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Paddling Journal December 2007 A disappointingly slow end the
year due to some health issues, Trips this month: 3
Back to Journal Index
12/3/07
Sand Hill Crane I was able to convince Hopey into coming with me today and so we headed up to the Okefenokee on a overcast day with a 30% chance of showers. We arrived at the park and as we were unloading the boats at the ramp, I commented to Hope that I hoped that the weather would hold off. Almost as soon as I said it the skies opened up and a heavy rain came down. As Hope took refuge in the cab of the truck I continued to load up our stuff but soon a roaring wind came up the canal from the west accompanied by the sound of limbs cracking nearby. The torrent soon passed and we decided that we would go ahead and take a chance that the worst had passed us and, if not - well, we could always take a drive down to the Chesser Island Homestead and do some hiking on the boardwalk. The nice thing about the annual pass we recently purchased is that we weren't really wasting anything except gas and time to come here and with gas in Georgia 15 cents a gallon cheaper - it's almost worth the trip.. As we headed west on the canal I noticed that the waters were clogged with cypress needles that had been blown down by the wind we had just experienced. Whenever the wind would pick up we were pelted from the sky by more of the rust colored needles and I could tell that the colors I had seen over the holidays had already been diminished considerably. After the rain had blown through it looked as though we would have blue skies for the rest of the day but the clouds soon returned and for most of the day it was gray and dreary. We saw no gators and little birdlife as we made our way toward the canal split and it wasn't until we entered the path toward Grand Prairie that I began to hear the trumpet call of the Sand Hill Cranes off in the distance. We reached the first intersection and began paddling to the west where the channel heads toward Grand Prairie and Monkey Lake. We spotted a couple of Cranes to our right who nervously grumbled and then flew off. We saw them again a few yards further on and there was a lone Crane on the opposite side of the stream. We reached the next intersection and headed north back to the canal. Once at the canal, we talked it over and decided to cut out trip a little short and head directly back to the boat basin instead of looping around to the cutoff. The skies continued to get darker and darker and the wind kept picking up and it was obvious to me that this was going to be a day when the wildlife was simply going to stay hidden. On a day like this, there's little reason for the Gators to come out of hiding and I figured they were probably staying warm under the water as we passed over. We made our way back, passing one tour boat full of tourists which surprised us considering the conditions but I figured they might have been here for the ACC Championship game . After the boat passed, we saw our first Gator on the day - a three footer and a little further on another small one. As we got close to the boat basin we spotted a six footer back under the cypress trees but that was all for the day. We got back to the ramp and after packing up we decided to take a drive down to the Chesser Island homestead and then stopped at Traders Hill to have our picnic on the banks of the St. Marys River before heading home. It wasn't the best trip we've ever had but we still had fun. See the pictures from this trip
12/14/07
11 days off the water!! Work schedule, the busyness of the holidays (yes, even I have a social life!) and a Jethro Tull Concert managed to keep me off the water for the last couple of weeks during which time we were having some incredible weather. Every morning, for the past week we have had heavy fog and every afternoon we have had temperatures in the upper 80's with bright blue skies and calm winds and it was killing me to be off the water. Anyway - I "accounted it high time to sea as soon as I can" and today, I didn't let the fact that I had a double root canal at 7 am keep me from getting to sea for my 100th trip of the year. I headed to the nearest put-in at the Browns Creek end of our island and started paddling toward the big island as the tide began to turn. All in all - it wasn't much of a trip. I started off in my usual clockwise direction, cruising beneath an Osprey and some Wood Storks who were perching in the trees above the water and then made my way to the run-off pond at work. Finding it empty I exited the pool and started skirting the shoreline along the western edge of the creek. It was too shallow for me to stay along the edge so I headed back out into the main channel and continued my circumnavigation of the islands, finishing up where I began - shooting an Osprey perching above the water at the first island. Not much of a trip but, hopefully, it will keep me from "stepping into the streets and methodically knocking the hats off of people". See the pictures from this trip
12/17/07
After a day of Christmas shopping and gardening I decided to head out to Cedar Point Creek to get a quick trip in. The way my month has been going, I'm finding that I'd better take the opportunities to paddle when they come. It was the coldest day of the year by far and as I headed out my hand were quickly stinging from the brisk northerly breeze. There was a group of Herons, Egrets and Ibis gathered on the grassy bank opposite the put-in so I took a few minutes to shoot them before heading on around the bend and on to my destination of the sea daisy island at the confluence point. The rest of the trip was uneventful. There were a few large groups of birds seeking shelter on the leeward side of the banks trying to stay out of the cold wind but aside from that I saw very little else. I reached the confluence point and paddled around the island and then headed back, letting the wind push me homeward. See the pictures from this trip
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