out2sea03

Gwaii Haanas Video

2008-12-27T15:25:00.000-08:00

Time to blog again...this is the video from Scott, Meaghan, and I's trip to Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands). Enjoy!

Gwaii Haanas from IGB on Vimeo.

The Room of Doom

2008-06-21T15:59:00.000-07:00

I took a day of leave on Friday to paddle the room of doom at Deception Pass with Rand. We met up at SRK and loaded boats and gear to start the trip up to Coronet Bay. We met up with John during a quick stop for breakfast at the Country Corner (I recommend the breakfast burrito...complements the Room of Doom quite nicely!) and caravaned on to the bay. I threw in a couple offside rolls...missing each one the first time. I'm going to blame that on the new hip braces...and I have no doubt John and Rand were comforted by the fact that I did roll up. Eventually.

As we paddled away from the finger piers and into flooding tide, I realized I had fallen into an intense, focused silence as I paddled, eyes locked on the pass ahead (sweating the missed rolls, I'll admit). Releasing my death grip on paddle and pass, I turned to see what Rand and John were discussing. Nothing...they wore matching determined gazes; focusing on the moving water around us.

We reached the Room of Doom by working the eddies on the south side. Once in the room, whirlpools were well-formed at the point and a strong back-eddy was pushing us against the rocks and west against the flood. Rand gave a great brief on what to expect and things were uneventful as we played in the whirlpools and eddies until a large yacht powered through the pass, pushing up a large wake (overhead). As John and I watched the waves, we saw Rand push up to the top of the room and swing out into the waves, earning the day's brass-balls award and shaming the rest of us to paddle out and surf the standing waves ourselves. Although the water is confused in the Room, my observation as the current built was that a strong back eddy runs along the wall and boils regularly erupt, pushing anyone into the room against the walls. Simply paddling into the room resulted in lateral motion towards the wall and forward motion across the room and out into a large whirlpool. I found this out personally as we crossed Deception Pass to check out the Canoe Pass side.

The Canoe Pass side was also interesting, although much less intense than the Room of Doom. There is a nice calm area to break into, and we worked on 360's, rolls, and eddying out. John left from here to return home.

Although there was calmer water at Canoe Pass, I was less comfortable with the overall situation. As the water flows through the pass, it runs right into a sheer wall on the north side. When I would eddy out at a good speed and as far up the back-eddy as possible I found myself driven too close to the rocks for my comfort. The hydro's are such that I found it very difficult to paddle away from the wall. I suspect that a missed roll or other miscalculation in the current might result in a 200 yard ride along the wall with barnacles working on gore-tex, fleece, and flesh. I didn't try the experiment, nor do I want to scare people away (any more experienced DP paddler's want to weigh-in about this area?) but I like to have an exit strategy and I didn't feel good about this one.

Rand and I paddled to the East end of Canoe Island and played in the whirlpools there for a while...we weren't going to make it back to the Room of Doom, and in our pleasantly tired state, the boils and whirlpools off Canoe Island were a mostly a pleasure. However, while playing in one whirlpool, I was either too close, or was driven back into, the rocks in the midst of a nice, fast spin. The sound of barnacle/fiberglass interaction was loud (sadly you can't hear it on video...but you can hear me singing) and will probably force me to get a keel-strip as I currently have a few exposed fibers poking out of the gelcoat. We played on for a while, then headed back to Coronet Bay to start the drive home.

In summary, the Room of Doom was a great experience, for some reason I had "Peaches" stuck in my head all day and felt the need to sing on camera, and I tore a chunk out of my boat (she's not speaking to me right now).

Only in Seattle...

2008-06-21T15:56:00.001-07:00

Surfing Grayland

2008-05-11T17:09:00.000-07:00

On Friday we headed to Grayland to meet up with the crew at "The Whale Blow Inn" for a weekend surf trip. Chester, Setsuko, and Dave made it up early to check out the surf at Graylands and reported clean breaks at a gentle 3ft or so. Saturday morning, Meg and I fired up a warming breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and eggs for the crew and we headed for the beach.

Naturally, after a few pleasant, sunny days at the office, we made it to the beach in cold, drizzly conditions...a fresh wind blowing from the southwest with a westerly 4-5ft swell. But, we came to surf, so out we went. It was a relatively uneventful time...the receding tide gave us a small zone near the beach to play in and a couple larger zones further out to practice in. Sean found a wave to snap his paddle in, leaving him with a long swim in from the surf zone.

Once we had Sean safely in, we decided it was time to break for lunch. Alex arrived fresh from the Tacoma news-scene and joined us in the water after lunch. The wind picked up over lunch and I spent much of the afternoon paddling into the wind to avoid being blown to Canada. A few paddles back up the beach into 20+ knot winds wore me out and realizing that I was getting to tired to handle the bigger waves, I moved into the smaller surf near the beach to work on skills in more manageable waves and work on maneuvering in the wind...good times were had by all in the afternoon and as we loaded our boats onto the cars and cinched down the last straps the wind petered out, cleaning up the surf zone considerably. It didn't seem worth dressing and pulling 50lb boats off the car and into the water though and most of us retired to the beach house for a pasta feed and hours of kayaking and wilderness talk.

A great weekend...thanks to those who came up, especially Dave, Bob, and John in particular for giving up their time on the water to watch out for the rest of us as we messed around in snotty weather!

Click here for Pictures (Thanks to John for loan of the camera for pics and video)

Kayaking Deception Pass

2008-04-27T17:06:00.001-07:00

And finally, my day came...kayaking Deception Pass, a comfortable 6-odd knots on the ebb, a beautiful sunny day. Meg and I arrived at Deception Pass State Park a little early. As we pulled up, we found a dozen other kayakers gathered around...including one who looked vaguely familiar. "Kinda looks like Nigel Foster..." I remarked. After talking to some of the paddlers at the beach, it turns out that it was Nigel Foster; getting ready to teach a directional control class to the local kayaking club. As we walked down to the beach with our kayaks, I realized that one of the boats on the beach looked like the latest Nigel Foster-designed boat from Point 65N Kayaks. Seeing the opportunity...I walked up, introduced myself, and asked about the boat. Sure enough, Nigel Foster is as pleasant a paddler as you will meet, and the boat was the new Whiskey 16. Mr. Foster kindly offered to let us try the boat out during their lunch break, or in the afternoon after the class. We said we'd love to take him up on the offer and then parted ways so he could teach his class.

John, Dan, and Andrew showed up several minutes later, and after a quick duct-tape repair of John's drysuit, we paddled out from the park towards the pass. We made it to Canoe Pass to find a 4 -knot (-ish) ebb flowing out. Perfect for my first peel-out in the Pacific Northwest. I boldly paddled up the eddy, pushed my bow out into the current, waiting for the right moment to lean downstream on my trusty paddle and spin out towards the sea.

The right moment passes by without remark...I'm still upright, water is piling up on my left side, pulling me down...high brace! Ineffective!! Again!!! Failure!!!! I'm over! IN DECEPTION PASS! Quickly, I position for a sweep roll, and I'm up. Laughter from the crowd.

After that, things settled downed and we peeled out, ferried across, and eddied out for several hours. Taking advantage of the relatively calm conditions, I hauled out on the rocks to take pictures and videos. John executed a nice peel-out and roll...Dan exhibited some hot-dog surfing... Meg and Andrew peeled out calmly into the current. Then, in the distance, I see Meg swimming. I see the others heading for her. Realizing that they have the situation under control, I continue filming...for educational purposes...really. You can see the video on the associated Picasa album.

Once Meg has safely recovered, we paddled to the other side of Deception Pass to play in the larger pass. There were several other paddlers out, including a greenland-style paddler pulling off some spectacularly graceful rolls in the whirpools. Truly impressive to watch. After lunch, we paddled aroundCanoe Island and the island outside the pass before returning to Deception Pass State Park.

After loading the boats back onto the car, we stuck around to paddle the new Whisky 16. Evidently, there was Whiskey in the "whisky hatch," but we only got to try the boat...in the calm conditions of the park, I can say that the boat was extremely comfortable and handled very nicely. Once edged into a turn, it cranked around nicely and was easily rolled.

At the time of paddling, this was the only Whisky 16 in the United States...added a little to the experience, we're a part of kayaking history now, I suppose. Nigel Foster shared his thoughts on the design elements of the boat with us, and we parted ways after a great day on the water.

click here for Pictures and Video from Deception Pass and Whisky 16 test-paddle

The Drive Across...

2008-04-27T16:37:00.001-07:00

Well, our weeklong trip across the country was pleasant and uneventful...and yes, we survived a week cooped up in the Z without any problems. The highlights of the trip started after we made it through Texas. We spent a great night in Chandler, AZ with Laura...not long enough, but a good chance to catch up and drink some local brews. We left Chandler and made it to Joshua Tree National Park in time to hike out to the Lost Palms Oasis, about 8 miles round-trip from the campsite. We made it back in time to watch the sun set around the hills and cook up a nice dinner.

The following morning we drove into San Francisco's Mission District to meet with Kyle and Sara...then downtown the following morning to see Steve and Andrea for breakfast. That night, we made it to Ashland just in time to catch Coriolanus at the Ashland Shakespeare Festival.

The next day, we pushed north to Seattle, with a brief stop for lunch in Portland with Heather.

Pictures here.

Boiling Creek

2008-04-27T16:30:00.000-07:00

My last southern paddle! Meg and I met Fritz and Harriet, David and Tracy, and Jerry for a final paddle of Boiling Creek for me...a first for Jerry and Meg. The weather was beautiful, boats were swapped around...we alternately passed around, over, or under the bridge, and pulled out at the usual charming, fuel-soaked, garbage-littered boat ramp.

Pictures (of the beautiful, kayak/canoe accesible portion of the trip) can be found here.

Trip Reports

2008-03-11T15:35:00.000-07:00

Trip Reports: This post will link you to past trip reports (those since I've been writing the blog) without having to search through the archives...divided by region and sport, multiple trips are numbered consecutively.

Kayaking
West Coast
Johnstone Strait and Broughton Archipelago
Lake Union (1)
South Puget Sound

The South
Dead Lake (1) (2)
Indian Mounds (1) (2) (3)
Boiling Creek
Weeks Bay
Fish River
Magnolia River
Canal Island (1) (2)
Bartram Canoe Trail
Key West and the Dry Tortugas
Bay Minette Creek
Gravine Island (1)
The Blackwater River

Hiking
Cordova
Zion National Park

Diving
The Oriskany

Kayaking South Puget Sound

2008-03-10T19:47:00.000-07:00

For those following the posts, the last half-dozen were mobile posts from a trip in South Puget Sound. We launched from Boston Harbor Marina, just north of Olympia, and paddled out to Hope Island on Friday night...a beautiful night paddle. The next morning, we paddled about half the Shelton Shuttle before continuing north along Harstine Island to Jarrell Cove State Park to camp and do some rolling practice. Sunday we paddled around the rest of Harstine Island and bucked a nice current back to Boston Harbor. All in all, a nice weekend trip! The rest of the pictures can be found here... http://picasaweb.google.com/out2sea03

Lunch!

2008-02-17T14:10:00.001-08:00

From the sea...

2008-02-17T12:09:00.001-08:00

Multimedia message

2008-02-17T12:08:00.001-08:00

Multimedia message

2008-02-17T11:24:00.001-08:00

Jarrell Cove by morning.

2008-02-17T09:27:00.001-08:00

Saturday

2008-02-16T21:45:00.001-08:00

Pic of bkfst at Hope Is. Paddled part of the Shelton shuttle today, played in the tidal rapids, then paddled North to Jarrel Cove to camp and do some rolling.

Launch

2008-02-16T20:58:00.001-08:00

Launching into the night, we had an easy paddle to Hope Is. We saw harbor seals and had a chance to navigate by channel lights.

Packing!

2008-02-15T15:48:00.001-08:00

Hope Is...here comes the sun!

Rope Swing!

2008-02-10T17:37:00.001-08:00

Rolling...

2008-02-06T07:11:00.001-08:00

Well, had some good rolling practice lately, but otherwise not much to report on the ol' kayaking scene. Hopefully, I will be heading to Seattle later this month with a little side trip for paddling in the south-sound area. Some pictures courtesy of Fritz on the pictures link.

Stand-by for rope-swing kayaking pictures!

Short update on a long time...

2007-12-09T17:46:00.000-08:00

Alright...I know it's been a while, but I wasn't here! The NOLS sea kayaking trip in Baja was spectacular. I don't have time to cover the trip in detail here, but what will forever stand out toe me was the opportunity to watch 19 consecutive sunrises, alternately with a paddle or a cup of coffee in hand. The pictures are here;

http://picasaweb.google.com/out2sea03

Also, I started flight school unexpectedly early, which is contributing to the limited trip report from Baja. I have found a couple opportunities to kayak though...a classic delta trip to Jug Lake last week, and a foggy morning yesterday.

Odd Duck.
Downtown Milton.

Liquid Sunshine

2007-10-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Meg and I hit Lake Union to test out our new NDK Explorers. We had originally planned to paddle out through the locks and into Elliot Bay, but the winds were forecast to build up to 20+ knots in the afternoon and we decided that we did not relish maneuvering alongside larger vessels in those conditions while working our way through the locks for the first time. Instead, we went for a relatively uneventful paddle around Lake Union, stopping along the way for tea and crackers with Brad Soule. Never a good idea... no one wants to go back into the rain after a hot cup of tea. Still, we pushed on from his boat and paddled around Gas Works Park to Fremont Bridge and back across the lake toward Lynn Street Park where we put in. We spent about 30-40 minutes doing self-rescues at the put-in before loading the boats up and moving them to their new storage locations...where mine will sadly wait until the next time I find myself in Seattle :(

Pike Street Market

2007-09-24T15:39:00.001-07:00

Monkfish at Pike Street Market fishmonger...suprisingly tasty if cooked well.

Mobile Blog Test

2007-09-20T21:09:00.001-07:00

A test of mobile blogger...a landy w/ an NDK Explorer

Kayaking Johnstone Strait and Broughton Archipelago

2007-09-01T12:40:00.001-07:00

Alright...posting from the road was a dismal failure, so here it is...the trip report from Johnstone Strait.

August 15th:
Our kayaks didn't make it from lovely old England in time for the trip, but Alder Creek was kind enough to lend us two Nigel Dennis Explorers; the same model we had ordered. After a refresher course at Alder Creek on solo and group-assisted rescues, we loaded up the Subaru and started the two day trip north to Telegraph Cove in British Columbia, stopping in Port Angeles along the way to visit Dan and Steph...unfortunately, Steph was out of town and Dan had duty at the airstation. So it goes.

August 16th:
We ferried across to Vancouver Island on the 16th and spent most of the day driving north, picking up supplies and obtaining permission from the Mamalelqala Que'Qwa'SotEnox Band Office in Cambell River to visit Village Island. The supply run and long search in Campell River for the Band Office caused us to miss our tide at Telegraph Cove and we had to spend the night at Alder Bay. Still, it gave us a chance to more carefully organize gear and enjoy listening to the woman in the campsite next to ours whose heart would apparently stop beating if she ceased talking for even one second at any time during the long, pleasant cool evening on such a gorgeous beach overlooking the cutest islands that just had to be there for...well, you get the idea.

August 17th:
Underway at last (but late again). We bucked a little current-driven confused water traveling from Alder Bay to the Pearse Islands; nothing challenging, but a good wake-up to the dangers posed by ignoring tide and current predictions around Vancouver Island!

We paddled around the Pearse Island for about three hours, getting comfortable with the boats and waiting for slack water to cross Johnstone Strait. Around 1230 or so, we made the crossing in a choppy, wind-driven sea to Hanson (Yukusam) Island...a little challenge that, while expected, raised awareness again! We paddled in calm water along the north-eastern side of Hanson Island to get to a camping area near Blackfish Sound. Although not the most attractive campsite (especially in the rain), it was dinner time and we were ready to stop for the day. We took a hike along the trail near the campsite to examine the lookout marked on our charts. The trail was easily followed and showed extensive signs of human use. Then we spotted our first British Columbia woodland wildlife...hippies! Yes, it's true...they are still there. What we happened upon was an old, secret anti-logging activists camp. First Nation tribes and these activists successfully limited old-growth logging on Hanson Island after plotting the location of numerous culturally modified tree's; tree's whose bark had been stripped by First Nation's for baskets and other cultural artifacts(click here and here for descriptions). Walrus and his younger assistant provided us a tour of the site, describing the history of the First Nation tribe that had occupied the island, the history of the anti-logging camp, and modern efforts to limit logging and resource extraction in the area by training First Nation descendants to identify culturally modified tree's.

August 18th:
We left the Hanson Island campsite without looking back...in addition to not being particulary attractive, it was also littered with soggy cardboard boxes from the encampment. We crossed Blackfish Sound bound for Village Island and the remains of a 1930's village that was the site of the last potlach in British Columbia. The event was raided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police under anti-potlach laws (source: Kayak Routes of the Pacific Northwest). Crossing Blackfish Sound was our first interaction with significant marine traffic...this small area is a funnel for all major shipping traffic traveling the Inside Passage. We sat and waited off Hanson Island for a large tug and tow to pass before we started our crossing. We meandered through the islands as we paddled towards Village Island, watching porpoises transit past and examining the sunlit kelp beds. Camping isn't permitted on Village Island, so we stopped near Ralph Island to explore several small islets (read large rocks!) as potential campsites. One rock looked perfect... great views, barely enough room for two tents, dry driftwood, and a great place for a campfire. We stopped to pitch the tents and decided to push Village Island off until the 19th...the beauty of being on vacation!

We spent a nice night on the islet...a good dinner was consumed, s'mores were prepared, sunset was observed...

August 19th:
We woke to a foggy morning...ahhh, the many moods of British Columbia! No reason to rush...we started slowly and enjoyed our coffee while the fog lifted. We had barely started away from the island when we were overtaken by more transiting Harbour porpoises. We stopped to watch again as they came by. It's very cool to sit in near complete silence on the water, listening as porpoises break the surface and breathe heavily. We continued on towards Village Island, landing on the broad beach facing the village. Although our guidebook suggested an easy walk around the village, we found it heavily overgrown with blackberries (delicious blackberries...). The beach was littered with broken glass and many of the houses showed similar signs of beer-fests. Still, the attractiveness of the village was evident and we found two beautiful, aged totem poles on either end of the village...now barely recognizable as such without closer inspection.

From Village Island, we paddled northeastward towards Broughton Archipelago. We started our search for campsites towards evening, focusing our search for a beach facing the sun. We spotted numerous small islands some distance ahead, and given our success with the small island the previous night, we elected to push onward. As we paddled up to the islands, we could tell we had found somewhere special. More birds (and a greater variety of species) were winging their way around the islands as we approached, we saw more seals here than anywhere else, and at least one very large sea lion (the only one we saw on the trip) was sighted. Finding an island with a tent spot was a challenge...our marine recreation map didn't extend this far and our marine chart didn't provide sufficient scale. After 45 minutes of searching, we found somewhere we figured would work. We hopped out to check; there were no signs of a rookery and the island appeared unsuitable for a seal haul-out. There was a tiny flat spot on the island where we figured two tents would just fit. Perfect. The take-out could only support one person at a time, so we began a caravan of dry bags out of each kayak one at a time before hauling them up the rocks.

Although we practiced minimal-impact techniques throughout our trip, we were particularly careful here...the area was rich with marine wildlife, the island we camped on was extremely small, and due to it's exposed, isolated nature seemed to be rarely visited by humans. I won't publish it's location here...like us, you will have to explore a little to find it!

We whipped up a salmon alfredo with pasta for dinner and watched humpback whales blowing heavily as they swam by at sunset.

August 20th:
We woke to the sounds of heavy breathing...ORCAS! We scrambled for clothes and leapt out of the tents. The islands were ringed by very, very deep water and we watched for about a half-hour as three or four Orca's circled the island, apparently fishing. The water was clear enough to see them as they swam underwater, barely 100 feet from where we were standing. It was a spectacular sight and made for a great start to my 27th birthday. Not being experienced enough to distinguish between a resident pod of whales that feeds almost exclusively on salmon and a transient population that prefers seals and sea lions, we elected to linger over breakfast and a second cup of coffee to be sure that (a) we didn't disturb the Orca's, or (b) become the first recorded case of a wild-Orca attack on humans.

Once things had settled down, we proceeded towards Berry Island to explore a promising mark on our charts..."petroglyphs." We landed on the north side of the island and quickly found the trail. Unfortunately, he headed out the wrong direction and found only a resort. Backtracking to our starting point and hiking the other direction led us to a promising area sealed off with a sign identifying a First Nation site closed to public access. So, we had a nice two-hour hike in the woods, but saw no petroglyphs. We paddled on from Berry Island and hauled out at Compton Island. Although this is one of the few islands where a camping fee is levied, it also had great campsites set back in the woods that were relatively dry...a nice break from the rain we had experienced for most of the day...and some log benches that were a nice change from rock seats! Meg whipped up some enormous Enchiladas for dinner and broke out several small birthday cakes she had squirrelled during our supply run on Vancouver Island.

There might be better places to be on your birthday, but I can't think of any :)

August 21st:
While we packed the kayaks in the morning, waiting for our tide to cross to Blackfish Sounds, we were treated to an unusual sight. A deer had decided to brave the not-insignificant current in the channel between Compton and Harbledown Island. He narrowly missed a collision with several salmon fishermen (who evidently lacked deer licenses, or I suspect he never would have made it!) and after a 5-10 minute swim hauled himself out on Compton Island a little ways down the beach, calmly shook off, and meandered into the woods. Evidently, deer can swim. We paddled "straight out of Compton" shortly afterwards and made an uneventful crossing of Blackfish Sound to Hanson Island. We tucked into a lee on the south side of the island for a second review of the weather.

Winds for the next day were predicted to build late in the afternoon to strong to moderate as a high pressure built over the forecast area. That's it. "Outlook: strong to moderate northwesterly's."We sat around discussing the situation for a few minutes...the crossings we had made previously were in light to moderate winds. Scott spoke up first...given his previous experience with Johnstone Strait where and and Fisher never made it out of Telegraph Cove due to weather, we decided to bag the trip a day early. We didn't want to attempt a crossing of Johnstone Strait after a reasonable duration of wind over a long fetch had a chance to work on the surface, nor did we particularly want to get stuck on Hanson Island waiting out the weather.

We proceeded from our lee to the crossing, reaching Vancouver Island near Kaikash Creek and turned towards Alder Bay. Perversely, the weather improved throughout our paddle, ultimately becoming glass calm with no wind at the take out. Still, we felt no need to tempt the weather gods in what might easily have been the calm before the storm. We unpacked the boats and loaded the car. A bittersweet moment...it was a great trip, and I was ready for a shower and a beer, but it also meant that this vacation in the Pacific Northwest and it was about time to leave home and return to the South.

We never looked back to Johnstone Strait to verify the veracity of the forecast and evaluate our decision...better to let such things go.
----------------------------------------------------
I didn't spend a lot of time with the camera in hand, mostly due to challenging conditions during crossings that made photography unwise, or because I was too busy enjoying the view. You can find the pictures we did take on the trip here:

-- Johnstone Strait and Broughton Archipelago Pictures --

(I recommend using the slide show feature)

2007-07-22T18:35:00.001-07:00

After about two weeks of intensive failing to plan, Nate, Jon, Adam, and I met at Tuscan Oven to plan an overnight trip down the Blackwater River. We left agreeing to meet at my apartment. We failed to set a meeting time. At about 9am, we were all at the apartment ready to go. A quick stop for sandwiches and ice and we were on our way to the take-out at Blackwater River State Park to leave a vehicle. Here we encountered our first obstacle...none of the guides noted that although you could make multi-day trips down the Blackwater, leaving a car overnight at the final take-out was not an option. Fortunately, we were able to pay Blackwater Canoe Rentals for an overnight space just outside the park.

From the park, we headed north towards the put-in at Peadon Bridge. We crossed the border into Alabama. That was unexpected...the entire trip was supposed to take place entirely in Florida. We turned around and found our missed turn; the street sign was entirely covered by tree's. Not that it mattered...the road was closed less than a mile later due to a bridge replacement. We turned around (again) and headed for Cotton Bridge two miles downriver. Shortly after noon, we were on our way down the Blackwater.

Enroute, we determined that we hadn't brought spoons or bowls for oatmeal in the morning. That later proved irrelevant, as we also forgot the oatmeal, granola bars, coffee, and s'mores makings (except the chocolate). Frankly, it's a miracle we survived. Jon and Adam were able to save the inner-tube containing beer and dinner from several near-punctures and we made it to our sandbar that night and lit a great fire. We found a lot of dead cedar across the river from our camp, so after some heavy hatchet work, we had cedar-smoked kebab's for dinner.

Sunday morning, after a breakfast that didn't consist of oatmeal and coffee, we made our way down the last 9-odd river-miles to the take-out. Sunday was significantly less eventful than Saturday and we pulled out at around noon.

Jon and Adam maneuvering the beer cooler downriver.

Nate on the Blackwater

Drying clothes on the fire.

The boys...

Fire on the Sandbar.

Post-trip at the take-out.

A couple things...

2007-07-17T16:39:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I've been lazy on this....I've attached a few pics from a whitewater class that Jon, Ali, and I went to in Helena, AL. It was sweet, definitely different than sea kayaking. I'm hoping to get a little more involved in the sport, just not sure how it will work out. Anyway, here are the pics...

Meg and I are planning a big trip this summer...some hiking in Alaska and kayaking in Canada. As I can, I will try to post updates from the road.

Circumnavigation of Gravine Island on a Clif Bar...

2007-06-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I decided it was time to try a new paddling route...kayaking around Gravine Island seemed like a good idea so I borrowed a truck, loaded my Eddlyline SeaStar, and headed for the launch at Byrnes Lake. Byrnes Lake is an oxbow-type lake and used to be part of the Tensaw River. Gravine Island is predominantly a spoil-island that was created during a dredging project in the Tensaw River to allow for the movement of a mothball fleet of WWII-vintage warships into long-term storage.

The weather continues to be reasonably pleasant for kayaking (maybe a little warm) and paddling out of Byrnes Lake was completely uneventful. It was nice to be in a hard-shell boat again and I spent some time playing around as paddled out. From Byrnes Lake, I quickly crossed the Tensaw River to avoid being mowed down by the Memorial Day Weekend crowd of boats (I don't plan to find out, but I suspect a kevlar hull might do some good damage to an outboard!) and turned south to paddle with the current along Gravine Island's Eastern shoreline. There wasn't much to see along the Eastern shore, although everything is noticeably greener with the coming of summer and you can hear a lot of birds flitting around in the bushes. I wish I knew a little more about bird calls and give a better description of what I was hearing, but all I can say is that it was loud! The powerlines are home to osprey nests, but interesting enough, although each tower could theoretically support four nests, they each only hold one. I suppose, however, that it provides a chance for squirrels to cross to Gravine Island.

The West side of Gravine Island provides significant shelter from current due to the winding channels through grass and swamp. On any trip, this makes it worth planning to paddle against the current on the West side, and with the current on the East side. When I originally planned the trip, I didn't intend to cut into the two inlets on the West side, but I was felling energetic and paddle back into both. They make for interesting paddling, especially the southern inlet, because you can see a marked change in vegetation and growth as you paddle in towards the center of the island. Because of the shallow entrance, there is very little powerboat traffic and a good deal of bird life. After a quick stop on the sandbar at the North end of Gravine Island (home to red-bellied turtles during nesting season!) I rounded the island and crossed back to Byrnes Lake and the landing. My two detours ultimately drew out my original trip plan of 8-10 miles into to a 15 mile excursion, but it was well worth it! A shorter, and equally interesting trip would involve paddling around the North end of Gravine and cutting into one of the inlets before paddling back along the same Northern route and across to Byrnes Lake.

The bird

2007-05-21T16:22:00.001-07:00

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...

2007-05-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-15T16:37:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-05-09T15:23:00.000-07:00

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.

first drive of my new Werner paddle...

2007-03-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

wow. yeah. nice. soooooo much nicer than I expected. OK, enough meaningless descriptors. I bought a new 210cm Werner Cyprus paddle. It's their foam core, carbon fiber high-angle touring blade. I have been using a 220cm Werner Camano, a fiberglass, low-angle blade...which I like and it's been a very good paddle. But I wanted a spare paddle. I considered buying something cheap (sort of like a donut spare for your car) that would get me back to the beach in the event of a broken Camano. But after paddling the higher angle blade while Meg and I tested some boats in Portland, I decided to get a good quality paddle and have the option of high or low angle blades while underway.

These are my thoughts on the new blade....first off, it has a much lighter feel out of the water. The adjustable ferrule had me a little nervous, but after seeing the quality up-close, I'm no longer worried about it. It's much more versatile than a fixed feather-angle paddle and easier to adjust on the water. Once on the water, the paddle was a dream. The adjustment to a higher angle stroke was a little awkward at first..if you try to paddle hard at a low angle, the blade flutters a little, which is effective feedback if you get lazy. With the larger blade-face there is a discernible difference in the power at hand. I was able to get the boat up to speed much quicker, and even a more relaxed touring stroke felt much more powerful. The buoyancy in the blades really reduces the effort on the back part of the stroke; at the right pace, it almost paddles itself. The lighter weight, shorter length, buoyancy, and larger blade face made it really easy to pull-off some maneuvering strokes. I found I was able to use one hand to hold the paddle upright an execute some draw strokes, and I was able to put significantly more power to the water with the larger blade (power-available may be biggest difference between this and my other paddle).

All in all, I love the paddle; certainly more than I expected too. I led a commuter paddle along the causeway when I first used the new Werner, so I didn't really have the opportunity to do as much experimentation as I wanted. Right now, I can't wait to get back out on the water.

Bay Minette Creek and the Blackwater Heritage Trail

2007-03-19T16:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I got two things done this weekend. I had intended to hit the Gulf this weekend to paddle on the ocean rather than up in the Delta, but with small craft advisories out on Saturday I changed my plans and headed for Buzbee's fish camp and Bay Minette Creek. I have paddled out of Buzbee's a number of times, but we invariable turn right and head for the river. So, for a change, I paddled north up Bay Minnette Creek. A quick look at the map showed a bridge a little over 5.5 water miles north, so that was my aim point. The creek was a lot nicer than I had imagined. There was very little development and as I moved north, it narrowed down and actually started to look like some of the river banks in parts of the American Southwest. Like a lot of the rivers and creeks, Bay Minette Creek terminates in a tree-choked, gin clear spring. In this case, it was just past the bridge. On the paddle back, a hawk flew close-by, a large fish swimming in it's talons. There were a lot of turtles out too, as usual they began throwing themselves off their logs as soon as I came into site. There were some very large splashes, so some of these turtles are pretty large; smart enough not to be caught napping on a log by a hungry 'gator. Bay Minette was about an 11 mile paddle.

On Sunday, I drove out to Milton to ride the Blackwater Heritage Trail with Nate. The trail is pretty neat, and it runs from Milton out to the back gate at NAS Whiting Field (hoping to be able to commute along it next year!). The portion that runs through Milton is pretty busy and has a lot of stops, but once through the village, it opens up pretty nicely. It is, literally, up hill both ways though...the lowest part of the trail in in the middle, so essentially you are riding across a valley. Nothing serious though, it is THE SOUTH! The trail is part of the national Rails to Trails system, and part of it runs through farms...quails run across the road, adding to complications such as wayward children on training wheels and vagrant-looking teenagers on skateboards. All in all though, it was perfect weather for biking and a good distance, maybe 16 miles overall.

l.

Canal Island Group Trip

2007-03-11T07:49:00.000-07:00

It's always nice when plans come together! Jon, Ali, Nate and I had been thowing around the idea of kayaking trip into the Delta for a while, particularly before Nate PCS'd out to Hawaii. Last weekend proved to be the perfect merger of a cutter maintenance period for me, a few days not on the road for Jon and Ali, and a non-flying Saturday for Nate. So, after laying in supplies for an overnight we strapped kayaks to trucks and headed for Hubbard Landing.

Our launch was slightly delayed as we had forgotten the beer at home and had to drive back to Stockton in order to pick some up. Once we were suitably loaded we hit the water and began paddling towards Canal Island platform. We stopped in Big Beaver Creek for Jon and Ali to dip the 5 Rivers Resource Center paddle before continuing to the platform. We were able to approach the platform from the northern channel; last time I was there I had to come from the south as the northern end was completely blocked by downed trees. We stopped by the platform to offload gear and pull out the map to plan the rest of the day. We elected to paddle down Little Lake until we were tired, or reached a point where we needed to turn around and head back before we lost daylight. As we came out of the south channel into Little Lake, we ran into Rob Nykvist, who pointed us towards Napp Lake where he had seen a number of small 'gators out sunning themselves. Seeing as this was probably a one-off opportunity for Nate and as everyone apparently wanted to see alligators, we revised our plan and turned north for Napp Lake. As Rob promised, we saw several small alligators that had roused themselves out of torpor to hang out on some of the sunnier logs. Nate was able to dip the paddle in Napp Lake, and once we hit the end of Napp Lake, hunger drove us back to the platform.

Canal Island platform seems to harbour a lot of fish; like the last time I was there, we could hear fish jumping all through the night. The owls were out too, and combined with a full moon, made for a really nice, if loud night. Still, we all slept well and woke up to a very cold morning. We paddled the 5 or so miles back relatively early that mornng as Jon had a flight out that night...with a following wind and current, we made very good time. At the end of the trip, we had paddled about 14miles through five named bodies of water.

Sometimes...

2007-02-19T12:34:00.000-08:00

not checking the map or the weather before you leave makes for interesting paddling. I left this morning after a bracing breakfast of tamago kake gohan (Wikipedia it if you must!) to paddle off Fairhope. I've started runs from the Pier Street Boat Ramp many times, but I've never used it as a kayak launching point before and wanted to check it out. I pulled on the windproof fleece and headed to the water....not many people out, so I got to assemble the boat quickly. In addition to the using the Pier Street Boat Ramp, I also wanted to look for a creek north of Devils Hole that I had heard about (but didn't look for on a map). A gentle 3-5kt wind followed me as I paddled past the Fairhope Municipal Pier and Devils Hole. Unfortunately, no other creek appeared to be forthcoming and as I was unwilling to wait for global climate change to generate results, I turned around about a mile or so past Devils Hole and paddled back. Devils Hole contains the Fairhope Yacht Club and "Fly Creek," so I swung in to check out the sailboats and paddle up Fly Creek. On the way out, I ran into (almost literally) a bearded, old fisherman throwing a cast-net out for mullet. I need to start carrying cash with me when I paddle; I just found a recipe for fried mullet and this would have been a great opportunity to pick some up fresh. Still, it was a pleasant scene watching someone who had obviously been fishing for many years working his trade on a sunny day. As I popped out of the breakwater, I realized that the wind had picked up significantly...to the tune of a 10-15kt headwind. Actually, a pure headwind would have been nice, this one was slightly off the port bow, requiring me to shift my grip on the paddle to the right. That works well for making automatic correcting strokes, but it does give wind gusts a good lever to work on! Anyway, it was a good paddle, about 8.5 miles over 2.25 hours with a strong finish and a Clif bar at the end.

Kayaking Key West and the Dry Tortugas

2007-01-25T15:24:00.000-08:00

I bought my Feathercraft folding kayak for occasions such as these...

COBIA was the first cutter from 8th District to deploy to Key West to help fill the gap left by the recent suspension of operations of the eight 123' patrol boat conversions. Operationally, it was less exciting that I had hoped, but before we left, I stuck the kayak in the bilge, slept under my paddles en-route, and subsequently had the chance to do a couple neat paddles while we were deployed.

My first trip was in Key West itself when we were kept in-port due to weather (7-9 ft seas outside the reefline, larger in the Gulf Stream). The kayak guru's at Lazy Dog Outfitter's provided me with information about some of the best mangrove trips in the area, so I lugged the boat about a quarter mile to the old seaplane docks and launched into some strong headwinds. The route I followed ran north along Key West past the sailboat moorings (and there were many!). I then turned south into a small canal that immediately shifted to dense Mangrove. Despite being spitting distance from civilization (in this case, Ruby Tuesday's and Winn Dixie), it feels like you are miles from anywhere. I could see countless fish swimming amongst the mangroves, and a small nurse shark passed underneath the boat just after I entered the canal.

After about ten minutes of easy paddling, the canal made a 90 degree turn and opened up into a residential zone...airport property on the right, houses on the left. I took a right into a small entrance that passes through more mangrove forest and into the salt ponds. I paddled around in there for a while...no more sharks, but more little fish fleeing the kayak, blue herons, and great egrets.

I paddled out of the salt ponds, and in the interests of not backtracking, I continued along the canal until it opened up into the pass that bisects Key West. After passing under the famous Route 1, I continued north into more open water. While I was inside the mangroves, the wind had picked up considerably, but was at my back fortunately. I kayaked around the North side of Sigsbee Naval Park and back through the sailboat moorings to the seaplane dock with significant following winds and seas. Always fun!

My second trip was at Dry Tortugas National Park when we stopped by on our way home for a little R&R (our first trip there was less relaxing...we picked up 21 Cuban migrants who were "feet-dry" and transported them back to Key West). We were anchored about a half-mile north of the park, so I dropped the kayak in the water and paddled off to see the fort. With only a couple hours available, I landed on the north swim beach and walked around to the front of the fort. There is a short 30-40 minutes unguided tour, so I walked around for a while looking at everything. The fort was built as a strategic outpost to protect the Gulf Coast, the theory being that anyone who controlled the Dry Tortugas had secured themselves a base of operations that would allow them to strike anywhere inside the gulf with relative ease. The scale of the fort is simply amazing...and that actually contributed to it's failure. The building is so heavy that it settled onto itself, cracking the freshwater cisterns and creating other problems. Still, it's worth a stop if you are in the area.

After walking around the fort, I hopped back into the kayak to circumnavigate the fort from the water. From the outside, you can easily see how impregnable the fort would have been...three tiers of cannons laid out to provide effective crossfire. It would have taken a substantial fleet some time to bring down such a fort.

Great Egret(?) in the Salt Ponds.

Pushing into the mangroves...

Oh, the temptations!

Bird on watch along the old piers.

Scott & I on the Bartram Canoe Trail

2006-12-10T08:53:00.000-08:00

On a short notice trip, Scott and I headed for the upper delta and the Bartram Canoe Trail. We launched from Upper Bryant on Thursday afternoon and made a slow trip to the Dead Lake platforms. The water levels were decent, so we poked around some of the side channels off the Tensaw River on our way. Not much in the way of wildlife though, despite the relatively warm and humid day... just the winter birds.

Friday night was interesting. We knew that a front was pushing through, but weren't sure how the weather would ultimately play out during the trip. We soon found out. I spent the first part of the night hanging half-way out of my 15F sleeping bag, trying to stay comfortable. Around midnight, a storm blew over the delta, giving Scott a taste of southern storms. The rain poured down, dropping down the visibility to a few feet off the platform. Gusting winds started to blow the rain sideways under the platform and into the tent. We hopped out to slide the tent to the middle of the platform before we got completely soaked. Once the storm blew over, the temperature rapidly dropped, leaving me well inside the sleeping bag and struggling to stay warm.

The next morning, warmed with Kona coffee and oatmal, we headed up Bayou Tallapoosa to the west branch of the Tensaw River. The wind and current were with us, making this a pretty easy paddle We swung by Two Rivers Point Campsite to check it out, before moving on to the Bottle Creek Indian Mounds, the site of homes and temples of Mississippian Indians from approximately AD 1200 to 1450. We hiked mounds A and B, but there are actually a number of mounds in the area (although none are as large as A and B). The link will take you to a map. I've heard, but never read, several stories that the mounds were particularly important when water levels rose to flood levels. It's believable when you see how low the lands lay and consider that Katrina brought roughly 20 feet for storm surge to parts of the Gulf Coast.

We grabbed lunch on the bank of Bottle Creek before continuing through Bayou Jessamine to the Jug Lake platform. I've seen a lot of gators in Jug Lake in the past, but there were none on this trip unfortunately. We looked closely on sunny patches and logs, but it appears there were none readily visible. It was definitely cold, so perhaps they were hidden in the muddy banks. The water level was also extremely low...probably as low as I've seen up there. We pulled out on the platform to set up camp and eat dinner.

Once the sun had set and the moon was up, we hopped back into the kayaks to do a near-full moon paddle. It was cold and very quiet as we paddled...and of course everything was in grey scale. It only took a few minutes to paddle the lake, and we proceeded into Bayou Jessamine to paddle out to the river. The lake is relatively open, but the Bayou is pretty well covered by trees. So, we paddled for several miles in ghostly moonlight. Downed trees and branches pop out suddenly in such dim light, and in the shadows you never see them...just the sudden bump as the kayaks slide over or bump off the logs (or gators...we'll never know!) at 3 knots. It's an interesting experience to paddle at night and if you think about it at the time, you wonder what it was like for the frogmen who paddled klepper folding kayaks during nighttime raids.

After another chilly night, we loaded up the boats for our last day of paddling. We left Bayou Jessamine and rejoined the Tensaw river, passing east of both Larry Island and Richardson Island before arriving at our starting point at Upper Bryant. All in all, a nice paddle covering about 25 miles over two day with a little history and what wildlife the winter scene offers.

On Sunday, we met up with Harriet, Fritz, and Bob to paddle Magnolia Springs and a little of the Magnolia River. The water up Magnolia Springs runs clear, and the current and narrow turns make for some enjoyable paddling. We paddled up as far as we could before turning back and going downriver a ways. Our return paddle gave us a brilliant view of the full moon sitting low in a light blue sky.

(all pictures come courtesy of Scott...I forgot to pull out my camera)

Meg and I at Dead Lake Island

2006-11-05T15:20:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the kindness of our friends Fritz and Harriet, who lent us their truck and kayak, Meg and I were able to camp at the Dead Lake Island platforms, something she has wanted to do for a while. After picking up the neccesary supplies, we headed to Upper Bryants Landing. We paddled west along the Tensaw River, and cut down the east side of Dead Lake Island, detouring up an unnamed bayou to add a little time to our paddle. The fall colors had started, making for a very nice paddle. We swung up to the platforms and set up camp well before sunset, enjoying a lovely freeze dried dinner as the sun went down. It would proved to be a very loud night, with owls and sundry other fowl hooting and squawking through the night. The occasional fish would jump, adding to the symphony. I think at this point, I have become accustomed to the noise, because I feel asleep pretty quickly. Meg is more used to the trumpeter swans of Cordova, so I think she was up a little later. Still, we both slept fairly well. The highlight of the trip (next to seeing Meg) was waking up to a spectacular foggy morning. It was chilly, but a good helping of oatmeal and coffee set us up nicely and after loading up the boats, we headed off for Bayou Tallapoosa. The water was very high, making Bayou T a very easy trip...no portaging over or around logs. We stopped for a quick snack where Bayou T rejoins the Tensaw to the west before backtracking. On the return trip, Meg scared a healthy size 'gator off it's perch on a sunny log. Unfortunately, we weren't close enough to see much more than a fleeting glimpse, but such is life! We ran back up the west side of Dead Lake Island and returned to Upper Bryants landing. It was a pleasant and uneventful trip, covering about 14 miles of water and giving Meg the opportunity to experience some good kayaking in the upper Delta!

Diving the Mighty - O

2006-11-01T16:40:00.000-08:00

After watching the Oriskany sink, I finally got the chance to dive on her a couple weeks ago. Mike Darrah was in town for the his HH-65 transition course and had a free weekend, so we booked a trip on a charter going out Saturday morning and headed for Pensacola on Friday to stay with some friends. Saturday morning was pleasantly cool, and after finding someone kind enough to move our tanks to the boat from the rental shop (would have been nice to know before we got there!) we drove to the marina. Sixteen people showed up for this trip, which maxed out the boat and gave a good illustration of the popularity of the dive. We steamed out through Big Lagoon and Penscola pass into some mild seas. Quick peeks over the boat captains shoulder gave Mike and I the chance to exercise our deep understanding of the six-minute rule, and after playing that game for about two hours we found ourselves over the Oriskany.

On our first dive of the day, Mike and I descended straight down to the flight deck...a max depth of about 137 feet when I placed my depth gauge on the flight deck. We spent only about three minutes there, long enough for me to realize that there was some minor problem with my primary second stage. It was giving me perfectly good air, but every breath sounded like I was breathing through a ripped diagphram, so I switched to the octopus to avoid the noise. The vis wasn't great, maybe 50-60ft, so after flying like an airplane over the flight deck, we proceeded up the conning tower. As we went we began planning our second dive...a quick descent to the bridge for some pictures and back on up to the surface. About this point, I noticed that my air was running out quicker than usual. Then I noticed that my second stage was leaking air. Never good, but we were on our way up, so I started keeping a close eye on my air. I wrote a note to Mike on my slate while we at our safety stop letting him know about my reg. He started to write back, but at that point I could see that I was about out of air and I could feel that tightening sensation that indicated I didn't have a whole lot left in the tank (thank you Navy dive training!). I signalled to Mike that I was cutting my safety stop short (about 20 seconds) and began an easy ascent for the surface, breathing slowly and calmly. I figure I had about two breaths left in the tank when I made it. Mike was writing to let me know that my high pressure hose had also starting leaking through a few pinholes. Fun.

After a nice long surface interval and some work on my sick rental reg (good reason to use your own gear when you can) Mike and I were ready to do our second dive. Given that my reg was suspect, we planned a very, very conservative second dive and I resolved to stay within a breaths length of Mike. We dropped down to the bridge, took some pictures, then worked our way up. We swam through a couple of the open compartments in the tower, took a couple more pictures with the American flag, and proceeded to the surface. I could see that my air was dropping a little more than normal, but it was manageable and we surfaced with over 1K in the tanks. It was a great day to dive, not too hot and the water was still warm, about 74F on the wreck. Apart from the regulator, it was about perfect.

Canyon Country

2006-10-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

Saturday, September 30th, 2006 - I am pinned to the bulkhead of the plane, wedged-in so securely by two brobdingnagian gamblers I can barely reach into a cargo pocket for my well-thumbed copy of Ed Abbey's Desert Solitaire. The flight attendant walks by once we are at altitude and, recognizing my plight, offers any of us the opportunity to move to an empty row. Newtonian physics take hold and the lighter body offers the least resistance to movement. Freedom.

I am off to Canyon Country for several days of backcountry adventure in Zion National Park with my friend Scott. The plan is to rendevous with his parents in Las Vegas, and once I am off the plane, I quickly pick Scott's dad out of the crowded baggage claim area; same gait and physical character...Kramer's aren't hard to pick out of a crowd. We meet Scott near their truck and start working our way out of Las Vegas, stopping by REI to pick-up several critical items that were left behind...can't get by without a stove or iodine tablets! We stop by the Kolob Canyon Ranger Station to pick up our permits. Scott's reservations have been lost, and all we can get out of the Ranger working the desk are the words "that's gonna be a problem." Ultimately, we get our permit ("can't issue more than two days early, that's gonna be a problem." "But we are going today!"), our campsites ("might be booked, that's gonna be a problem"), and we are entered into the computer ("that's gonna be a problem!").

Saturday night finds us at the Wildcat Canyon Trailhead. We hike in for a mile or so until we find a suitable place to put up the tent for the night and celebrate with a mini-bottle of Merlot (hey, weighs less than a six-pack and drinks better warm).

Saturday morning, we start hiking along the Wildcat Canyon Trail. Within 30 minutes we dump our packs and travel light down the Northgate Peaks spur trail. We find a squirrel guarding the stone outcrop that serves as a viewpoint...cute, but probably not in the squirrels best interest as he's visible for some distance. M. Squirrel politely freaks out and runs for cover, leaving us our first good look at canyon country. A little over a year in Mobile, AL has left me unprepared for this; massive elevation change, stunning colors both in the rock and the fall foliage, and in the background we can see the dark shapes of more canyons and peaks against the blue sky. We look on, our minds reeling. Mine ponders vertigo, but rejects it as unacceptable for a boy born in the West of Ireland and raised in the Pacific Northwest. It settles for blurting out "cool." Scott's, although raised in canyon country, is also apparently struggling after a year in Baltimore...it settles for "yeah." We enjoy the views of the Northgate Peaks and North Guardian Angel before turning back towards Wildcat Canyon Trail. Scott spies a couple deer on the trail as we hike back. Another reason I sometimes refer to him as "great white hunter." Back in our packs, we continue on the trail. Wildcat Canyon Trail has some spectacular fall colors, but it's a rolling easy trail well back from the canyon and apart from some photogenic farm equipment and an attractive Park Ranger demanding backcountry permits, there isn't much to see. We press on to our first campsite near Sawmill Springs.

Campsite 9 at Sawmill Springs is tucked down in a little hollow, sheltered but dull...something that will prove to be a theme on this trip. "Campsite with a view? That's gonna be a problem!" (I shouldn't complain, it beats the South anyday!) It is here that we learn a valuable lesson: Never buy several things that look like a bottle of iodine tablets - a mini bottle of Arizona Gunslinger Hotsauce will not purify water. We start boiling, one little pot at a time. :)

We have a deliberately slow start on Monday; it's not a long trip and the elevation change won't be that great. After boiling another dromedary's worth of water we start hiking. In short order, we find ourselves hiking along the rim. We stop to look before one of us falls off the trail.

The latter half of Monday's hike takes us back off the rim a little ways and the trail reveals some spectacular fall colors. As we hike up towards the trailhead for Telephone Canyon and the remainder of West Rim Trail we enounter the only other through-hiker on the trail. Judging by her accent, we figure she is from somewhere near that magical line where sentences stop ending in "yah," and begin ending with "eh."(**Canadian border**) At this point, we start getting intermittent rain.

Campsite 4 is slightly better than than Campsite 9, but only because a fire has cleared out the Eastern side, allowing us to see into Telephone Canyon and towards Zion Canyon. We quickly throw up the tent during a break in the weather and break out the rainfly for the first time. That night, I leave out the pots in the hope of collecting some more water. At this point, we have enough to hike out the next day, but I figure I will have to forgo my usual morning cup of coffee. (It was a fruitless gesture, water evaporates almost as quickly as it falls and I only get about a mugful...it tasted nice though)

That night, chicken curry or insufficiently purified water drags me out of my warm sleeping bag to admire the moonlight on the canyon walls and the stunning view overhead. The Milky Way looks spectacular from our vantage point.

We wake up on Tuesday to thunder, LOUD THUNDER!! The weather has deteriorated in the night and we are trapped in the tent. The sound of the rain hitting the nylon tent is identical to that of corn kernels inside a microwave. As the storm passes overhead, we are treated to a lightshow as well. Looks like a fork in the same microwave. I break out the camera to record this moment. Scott observes that I can stand up in the tent. I think he's jealous.

When the rain passes, we start our hike off the rim and into Zion Canyon. The topographic map doesn't do this justice. My calves will hurt for days after this descent. The view is beautiful, but our attention stays on the trail. It's not particularly difficult, but the margin for error is slim and the consequences great. As we go down, we see evidence of yet another fire. The smells on the trail are a crisp mixture of carbonized trees and new growth wet with the mornings rain. A pleasant change from the often overwhelming smell of rotting vegetation and mud I usually encounter kayaking around Mobile.

As we approach Angels Landing, the last major landmark on our route, we start to encounter the day hikers out of Zion. They leave the gentle odor of laundry detergent and body-soap as they pass by. After three days on the trail, we don't. After three days of only Scott's company, and a brief meeting with a ranger and another hiker, I get a touch of that feeling that often described by people who spend much of their lives relatively isolated and outdoors...a lingering wish that all these people would just piss off.

It is interesting to see how many different types of people are day-hiking on the trail. We pass by elderly tour groups struggling up the hill, groups of late-middle aged women cheerfully hiking with their CamelBaks, families dragging unwilling kids, college groups, and, most amusing to us, groups of intense people carrying small backpacks and wielding trekking poles like they are crossing the Artic. They seem none to happy to acknowlede our existence and I narrowly avoid being stabbed in the toes a couple times. Probably wasn't a pretty scene when they met the elderly tour group further up the trail.

When we get down into the canyon, we make our way to the little snack bar at the Zion Lodge. As I wait in line, the people behind me seem to have lost any sense of personal space. One kick in the heel too many, and I stretch my arms up for the ceiling. They retreat. Scott and I grab a seat in the shade and tear into a couple bacon cheeseburgers...three days on the trail with cereal bars and freeze-dried dinners leaves one hankering for such things!

While trapped in the tent that morning, we decided that we would attempt a slot canyon called The Subway on Thursday. Consequently, we elect to finish our hike in Zion Canyon rather than hike our way up to the East Rim Trail and the East Entrance to the park. Scott's parents kindly agree to our request to be picked up in Zion proper on Wednesday rather than the East Entrance. This allows us to be first in line on Wednesday morning to get our backcountry permit for the Subway. We put the tent up in the campground and hop on the shuttle towards The Narrows, the northern portion of Zion Canyon. We hike the mile out to the end of the paved trail and throw ourselves into the water. It feels great to be in sandals, in the river, and out of our packs. The Narrows is spectacular and we hike onwards, occasionally walking into chest deep water and tripping over rocks as the canyon narrows arounds us. We take the split at Orderville Canyon, hiking a little ways up that before the declining light forces us to turn around.

The next day we wake up well before dawn and, carrying coffee and cereal bars, we head for the backcountry desk to get our permits for The Subway. We sip coffee and watch the sunrise in the canyon while we wait. A Ranger comes out and posts the flash flood forecast, "low potential." Good. We get our permits a few minutes later.
Permits obtained, coffee drunk, and cereal bar consumed, we grab the shuttle and head to the Emerald Pools before the crowds. A sign on the shuttle encourages us not to feed wildlife, carefully describing the harmful effects on the animals. The sign features the mugshot of a deer which probably ought to be gracing a sign encouraging us not to hit wildlife with a truck. It's the kind of thing that would give a child nightmares. The emerald pools are very cool, and at the early hour, we were the only people there.

Scott's parents arrive around noon, and we head for their home in Kanab. After a quick stop for lunch, we proceed onwards to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon to watch the sunset. This brings a whole new level of incomprehensible scenery. I suspect the only way you can appreciate all of the Grand Canyon at once is from space. It truly is overwhelming in scale.
We double check the weather when we return to Kanab. The flash flood forecast has gone from low- to high-potential. The weatherman predicts our untimely demise on the ten o'clock news; describing a stormy weather system that has blown-in. Frustrated, we all but cancel our plans to hike the Subway, agreeing to wake up at 4am to check the forecast again. I struggle out of bed just after four, bleary-eyed but hopeful. Unfortunately, the 3:36am forecast warns us to go back to bed. We grab some more sleep and as a consolation prize we drive to Bryce Canyon on our way to Las Vegas. We take a short hike through the Hoodoo's. I'm enjoying seeing my third unique canyon of the trip. Sometime, I'd like to hike the under-rim trail here.

Scott drops me in Las Vegas, and I am on my way to my last campsite of the trip; Dallas/Ft Worth International Airport. The plane is nearly empty this time... Ed Abbey and I have the row to ourselves.

And the critical metrics:
Distance on the West Rim Trail: 30 miles
Average Speed: 3 mph
Max elevation: 7634 ft
Min elevation:4276 ft
Total ascent: 3339 ft

Coastal Resource Center: checked out!

2006-08-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

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

2006-08-25T12:27:00.000-07:00

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!!

2006-08-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-05-05T14:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally got around to making a trip out to the Canal Island platform. After doing all the neccesary shopping, I packed up the boat and supplies and headed for Upper Bryant Landing. Thursday was a classic spring day in the south...hot, but with blue skies and a light breeze, and the water in the river was pleasantly cool. This was my first trip heading up the river from Bryant's Landing, and my first interesting discovery was that the river had broken through one of it's bends sometime after my map was made...I still made the whole loop instead of taking the river's natural course, but I suspect that a few years from now the old path will have silted up completely. Currently, only canoes and kayaks can make it through the old way. It was a great trip for watching wildlife. On the way out, I saw Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, and a couple Swallow-tailed Kites. The gator count came out to four, two on the way in, and two on the way out (although I suspect one of the ones I saw on the way out was one I'd seen the previous day. As always, it's funny to watch the turtles making heroic leaps off the high logs where they sun themselves when I approach. Unfortunatly, I found one that looked as if it had been hit by a boat propeller while coming to the surface.

The current was with me through Tensaw Lake and Big Beaver Creek, and althoug it slowed down near Bear Creek, the approach to Canal Island platform was pretty easy and I passed under some neat arches on the way through Canal Lake. I arrived at the platform a little after 5 and made camp while I still had some daylight. This is where I discovered that I had forgotten to bring a pot for boiling water! This meant no tasty freeze-dried dinner, nor coffee in the morning. Luckily, I had bought an enamel camping mug at Wal-Mart on a whim that day. I was able to hold it over the stove to boil water and enjoyed a good meal from Oregon Freeze-dried Foods...losing only the skin on my fingertips to minor burns. Worth it though. I also discovered that my hammock, which worked flawlessly at the Dead Lake Island Platform, failed me at Canal Island. I hopped in after dark, only to find it sliding down the posts to the floor of the platform. Not the end of the world, it functions like a tent at that point, but not as comfortable as it is when suspended. It was a very loud night out in the woods...two owls were hooting at each other, something else was making loud grunting calls, and the fish were jumping like crazy (probably a result of the full moon). I was splashed several times by fish leaping next to the platform. I saw a lot of fireflys too, which I haven't seen in years.

If the water was high enough when I woke up, I had planned to paddle in a large circle, going back by way of Stiggins Lake, through Lake Slough back to the Tensaw river, then taking the shortcut through Tallapoosa Bayou back towards Upper Bryant Landing. However, I woke up to extremely low water and had to return the way I came in. The water was so low, I actually had trouble paddling back out from the Platform to the main waterways. I heard thunder regularly from the time I made my cup of coffee until I hit the water. A series of ominous clouds rolled through as I approached Tensaw Lake, and I was hit by a couple small showers. I elected to make a run straight for Upper Bryant as the forecast I had heard before I left called for thunderstorms and rain in the afternoon, and it looked as if it was going to be early. That turned out to be the right decision. I got back a little after 11, having paddled a little over 16 miles (~8 out, ~8 back), and packed up the car. Shortly after I hit the road, the rain hit pretty hard...the typical deluge that reduces visibility to zero and leaves the roads steaming.

All in all, it was a great trip, thanks especially to that enamel cup that saved me from having to survive on a squished banana and a couple granola bars!

More Canal Island Pictures

2006-05-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

Magnolia River Miasma

2006-03-12T17:15:00.001-08:00

I had some new kit from NorthWater that I wanted to try out today, so I headed off to the Magnolia River as part 2 of my exploration of the Weeks Bay estuarine area. Looking at the topo's, I figured I'd be able to make it about six miles up the river before it shrunk down to creek size. I arrived at the boat ramp at the mouth of the bay accompanied by perfect paddling weather... a lot like Hawaii actually, warm and a little breezy. On the water, it turned out to be a lot breezy with 20+ just off the boat ramp where it seems to funnel in from somewhere. Setting off, I had the paddle gripped almost to the blade on the left side so I could sweep stroke the right and try to stop the boat whipping into wind. Luckily, the shelter of the river is only about a 1/2 mile from the ramp, and from there it was a relatively easy paddle with only occasional strong head winds where there were breaks in the trees. The houses down by the river didn't seem especially affected by last year's hurricanes, particularly as I moved deeper into the river. I shot by the first four or five miles pretty quickly. There was a lot of bird life sheltering in the river from the stronger winds on the bay, and a lot of fish jumping. I met Danny Smith, who attended the club meeting last week, as I passed by the bridge...we chatted for a while about kayaking and good put-ins before I continued up the river. Upriver of the bridge is where the Magnolia River really shines. Once you are past the houses, the river twists and turns, and becomes very sandy and clear (gin clear is the operative expression, I think). There looks to be some construction going on, I had to paddle through a little smoke from some sort of slash and burn operation, so I recommend hitting the river before it becomes further subdivided. However, for now it is pretty peaceful in the uppermost mile or so and it is a really nice little paddle. You could probably launch from the bridge and paddle that upper mile or so if you were pressed for time. After about 6.27 miles total miles from the boat ramp, I could go no further and turned around to enjoy lunch on my own private sun-speckled island in the river. On the way, I nearly ran over a fearless little turtle who kindly stood by while I snapped a few pictures. I saw nearly a dozen turtles, but most shot into the water before I could get a good look. This little guy sat quite patiently however. After lunch, with the current and wind behind me, I made good time for home. Coming around the final bend, where you leave the river and head for the boat ramp, I hit the strong headwinds and watched my speed drop by nearly a knot while I crabbed along at almost 20deg to my desired heading to the boat ramp. Always a fun way to finish a paddle!

As far as gear, I can highly recommend North Water's moduluar deck bag (it's not dry, but it's very flexible) and their foam paddle float...although I need some more practice in determining the best deck set up for it.

Pelicans in the Mist...a sunrise paddle on the Fish River

2006-02-28T17:18:00.001-08:00

With a day off on Monday, I set the alarm for 5pm and fortunately woke up at 5:15am to do a sunrise paddle on the Fish River. I loaded up the car with kayak and warm clothes (it was about 32F when I set off) and drove up Hwy 98 to the boat ramp on the Fish River. The stars were clear and bright, and a little dark blue was showing on the Eastern horizon. I got to the boat ramp and assembled the boat in the freezing cold before setting off in a nice mist with cold hands and a brightening sky. At that point, I was bundled up in windbloc fleece, spray jacket, hat, and neoprene paddling gloves. There is a vast amount of wildlife at that time in the morning, and you can see a changing of the guard between nighttime predators and their daytime counterparts. I caught a racoon ambling away from the shoreline, leaving behind a nice pile of clamshells. Occasionally, herons and pelicans would appear out of the mist, flying low over the water. I also had a couple loons (?) surface next to the boat, scaring both of us as they suddenly saw me when the surfaced and took off screeching right next to my ear. Near the end of the paddle, as the mist started to clear, I saw a falcon or hawk...looked like a Peregrine Falcon, which stands out in my mind from an old Hardy Boy's book. Anyway, it was a great paddle, started out bundled up in the cold and dark and finished in the sunshine with all the warm gear stuffed into the cockpit.

Fish River Pictures

2006-02-28T17:09:00.000-08:00

Alaska

2006-02-27T16:15:00.000-08:00

Some good pics from Alaska...great trip, highly recommend the forest service cabins in the woods to anyone visiting. Apparently, you can charter a float plane to take you to just about any of them. $70, you can't get anywhere from Mobile for that little :)

Anyway, it was a great trip with lots of hiking in the snow and some good Alaskan coffe from Ravens Brew.

Weeks Bay

2006-01-21T18:16:00.000-08:00

Although it was threatening to rain and thunder today, I set out to paddle Weeks Bay. Saw a little rain on the drive out, but otherwise the sky was pretty calm. I haven't been down Rt 1 to the bay before...there is still quite a bit of Hurricane cleanup going on, far more than you see further up north in Fairhope, a function of elevation I suspect.

Anyway, I hit the boat launch and found a nice sandy spot just inside the bay to launch. After setting up the boat, I headed out across the bay to the mouth of the Fish River. You can see from the path below that I hit a nice current coming out of the Magnolia River about mid-bay. It was 2 3/4 miles across the bay...it was nice to be in relatively open water after all the bayou and creek paddling I have been doing lately. I ran under the hwy 98 bridge and cut out to explore one of the back bayous just after the bridge. There were a lot of herons out and I figured I was pretty much alone in the Bayou until an AL Marine Resource Enforcement boat lit off and came flying around the corner. Good thing you can hear them a ways away. They politely slowed down when they saw me. After running up the bayou, I popped back out into the river and hit the boat ramp for lunch where I found a 25' from STA Dauphin Island doing auxiliary training. They also politely slowed down as they went by. After a pleasant lunch, I kayaked back across the bay. The wind had built a little, and there was I was cutting into that and a little light chop, slowing my progress on the way back, but keeping me nice and cool.

All in all, a nice paddle, with two other good trips available down there...the Magnolia River, or the Fish River starting at the boat ramp just under the Hwy 98 bridge.

Boiling Creek

2006-01-08T17:38:00.000-08:00

Well, this weekend was supposed to be a three day trip up near Stockton, but weather and work interfered. So, as a consolation prize I drove to Niceville to get my Eglin AFB recreation permit for a leisurely sunday paddle on Boiling Creek. What a great place! We paddled upstream for a while (2.25 miles, roughly) before stopping for lunch. Gary hopped into my kayak for the trip back, leaving me with his one man performance canoe. This being the first time that I have canoed, it was quite an experience. Nonetheless, I managed to make it back without a dip this time, and thoroughly enjoyed the new experience. Hopefully, I'll head up to Stockton later this month to try and enjoy a couple days out in the bayous...I have bacon and eggs to honor Ed Abbey, so the trip will have to be made!

2005-09-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

I decided to paddle to the Indian Mounds this weekend, both to see the mounds and see how accesible Jessamine Bayou was. I arrived at Rice Creek Landing about 10:30, alone and lightly loaded this time. The water levels at Rice Creek were much lower than the last time I was there, but still easy paddling out to Briar Lake. I saw two gator's, one in Briar's Lake and the other at the mouth of Jessamine Bayou, herons, and lot of turtles laying out in the sunshine. Jessamine Bayou itself is a mess, I was out of the boat a half a dozen times before I got to the split for Jug Lake. I was glad I went light, I hauled the kayak over several tree's and even had to swim alongside the boat at one point when it wouldn't float over the debris with me in it (the debris wouldn't support my weight, so in I went).

I figured that given the difficulty of passing through Jessamine, there wouldn't be any gator's around, but about a quarter mile past the Jug Lake split I rounded the corner to find a gator slightly larger than my kayak forcing it's way across the debris pile about fifty feet in front of me. Luckily it was heading away from me and after I shoved my heart back where it belongs and did a little risk-assesment I decided that I didn't give a fig about the Indian Mounds and wouldn't it be nice to see if I could paddle through to the Jug Lake platform and enjoy my cold pizza there?

Well folks, Jug Lake is easily accesible and contains at least two more alligators, one of which is of a decent size and has the disconcerting habit of surfacing in front of you, then swimming along for a few minutes before thrashing around like crazy and disappearing from sight. Cold pizza has never tasted so good. The trip back from Jug Lake was easier than the trip in, the water levels had risen, so several of the logs that I had to carry the kayak over were sufficently submerged for me to glide over them.

All in all, an exciting day. And whoever says "you're lucky if you see an alligator out here..." obviously hasn't paddled alone on through the bayou's.

Trip to Dead Lake Island Platform

2005-09-13T17:45:00.000-07:00

At last, we made an overnight trip in the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta! Dan, Justin, and Kona drove in from Pensacola on Saturday to meet Christina and I in Daphne. We loaded up the truck with boats and food (some beer and wine found it's way in too) and headed off to Upper Bryant's Landing. We had a slightly later start than planned and didn't get off the landing until nearly sunset, leaving us to navigate in the dark to the Dead Lake Island platforms. We made it there in time though, and quickly set to making dinner...scrumptious shrimp in gorgonzola cheese and angel hair pasta. We had a great night out on the platform, enjoying wine and shining the flashlight at every splash in the bayou until the flashlight became a splash in the bayou. Then we suffered through every splash wondering if it was that 26-foot 'gator...Everyone survived the night, no one rolled out of their hammock, and the we had perfect camping weather, nice and cool.

The following day we paddled about 1/2 mile up Tallapoosa Bayou before it was almost completely blocked by a fallen tree. Probably navigable with some work, but not something we wanted to attempt with Kona in the canoe doing his best to herd everyone together. So, we paddled back out and circled Dead Lake Island and explored some of the surrounding bayous before stopping back on the platform to collect the equipment we left behind and eat lunch before heading back to Upper Bryant Landing. On the way back, we did see one gator, which was great. All in all, an excellent trip with good company and good food.

All the good pictures below were taken by Dan, all the larger ones (DSCN###.jpg format) and the map are mine.

Post-Katrina

2005-09-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

ok, so the blog was a good idea until the power went out and fried the internet! The rest of the storm was uneventful for me here, the power came on again that night, although the internet was offline for a while. I did get a call saying that some pilots had seen COBIA underway in Bayou Le Batre during an overflight. Turned out to be a rumor, it was only a 41' Utility Boat that they easily pulled out of someone's front lawn. Once things had settled down, we (the crew of the COBIA) loaded up the ships small boat and went down to Hancock County to help out. Our jetdrive boat was ultimately very useful for accessing some of the shallower bayou's and we were able to search several neighborhoods that had been inaccessible by vehicle due to the quantity of debris on the roads. Navigating with a highway map and a tourist information map isn't exactly a Coast Guard standard method, but it was interesting! Folks had evacuated all the areas we searched fortunately...the devastation in that area was incredible. Some of the places we visited had nothing left except debris in the trees...the houses were all literally washed miles inland. Nothing but trash and foundations left. The smell was just overwhelming as well, something that doesn't convey well on CNN.

Searching in the Bayou

Tough place to get stuck when the water recedes.

This 41' was tied to two concrete blocks, there is another one on the other side.

COBIA, safe and sound.

Tuesday morning at Sector Mobile....

2005-08-29T03:50:00.000-07:00

Well, the wind is up and it's getting nastier outside. Very blustery and gusty. Looks like landfall is expected shortly in extreme SE Louisiana. l. Looks like nothing has changed about the track though.

Hurricane SITREP 3

2005-08-28T23:24:00.000-07:00

I went outside a few minutes ago, probably the most pleasant conditions I have seen since I have been here...a slight breeze, low humidity, nice and cool. Looking at the sky though, you can see the clouds very fast to the west. Still some intermittent rain too, no thunder or lightning for a while now. Off to bed now, we'll see what it's like tomorrow.

Picture is a little strange eh?

Hurricane SITREP 2

2005-08-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well, the first rain bands are rolling over, some thunder and lightning. The latest storm surge reports have dropped for the Mobile Bay area...down to 12-15 feet now. Amazingly, when Camille came through in 1969, the eyewall was only 5-8 miles in diameter. This storm is about six times that size. A very scary storm.

Hurricane SITREP 1

2005-08-28T14:24:00.000-07:00

Well, the fun is about to begin; about 12 hours to landfall. I will try to take some pictures as time goes on...right now the clouds are starting to roll in as the leading edge of the storm arrives. The wind has been blowing most of the day and is picking up now...probably about 30kts over the water, maybe 10 here with gusts up to 20+.

We're predicted to see sustained winds between 60 and 70kts and tidal surge of up to 20ft. I checked the GPS and I am at about 150 ft, plus the height of the apartment, so other than rats seeking higher ground it should be nice and dry up here.

Some good pics here:
http://www.stormtracker.noaa.gov/stormtracker-katrina.htm

Kayakin the bayou's...

2005-08-22T18:24:00.000-07:00

This is a map and some pictures from a kayak trip from Bryants Landing to Dead Lake Island platform.

Can't wait for the weather to cool off...