Kayaking Up Sewer Creek with a Paddle

Starkly contrasting muddy water from Robinson Bayou mixing with dark natural colored waters of Dog River.

Further upstream in Robinson Bayou the poopy tan colored water contrasts with the dark waters coming from another drainage ditch.

Further research into the muddy water of Robinson Bayou revealed the poopy colored muddy water was not related to the sewage overflow. Here I am kayaking up poop creek (Robinson Bayou) with a paddle. Phew!

Yeah, this is known as a sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) related to a typical heavy rain which Mobile gets about every month if not several times a month. There is nothing sanitary about sewage overflows into public waterways. SSOs jeopardize public health for those living along Mobile's sewage polluted waterways which seems to involve every watershed in Mobile. 

I found the source of the muddy water polluting Robinson Bayou and Dog River. Those drainage pipes under Rosedale Road lead to Brookley Airport which is owned by Mobile Airport Authority. Despite many complaints to ADEM, Construction at Mobile Airport Authority (Brookley) has been polluting Robinson Bayou and Dog River with muddy water sediment and silt erosion for the last three years. 

Upper Robinson Bayou has so filled in with eroded dirt from construction at Brookley that the only time I can paddle up it anymore is when it is raining. Other times upper Robinson Bayou is too shallow to kayak. A decade ago it was easy to kayak to Rosedale Road.

05/18/2012 - ASRT Black Warrior Nature Paddle

Launch: On the Black Warrior River northeast of Demopolis at Old Lock 5 Park. Launch choices were a Rock bank, a concrete boat ramp, or a fixed concrete dock. It would have been nice to have a kayak designated launch area - friendly grass or sand bank to launch from. I struggled and ended up hurting my wrist while getting out on the high concrete dock as the one lane boat ramp was busy.
Launch Cost: Free
Destination: Explore Big Prairie Creek and a couple nearby sloughs.
Paddle Distance: About 20 miles (round trip)
Paddle time: 7.5 Hrs
Weather: Sunny, winds calm to 5 mph. Air temp 75-85 degrees. River and Creek currents minimal at less than 0.5 mph.
GPS Track: To view or download the GPS track of this trip, Click Here.

I went up to Demopolis early for the Alabama Scenic River Trail's Black Warrior Nature Paddle event and got in a paddle before the group gathered in the evening at Foscue Creek Park.

A few areas along Big Prairie Creek were swamped by wild Coneflowers (Dracopis amplexicaulis).

Mayflies were dense along the shoreline.

A male Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa) dragonfly.

Yes, they have Alligators in Big Prairie Creek.

This turtle's shell had a thick layer of algae on it.

Pearly Crescentspot butterflies were abundant.

Pearly crescentspot on a coneflower.

The major theme of the ASRT Black Warrior Nature Paddle was birds. Here is an Osprey Eagle.

A pretty blue bird.

A turtle shares his log with a turquoise eye colored Cormorant.

The Cormorant flew off and dove into the water.

While cows are not wild animals, to see such huge animals next to the shoreline on a paddle does make the paddle more interesting.

There was small section of Big Prairie Creek where the water color became a funky green color. When I mentioned this to some local Demopolis residents, they brought up the subject of sewage pollution from Uniontown. Uniontown is 12 miles away though and sewage spills release into Cotton Creek, not directly into Big Prairie Creek and this green colored section was confined to about a mile stretch of Big Prairie Creek. There is nearby farmland so perhaps this was an algae bloom related to fertilizer runoff. There are also about a thousand catfish farm ponds to the east of this creek. Most of the creek color was light brown like in photo 11.

Big Prairie Creek is a beautiful creek to paddle with almost no sign of civilization. The creek is long enough that you can paddle all day in it without running into a dead end or a log jam.

There are at least nine beautiful sloughs within 2 miles of the Old Lock 5 Park of which I only had time to explore three of them. Motor boat traffic is rare in the sloughs while wildlife and bird watching opportunity is maximum.

Osprey Eagle.

02/18/2011 - Black Creek

Launch: William Brooks Park (US Hwy 43 at Chickasaw Creek – Southwest Corner)
Launch Cost: $4
Destination: Black Creek
Distance: About 18 miles (round trip)
Paddle time: 5 Hrs 30 Minutes
Weather: Very Foggy , winds calm to 5 mph. Air temp 55-70 degrees. Tide falling. Current minimal except in Mobile River where it was running about 1 mph. Water temp about 50 degrees.
GPS Track: To view or download the GPS track of this trip, Click Here.

Header Image

1) Every year I like to kayak in foggy conditions. That way I won't get freaked out should a fog bank ever descend unexpectedly. On this trip, the first hour paddling in fog was in pre-dawn darkness. Both sound and smell was amplified. Was attempting to get a photo of tugboat lights in this shot but the camera focused on the kayak making the fog droplets look larger than life.

2) In Mobile River, visibility was about 1/4 mile. Could not see the other side of the river.

3) Brown Pelicans were sure numerous.

4) This is a strange photo of boat wake erosion eh?

5) Never can time the photo right to get the shot of an otter when it sticks its body about 2 feet out of the water. Also caught my first sighting this year of some alligators.

6) Ducks adapting to the industrial revolution.

7) I love the textures of lichen.

8) Big fish like to hang out near the treated sewage outflow (green water). What kind of food has the fish on your plate been eating?

9) During the last 20 minutes of the paddle, it went from cloudy to almost clear.

10) Creepy Photo - the reflection of this duck has 3 eyes.

02/08/2009 – Pumphouse Canal

Launch: William Brooks Park (US Hwy 43 at Chickasaw Creek – Southwest Corner)
Launch Fee: $4, but no one was there to collect.
Route: Pumphouse Canal to log jam at RR Track Crossing and back.
Distance: 10.4 miles.
Average Speed: 2.0 mph.
Pace: Slow to still.
Weather: Sunny, 65 degrees, winds out of the south, small craft advisory.

Was going to try and make the club paddle today but the leader did not give a start time. We were required to call for that privileged information. I called this morning and got voice mail. We can’t go on a club paddle if the leader won’t give the start time and won’t answer the phone.

Since there was suppose to be a small craft advisory today, I decided to paddle the Pumphouse Canal which is always unaffected by strong south winds.

1) The tide was coming in so the treated sewage was going upstream. The treated sewage is that green stuff coming out of the pipe.

2) Once in the Pumphouse Canal, the waters turned a muddy brown as it gets water from Mobile River.

3) The turtles were out but no alligator sightings today.

4) The birds were out in force today and for once I had the binoculars. Sure glad I didn’t go on the club paddle. There were songs of joy and courtship in the air. Click here to hear a short audio clip of the Red Winged Black Birds. Today I saw Osprey, Vultures, Sparrows, Warblers, Doves, Catbirds, Mockingbirds, Cardinals, Kingfishers, Pelicans, Terns, Ducks, and more.

5) There was a truck going down the railroad though. There was no getting beyond this bridge due to the log jam.

6) On the way back, conditions on the Pumphouse Canal were still calm.

7) Kingfisher

8) Swampy green creek banks had little crabs doing their dirty work who would hide every time you came in for a closer look.

9) Sunset on the Pumphouse Canal.

10) Moonrise on Chickasaw Creek. A most enjoyable paddle.

12/03/2006 - Black Creek

Launch: Tucker’s Launch (aka Brooks Park) on the southwest corner of US 43 at Chickasaw Creek.
Launch Cost: $3.
Route: Southeast down Chickasaw Creek to the Pumphouse Canal, then east to Mobile River, then north to the west side of 12 Mile Island, to Bayou Sara, then south into Black Creek, and back.
Distance: 15.0 miles.
Average Speed: 3.1 mph.
Time: Approx 5 hrs.
Pace: Leisurely to Moderate.
Weather: Mostly sunny, temps up to low 60s. Very low tide, minimal current, and winds were calm to gusty from the northwest.

1) Waters were so low today that half the sewer pipe was exposed making for some wildly contrasting waters. Are you drinking 8 glasses of water a day?

2) I had to contend with some gusty winds on Mobile River up to the railroad trestle, where a fire was raging.

3) The wildlife of Black Creek used to be off limits to hunters which might why I usually see more wildlife up there than anywhere else in the Delta. I did see a deer today, but unfortunately, I was two weeks too late to see the prime foliage colors.

4) There were an awful lot of robins around today.

5) Wave action and boat wakes undermine Cypress trees.

6) A raccoon getting a drink of water.

7) As I turned from Bayou Sara into Mobile River, a passing tugboat left a little wake.

8) Back in the Pumphouse Canal, ripples in the water caught my eye. It looked like small otter as I closed in to take some photos. After watching for a few seconds and getting closer, something looked wrong. It wasn’t an otter, but a river rat and it kept spinning in the water and occasionally stopping for a few seconds. It was dying or already brain dead. I’m surprised its activity on the water’s surface didn’t attract an alligator, but then again, I didn’t see any alligators today. Been kayaking for over 5 years and this is the first rat I’ve ever seen. Maybe the hunters I saw cruising up and down the Pumphouse Canal shot and wounded the rat. Even though it was a rat, it saddened me to see its predicament. Kayaking is always an adventure into the unknown.

9) Even though the winds picked up and winds occasionally howled in the tree tops, the banks along the Pumphouse Canal block winds from the north making for easy paddling.

10) Back in Chickasaw Creek, the edge of another cold front makes its way into the deep south. This was another fine kayaking weekend!