05/31/2012 - Halls Mill Creek

Header image is a photo of a kayaker on Halls Mill Creek. For those interested in buying a kayak, the key is comfort and this kayaker looks comfortable.

Yellow pond lilies are still in bloom making Halls Mill Creek a good kayaking destination right now.

The one hazard on Halls Mill Creek to be aware of is under the Hwy 90 bridge where there is about a two foot drop over a rock dam. You have to drag the kayak over the rocks going upstream. Normally you can paddle downstream over this rapids (if you don't mind scratching the bottom of your kayak on rocks) but recent rains deposited a large log which blocks the smoother path.

Further up Halls Mill Creek the waters get very clear and shallow enough to walk across in some places. Today I paddled up Halls Mill Creek past Campground Branch behind the Environmental Center lake before running into a small log jam and turning around. What a shame...Mobile has two parks along Halls Mill Creek - Vista Ridge Park and Schwartz Park - neither of which provides public access to launch a kayak.

A spider carrying around a blue ball which is probably its egg sack.

Not sure what kind of ducks these are.

An osprey eagle is feeding one of its three babies.

 Hippie Beach. Most of the trash is kept in a big pile which occasionally gets burned.

Canal off Halls Mill Creek is still draped with plastic garbage bags.

Near Vista Ridge Park there were occasional pockets of floating garbage consisting mostly of plastic bottles. Much of the trash looked old.