05/06/2010 - Halls Mill Creek

Launch: John's (near Rangeline Road)
Destination: Halls Mill Creek

Header Image

1) Kayaks can go a lot of places power boats can't go.

2) Without focusing on the photo, you might think this is an image of an oil rig. It is actually a four story boat house.

3) You can see all sorts of eerie things on kayak adventures like this totem pole carved on an interesting piece of stump.

4) Also eerie is this jungle scene of plastic garbage bags strangling everything in this drainage channel, from ground level up 4 feet into the air. This spot is next to the on ramp from Rangeline road to Interstate-10. I can only speculate it looks like this because, 1) Waste Management 18 Wheelers first enter the Interstate 0.04 miles from here and 2) there is a WalMart store less than a mile away. That shouldn't serve as an excuse to justify this mess. The Truth about Plastic Bags thinks plastic grocery bags are getting a bad rap. Back on March 15, 2009 I documented this site when rain was flowing through it. These plastic bags will be here for decades to centuries. Out of sight-out of mind. I guess if you don't see it in your back yard, it is no worse here, than it is in a land fill. What do you think about plastic bags? Use comments.

Speaking of weird, as I was paddling up into a shallow area, a curious object in the water caught my eye. It looked like a dead swollen fish with a body about as big around as a 2-liter bottle, but it had a white body and an orangish red head. Thinking it was a toy, I started paddling right up to it. We almost scared the fluids out of each other. Should have had the camera out but it just didn't look real with the wild colors. Heads up fishermen, there be a big Koi (ornamental carp) in these waters. Click here for an image of a Koi. They vary in colors.

5) Unknown species of Privet.

6) Sometimes it pays to paddle in residential canals where flower gardens accentuate waterway beauty.

7) After passing under a limb, something moved. "What was that?" I asked and went back and got a photo of some insects that did not like the sun.

8) Saw some interesting flowers that float on the watercalled Floating Bladderworts (Utricularia inflata).

9) Despite a recent rain, water was pretty clear.

10) Nice clear water.

11) The further you paddle up, the more you have to learn to crouch down to get under limbs. Watch for snakes and wasp nests before doing so.

12) If you ever paddle up Halls Mill Creek, be sure to stop at Hippie Beach - the local hangout, but don't do it barefooted.