10/12/2011 - Moore Creek

Launch: Home
Destination: Moore Creek
Distance: 9 Miles (round trip).
Time Paddling: 2-3/4 hours
Weather: Mostly cloudy. Temp 68 degrees. Winds mostly calm. Tide going down. No current. Slick water surface. Water temp 76 degrees.

Header image is a photo of me taking a photo of the sunrise.

Here I am enjoying the wonderful fall weather temperature while immersed in the morning sunrise on Dog River.

Yellow-Crowned Night Herons have wild looking eyes.

There is a low dredge pipe completely crossing Moore Creek just north of Lee Street. 

I wondered why dredging equipment always blocks the creek and got the answer today from some workers who showed up. The dredge material is pumped to the east side of the creek but the workers have to use the west side to access the dredge equipment because they only have right of way for their vehicles on that side. I have no problem scootching under the dredge pipe but there isn't much room to spare.

There are some Koi that frequent Moore Creek, including one that local fisherman call, "The Albino," which is white and larger than this orange Koi or goldfish. I wonder if they are edible...

A great egret fishes in the area of the waterfalls by Halls Mill Road.

Upper Moore Creek, north of the dredge pipe, is a pleasure to paddle right now due to the dense coverage of so many different wildflowers.

Narrow leaf yellow aster.

10/08/2011 - Phatwater #10 Challenge

Event: Kayak Mississippi's 42 Mile Phatwater Challenge
Launch: Claiborne County Port Facility, northwest of Port Gibson, MS
Destination: Downtown Natchez, MS Boat Ramp
Race Distance: 42 miles (downstream).
Pedal time: 5 hrs, 7 minutes. (average speed of about 8.2 mph)
Weather: Sunny. Waves less than 1 foot. Winds minimal at start and then picking up to about 15 mph with occasional stronger gusts out of the southeast and then south. Downstream current varying 1-5 mph. Temp about 65-75 degrees. Great weather but breezy headwinds slowed down race speeds.
GPS Track: To view or download the GPS track of this trip, Click Here.

Phatwater Race results: Click Here.

Header Image is a photo of participants gathering near the start of the race.

The day before the race involved registration and shuttling the kayak to the launch site. 

There was enough time to get in a nature walk.

Day of the race involved an early morning bus ride to the launch site. I parked along the river in Natchez, MS and watched the moon set under the US 84 bridge that crosses the Mississippi River.

Phatwater participants chat and prepare their canoes and kayaks for the race. There were about 140 racers.

Maggie and Rich pose for a photo before the race. The launch site which can be seen in the background was busy with activity.

A tandem surf ski duo warms up. The same duo that won.

There were 3 SUPs in the race. (Stand Up Paddlers). I had no idea stand up boards could go so fast.

Fifteen seconds into the race, my pedal drive cable broke. Jeeze...talk about bad timing. (Cuss, Cuss, Cuss). It took 1-2 minutes to swap out drive units (I have to carry a spare pedal drive unit because Hobie pedal drive units are prone to breaking). While doing that, everyone passed me so there I starting near last place. (Cuss, Cuss, Cuss). That started me off in a bad mood.

The only photo I took during the race is near the finish line in Natchez. The Natchez boat ramp is barely visible to the right of the boat which is hard to see. For the first 4 hours of the race, I was on track to finish under 5 hours which is something that no pedal boat has ever done. Winds kicked up the last hour and current slowed down. I could not maintain a fast enough speed to finish under 5 hours. Drat! Well, I tried.

Phatwater Challenges sometimes involve a little pain. This is the hands of one of the tandem paddlers who took first place. Note the blisters. Yeow!

After the race, food and partying took place at the Under-The-Hill Saloon in Natchez, MS. Racers can be seen still heading toward the finish line. The kayaks lining the grass are of those who already finished.

Representing the Mobile Bay Canoe and Kayak Club were Rich (left), Maggie (middle) and Rob (right). We were all pleasantly exhausted and feeling a little pain. This was the first time I've done the Phatwater Challenge. It was a well organized event. Thanks Keith!

Yeaaa! Maggie takes home a win and holds her trophy in the left hand.

I also won and took home a nice handcrafted trophy. This is the first time I ever received money for winning a kayak race division. The wooden "X" on the trophy represents the number 10 as this was the 10th annual Phatwater Challenge.

09/25/2011 - Dog River Park and Halls Mill Creek

Launch: Home
Destination: Dog River Park and Halls Mill Creek.
Distance: 17-1/2 miles (round trip).
Time Paddling: 4-1/2 hours
Weather: Sunny, rare light wind. Rising tide. Current minimal. No waves - waters slick.

Header image is a shoreline photo taken in Dog River.

I am enjoying the Sunday morning communion with the big light while listening to Sunday morning Jazz.

Here comes the big light over the horizon.

One week after the Coastal Cleanup, the PIGS who used Dog River Park yesterday left their litter mark.  It isn't fair to the Parks Department to have to clean up after the PIGS. The little league association who uses this park should be fined if not banned from using the Dog River Park facilities. I think the City Parks department should put this sign up at the entrance to Dog River Park in earnest. If littering is how people respect a public park, especially a week after a group of volunteers cleaned up the park, the park should be fenced off to all people. 

This tolerance of trashing our land and waters is unacceptable. It is time to put an end to the tolerance of litter by holding people accountable for their actions.

peaking of the Coastal Cleanup, some of the trash collected last weekend still sits on the ground adorning Dog River Park. Hard to see the beautiful morning glory flowers and ducks in this photo.

Interested parties are keenly watching to see how long this trash sits there.

Here I am taking a photo of this great blue heron sitting high upon a tree on one leg.

Great blue heron sitting high upon a tree on one leg.

A couple of herons share their fishing territory.

A female wood duck sits on a floating log in Halls Mill Creek.

Waters were amazingly slick this morning. A great egret and an osprey eagle can be seen in this photo.

About the only waves seen on the water today were generated by passing boats. This nice cloud hovered overhead for a while keeping the temperatures cooler.

Why the blank stares? Haven't you ever seen a pedal kayak before? 

Kayaks are pretty neat, eh? I hope you two birds are not doomed to the dinner table.

08/28/2011 - The T

Launch: Cliff's Landing off Highway 225 about 14 miles north of Spanish Fort
Launch Cost: Free
Destination: Paddle up Mifflin Lake to explore Squirrel Bayou and "The T"
Distance: 36 miles (round trip).
Trip Rating: Difficult due to distance. There are no closer boat ramps to use.
Time Paddling: 11-1/4 hours
Weather: Slightly foggy at sunrise. Sunny. Paddled with tidal current going upstream and had the current pushing me downstream on the return trip (Sometimes the tide is a valuable thing). Current ranged between 0.5 and 1.0 mph. No waves. Very little wind. Temperature was tolerable as most of the time was spent paddling in the shade.
GPS Track: To view or download the GPS track of this trip, Click Here.

Header image - a docile river dawg watching its territory as this kayaker glided by. "Good Dawg, Good Dawg." Doesn't bark and doesn't chase.

It was a nice cool morning (about 70 degrees). Wisps of surface fog floated across the water. I left about an hour before sunrise because of the length of this exploratory paddle.

The I-65 elevated interstate between Mifflin Lake and the Tensaw River.

Look closely and you'll see a little alligator swimming in the water toward the left of the photo.

There are a ton of short tributaries off Mifflin Lake that can be paddled. This one had a bunch of lily pads.

Guess what was abundant up in Squirrel Bayou and eating acorns?

A grasshopper with an unusual body end that curls up.

A wide assortment of wildflowers were in bloom, including spider lilies, pickerel weed, and others. This photo is of Cardinal Flowers (Lobelia cardinalis).

This is a Swamp Leatherflower or what I call Blue Bells (Clematis crispa) and they were abundant. The Swamp Leatherflower has 3-leaves but don't confuse it with poison ivy.

There were a lot of cypress trees of respectable size like this one that I'm hiding behind. Though it looks big at 183 inches in circumference (DBH), the state champion bald cypress has a diameter almost twice as big (326 inches in circumference). 

Here is a view up the bald cypress. Do you see any poison ivy? Note how the leaf veins are situated on the leaves. Compare the leaf vein structure of this poison ivy to the three leaves of the Swamp Leatherflower. Wikipedia has a lot of good rhyming tips on identification of poison ivy.

Taking a break on the Tensaw River at a unofficial camp site. This would be a good destination for kayakers launching from Cliffs (4.25 miles one way), but not today. Al-Qaeda flies (terrorist like black flies) started swarming and biting me here and the persistent little (CENSORED) terrorized me the rest of the way back to the launch site.

Saw several Barred Owls on this trip. Also saw a few deer at various places but they were too quick for the camera.

The setting sun added a orange hue to the Spanish Moss.

This is what I call a full day kayak trip - from sunrise to sunset. Wonderful trip.