it's going to be a great facility. If the kayak launch they are promising becomes a reality, it will be a great place to paddle from. We stopped briefly for water and Lemon Cremes, where we decided to paddle down past the causeways, and back up the Apalachee River rather than backtrack along our original route. On the way out of Sardine Pass, though, we were warned by a couple of fisherman that a storm was blowing in from Bayou La Batre/Dauphin Island area. Rather than take the relatively unknown southern track, we elected to go back the way we came. The trip back was uneventful, just quiet determined paddling to ensure that we got back before the storm came up. Luckily, it appears that it ran south of us, and the sun came out hot and bright a couple miles from the take-out. Got back to find out that my supposedly waterproof pockets on my jacket were not, so my car alarm remote and cell phone were destroyed. Had to leave the car for while...and I've destroyed my second work cell phone while kayaking. Almost lasted a year. Oh well...probably shouldn't take the Treo's we ordered kayaking.

Checking out the Mobile Tensaw Coastal Resource Center

Flash Paddle - 26 August
We will leave from the old river docks along the causeway, paddle through Pass Picada, up the Apalachee River to the Blakely River, then down the Blakely River and into Sardine Pass to see how the new xxx is developing. I also want to paddle into Justin's Bay (if it's possible) before back-paddling to the old river docks. The route, as pictured, is roughly 12 miles and will probably take around 4 hours. I plan on leaving around 8am to avoid the worst of the heat. Bring sunscreen, water, bugspray, and a snack...plus anything else you think you might want. Please give me a call tonight or tomorrow (251) 605-0743 if you plan to come.


Flash Paddle
We will leave from the old river docks along the causeway, paddle through Pass Picada, up the Apalachee River to the Blakely River, then down the Blakely River and into Sardine Pass to see how the new xxx is developing. I also want to paddle into Justin's Bay (if it's possible) before back-paddling to the old river docks. The route, as pictured, is roughly 12 miles and will probably take around 4 hours. I plan on leaving around 8am to avoid the worst of the heat. Bring sunscreen, water, bugspray, and a snack...plus anything else you think you might want. Please give me a call tonight or tomorrow (251) 605-0743 if you plan to come.

Indian Mounds Found!!

Well, nearly a year to the day after my first paddle here in the South, I succesfully found the Indian Mounds...thanks to GPS and National Geographic Topo. I rode to Stagecoach Inn with Fritz, and when we arrived, we found twenty boats in the parking lot, mostly canoes. This wasn't what I had in mind for my first run as trip leader, but luckily most of the boat belonged to the West Florida Canoe Club who were heading to Majors Creek. So, the six of us paddling to the Indian Mound headed off to Rice Creek Landing to start the paddle. It was easy paddling, and the humidity wasn't too bad..it helped having the boat already together before I got to the put-in. A couple gators were sighted near the southeast end of Richardson Island, and Fritz spotted an owl along Bayou Jessamine. Finding the mound turned out to be relatively easy with GPS and a dry trail to follow (last year, it was chucking it down with rain). So, we hiked on up to the top and then hiked back to the boats for a quick swim and lunch break. Lemon Cremes a success, yet again! The paddle back was relatively uneventful, lot of birds in Bayou Jessamine...and the water was quite a bit lower than on the way out..but we managed to make it back. At the end of the, day we covered 10.3 miles overall, with 3h 14m moving time, and about 5 hours from kayaks offloaded from vehicles to reloaded for the trip home.


















Can you see the owl?

Now?

No frost equates to bloody great insects!