MBCKC Paddle Reports

Okatoma Creek Paddle

My nephew Keaton and I headed to Seminary, Mississippi (just north of Hattiesburg on Hwy 49) on Monday, July 14th to check out the Okatoma. We rented the sit on top kayaks and launched about 2:00 in the afternoon. For the most part, the creek is very well covered by the canopy of trees so I never really felt any discomfort from the heat at all. The only time I got really hot was when I first got in the kayak and the kayak was hot from being in the sun. Needless to say, we decided to dunk ourselves in the water right away to cool off. Next time I’ll know to cool the boat off first!

Being a weekday, the traffic on the creek was almost nonexistent which gave us the opportunity to quietly approach more wildlife. The turtles we saw sunning on many different logs were simply too many to count. Sometimes there were as many as three or four in groups and in all sizes including babies. Where the water was shallow we could see fish swimming. I don’t know what they were but had the shape of a mullet and darted around very quickly. We also saw a few bream. After we had covered the better part of our course I commented to Keaton that we had seen a lot of wildlife but not so many birds. I had hardly got the words out of my mouth when he spotted a very large buzzard of some sort in a tree right overhead just as we made the next bend! I guess I spoke too soon. It appeared to be as startled as we were and took off abruptly.

The creek winds around a lot and over the seven miles or so that we covered offers quite a variety of scenery. There were sections of sand and gravel and then dark muddy muck. We saw some really pretty purple flowering plants. For the entire trip we only saw about three houses along the creek and a couple of cabins so it is largely undeveloped along the banks. The water was actually a little on the low side but I only had to portage once because I wound up on the wrong side of a log jam. There were a few times the bottom of my kayak scraped on the rocks and got hung up but I was able to scoot my way off. If the water was much lower you would have to portage more often in places. If you were careful about picking your way, there was usually a spot deep enough to go thru.

There are plenty of sandy banks along the way to stop and take breaks to swim in a hole or have a picnic. The water has a current to it and also several places with rapids and a few drops. If the water was higher this could be a lot more intense but we had no trouble going thru. We had just enough to give us a little thrill and grab our attention but we paddled enough to get a good workout. We arrived at our takeout point about 5:30. I would say that this creek is more suited for a shorter boat because you need to have the ability to maneuver quickly. The Okatoma Outdoor Post looks like a neat place to camp out as well. We intend to come back and camp out the next time.

I’m basically new to the club and have just purchased a Pungo 120 so you should be seeing me more often. I just bought it yesterday. Patti Street