Fowl River

No one has ever asked why Fowl River is not on my radar of trash polluted waterways in Mobile County. I paddled 22 miles in Fowl River yesterday. The amount of shoreline trash seen would have fit in a single garbage bag. In Dog River or Bayou La Batre, you can pick up a large bag of trash from just 15 feet of shoreline in some places. No need to complain about a waterway trash pollution problem if it does not exist.

Had to go back in my log to see when the last time I paddled in Fowl River was. It was shocking to see it was over 4 years ago. It seemed like yesterday. The same old vulture hangout was occupied. The water was clear enough to see fish in it from Memories Fish Camp down several miles to almost Bellingrath Gardens. The old artesian well was still trickling water.

Fowl River is one relatively trash free river. You can go miles at times without ever seeing a single piece of trash. In a clean river one can enjoy the surrounding scenery. I thoroughly enjoyed today's paddle not wanting it to end.

Missing from the Fowl River scenery was loads of shoreline trash. Missing from the Fowl River scenery were any sunken boats between Memories and Hwy 188. Missing from the Fowl River scenery was any falling apart wharfs or boat docks in ruins. 

Kudos to the Fowl River community for taking care of their watershed! Here are some photos from the paddle.

False Foxglove or Purple Gerardia

Calm waters of beautiful upper Fowl River

Waters clear enough to see fish swim by.

Bellingrath Gardens boardwalk

Fowl River Paddle Trail

Slick reflective waters

Holiday spent fishing by some

Cottonmouth lurking in the needle rush

Turkey vulture

Unique open-air honey bee hive pointed out by Bob Andrews. I paddled by the hive earlier in the morning and never saw it. Thanks Bob!

08/12/2011 - Goat Island and Canal Maze

Launch: Fowl River Marina off Cedar Point Road
Launch Cost: $5
Destination: Goat Island and the maze of canals north of it.
Distance: 13 miles (round trip)
Paddle time: 4-1/4 hours

Weather: Mostly Sunny. Hot morning. Heat advisory warning for the afternoon. Storm generated some winds. Rain started the minute I got back to the launch site.
GPS Track: To view or download the GPS track of this trip, Click Here.

Header Image. Why Bother? Because I care!

Headed toward Mobile Bay.

Split sunrise as seen from just north of Goat Island (not the Goat Island near the Battleship).

Marsh Fleabane was in bloom, also known as stinkweed.

The scenery in the maze of canals north of Goat Island ranges from low pine lands like this to salt marshes with no trees.

A heron and a egret watch out for each other.

Saw many black-crowned night herons.

I had just rounded the corner of Goat Island and gotten into Mobile Bay when this photo was taken. Only had 1/4 mile (0.4 km) of open water to paddle to reach the entrance of Fowl River.

Nature threw me an "in your face" reminder that she deserves respect on open waters. With no real warning, in less than 60 seconds the wind went from zero to about 30 mph. (Dauphin Island recorded 44 mph winds related to this line of storms.) Waves were soon slapping the kayak and wind driven spray completely soaked me. I didn't dare stop to take any more photos or to try to put on the spray skirt. I was struggling just to make forward progress and it took a long time to paddle that 1/4 mile. In hindsight, this makes me think, "What would I have done had those winds been 60 miles per hour (96 km)?" Hmmm, I've never given that much thought. I definitely will pay more attention to turbulence clouds (which you can see in both these photos) from now on and will have that spray skirt on BEFORE the squall line hits.

After finally reaching Fowl River, I smelled petroleum and saw petroleum. That is the Dauphin Island Parkway bridge going over Fowl River in the background.

I paddled around trying to find the source of the fuel leak and it appeared to be coming from one of the motors on this vessel. The wonderful people at Fowl River Marina helped me report the fuel leak to the proper authorities. Thanks!

12/20/2009 - Christmas on Fowl River

Launch: Memories

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1) What does Santa do the other 364 days a year? Click the above photo to see a larger image of what Santa was doing.

2) Just south of Bellingrath Gardens is a summer play area with some swing ropes. A nice little place to take a break.

3) Textureful lichen with a tinge of Christmas color.

4) Saw several Daddy Longlegs. Despite its appearance, the Daddy Longlegs are not spiders.

5) Several other people on Fowl River thought it was a great day to kayak.

6) It was a great day to get a little exercise on the water.

7) A white pelican in a deep sleep. They have pretty thick legs.

8) I pedaled out into Mobile Bay because the slick open waters were very enticing.

9) A sailboat anchored near the Fowl River bridge for the night. This reminded me of 16 year old Jesse Watson who is somewhere out in the Pacific Ocean all by herself as she sails around the world. Jesse doesn't have the luxury of getting up river for safe harbor.

10) A bunch of people aboard Alabama Cruises Southern Bell for a Christmas cruise on Fowl River were shouting and waving at me.

11) Sunset was quite colorful as the temperatures began to drop. 

12) I was silently cheering inside.

13) Kayak at night? Heck yeah! That's why I did this trip today. Some of the Christmas lighting is spectacular along Fowl River. 

14) The Christmas light photos are a bit blurred but should give you an idea of what some of the lighting looked like.

Cautionary Note: Motor Boaters have the same idea - cruise Fowl River at night to see all the Christmas lights. Boat lights are red, green and white just like the Christmas lights, so boats can be hard to see. Boats also go slow so you can barely hear their idling motors. Be careful!

12/06/2009 - Fowl River

Launch: Fowl River Marina
Destination: The Narrows

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1) Bellingrath Gardens Grotto.

2) Bright sunny day.

3) The Narrows which connect East Fowl River to West Fowl River.

4) An all too common sign seen on some of this area's streams. Click here for a PDF file explaining more about what waterways have fishing advisories and why.

5) Looks like this pelican has caught a fish.

6) A shrimp boat washing some sort of container contents overboard which attracted several pelicans.

7) Kingfisher that followed me for about two miles.

8) This unusual roof on what was formerly a Bed and Breakfast (now for sale), tapers down to a point.

9) As the golden sunset nears, a pelican gets ready to roost for the night. 

10) Sunset on Fowl River with the Dauphin Island Parkway bridge in the background.

10/13/2009 - Fowl River

Launch: Memories

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1) Mostly cloudy today. Pink color dotted the banks in some areas which turned out to be Flaxleaf False Foxglove (Agalinis linifolia) of the Broomrape family.

2) Waters were very calm.

3) Row, row, row your boat... This guy was getting a workout with his nice rowboat.

4) It was a bit disappointing to see that Bellingrath Gardens didn't have much of a flower display. Sometimes it can be spectacular.

5) You can always count on seeing an alligator on the banks of Fowl River. There aren't very many real ones seen in this river.

6) Bliss apparently doesn't last forever. Enjoy your bliss while you can!