The bird

ok...Tracy nailed it, we saw a female anhinga.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Anhinga.html#descriptio

Back to the big mound of dirt...

On Saturday, I led a paddle out to the Bottle Creek Indian Mounds. "Led," isn't exactly accurate as it was a pretty self-propelling group, but I can still take credit for it. We met at the Stagecoach Cafe at 9, waited the obligatory 10 or 15 minutes for late-comers and then headed for Rice Creek Landing. The water was very low, but we found a Lexus with two empty kayak racks already at the landing...evidence that (a) there was enough water to paddle, and (b) I'm not the only yuppie-kayaker in the deep south.

We launched into Rice Creek without incident and made a pretty quick trip through Rice Creek, across Briar Lake, behind Larry Island, and into Bayou Jessamine. Jessamine was also very low, but it looked like the State Lands folks had been through recently to clear the logs jams and we made it through without any real problems. We stopped to watch a couple good-old fishermen attempt to jump their 125hp john-boats over a fairly significant log. Not sure how it went, but we didn't see them again.

The Indian Mounds were as expected...about 40 ft high and heavily overgrown. I won't repeat the information here, but click this link to read more about this historical (and undeveloped) site...Bottle Creek Indian Mounds.

After a brief stop for lunch we paddled back towards Rice Creek with a quick diversion into Jug Lake to show several newcomers the platforms available for kayak/canoes to reserve for camping (click here and follow the overnight trails link on the right to get to the reservations page).

We didn't see any 'gators on this trip, although we did hear one inside Jug Lake...similar to a distress call found at the Florida Natural History website. We also saw an interesting bird we couldn't identify...similar in shape to a cormorant in flight, but with an all white head and neck...juvenile maybe?

Anyway, it was about a 9-10 mile paddle and the weather was about perfect...warm, light breezes, and not humid. Possible one of the last days of good paddling weather until October!

Mobile Urban Adventure Race

On Saturday, Jon, Alli, and I ran the first Mobile Urban Adventure Race. We were not prepared. Still, we did alright; finishing in the middle of the pack with a time just under three hours. I won't reveal too many details about the course, but it involved about 9 legs involving running, biking, and canoeing, along with several mystery challenges. We ultimately canoed about 4 miles, ran about 5, and biked about 15. Definitely a good time...recommend it next year. Here are the pics:

A few things...

Ok, since I haven't updated in a while, here are a few quick items. First, England. Tried to kayak. No joy. We did take punts down the river Cam a few times...it's a nice relaxing way to see some of England's oldest colleges and it has the benefit of being human powered. It's also funny to watch people who have no idea how to push a flat bottomed boat with a big stick try to get around. Especially when the pole get's stuck in the mud and they decide it would be better to hold onto the stick than stay on the flat-bottomed boat. Sadly, I've only actually seen this happen once. But it was funny! (I'll post a picture as soon as I get them uploaded)

I made it to St. Louis for a work conference the week after coming back to England. I was pretty ill on the tail end of the England trip, so St. Louis will have to be full explored another time. However, I did get to the famous arch (pretty cool, worth a ride up) and I ran some of the trail that runs along the riverfront. It's a great biking and running trail...a little shady around the abandoned warehouses and power plant, but still cool.

When I got back, the club did a night paddle. It never fails...I really like kayaking under a full moon. It's very relaxing, but it also makes me think about special forces teams using kayaks to conduct nightime insertions during WWII.