Lake Guntersville State Park, Guntersville, AL
January 21,22, 2006
by Norman Clapp
During the weekend of January 21 and 22, 2006, we had a joint Tennessee Valley Canoe Club and Mobile Bay Canoe and Kayak Club trip to Guntersville, Alabama to paddle and view eagles. The Guntersville area has eagles that come from Canada to winter.
We had a wonderful weekend and were really blessed with good weather, in spite of the “Official Weather Forecasts”, which were predicting rain, showers, thunderstorms and windy conditions. Actual conditions were temperatures in the high 50’s – low 60’s, winds mostly light and variable, and a brief very light misty drizzle on Sunday morning and cloudy skies.
On Saturday, we paddled from the cabins at Lake Guntersville State Park, up Short Creek. At our lunch stop, we had a view of an eagle sitting in the nest across the creek. He (or she) stayed there the entire time we had lunch. What a treat! We saw a couple of other eagles on Saturday and then on Sunday, we saw three immature eagles during our paddle on Town Creek. This is a nice area to paddle.
On Saturday, we had 19 boats, 21 people and one dog. On Sunday, we had 11 boats, 13 people and one dog on the trip. We had paddlers from Chattanooga, Gadsden, Huntsville, Mobile, Milton FL, Panama City, Atlanta and Blairsville, GA. Thanks to Bob Andrews from Mobile for leading the trip and we appreciate Lois and Jack being in our official sweep boat.
Some paddlers camped, some day tripped and some stayed in cabins. We had a great group of paddlers, which always makes for a fun trip.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Bayfront Park, Daphne to Fort Morgan
October 23, 2000
by Bruce Zimmerman
Larry Mickelson, Jr. led a full day trip from Daphne Bayfront Park to Fort Morgan. Five paddlers showed up at 0600 to make the trip. Yes, it was dark when we were unloading boats from cars and stowing gear in the boats. One of the Daphne police stopped by on his rounds and recognized Larry,Jr from his restaurant. Having the police keep an eye on your vehicle while you are out messing around in boats makes for one less thing to worry about.
We slipped into the water at 6:50, with a nice pink sunrise coloring the clouds over the eastern shore. A flock of skimmers buzzed us once. We set course to 179 degrees, by Mike Predmore's GPS, for Point Clear. The wind was light and from our left on this leg. The air was hazy, so we did not see alot of detail on shore, half a mile to a mile on our left. We just paddled and visited, to make the miles roll by. A light sea built up by mid morning, which kept everyone's left arm wet. Wet elbows were the general rule of the day. We passed Fairhope pier at about 9 AM, and crossed some open water to Point Clear, where we landed for lunch at 10:10.
Mr. Watson spotted us on the beach and came down to visit. He asked first, "Are you going to Fort Morgan?" He is one of our members on the e-mail list, and he was aware of our plans this day. He looked over our boats, which included two homebuilt 17 foot Chesapeake wood boats, a 12 foot Necky Santa Cruz, an18 foot Necky Arluk III, and a 16 foot Perception Vizcaya. The home built boats looked really sharp with wooden decks and epoxy/fiberglass-coated wood bottoms and sides.
We left the Grand Hotel at 11:45 for Mullet Point Park, on a course of 172 degrees. As we passed two guys fishing by the hotel, one of them asked, "Where are you going?" Larry, Sr. told them, "Fort Morgan". I don't think they believed him. This was a short run to Mullet Point, which was near the halfway mark of the trip. South of the Grand Hotel, the shoreline looks fully developed. Piers and boathouses jut out into the bay at each lot.
At Mullet Point, Mrs. Ruth Mickelson met us with refreshments. Mullet Point does not have a sand beach. It is reinforced shoreline made of rocks and cement blocks. We landed on the cement ramp, and we had a break. The day was warming up to near 80 degrees, from the 60 degrees we had at dawn. A steady wind from the east kept us comfortable, but the seas remained 1-2 feet the rest of the day, coming from our left. As we put into the water, a small gull paddled over toward us. First, Larry, Sr. tried to see how close he could get to the bird. Then Mike took up the chase and caught the bird with both hands! That bird was defective to somehow just let us catch it. It looked normal and undamaged, but stupid.
As we left Mullet Point to turn for Fort Morgan, on a course of 208 degrees, everyone was wearing a spray skirt. We were planning on getting wet on this crossing. Our destination was 12.4 miles away. Sunset was in a little more than 5 hours. We were in good shape to make the distance, as we headed towards a hazy featureless horizon.
Wearing a spray skirt is a funny thing. The function is to keep the ocean out of your boat. Unfortunately, it also keeps humidity in. Sweat trickles down and moisture condenses on the underside of the skirt and drips on you. And what do you do when you need to scratch an itch?
This leg of the trip had little to tell about. Seabirds, especially pelicans, were our main companions. We saw a few insects fly past, dragonflys and Monarch butterflies. When we lost sight of land, we steered by compass and guessed at correcting for set and drift. When we saw the oil rigs, then we had something to gauge our progress. Eventually, we settled on a crab angle of 190 degrees, to keep us upwind of our destination. As we closed on the land, the seas were less choppy, but the current leaving the mouth of Mobile Bay was more of an effect on us.
As the sun set into the thick haze over Dauphin Island, we could identify the ferry landing at Fort Morgan Park. We were watching the beach, looking for Steve Delker and a boat trailer. We headed towards three flashlights, blinking on the beach. We had arrived 11 hours and 40 minutes after leaving Daphne, 24 miles ago.
October 23, 2000
by Bruce Zimmerman
Larry Mickelson, Jr. led a full day trip from Daphne Bayfront Park to Fort Morgan. Five paddlers showed up at 0600 to make the trip. Yes, it was dark when we were unloading boats from cars and stowing gear in the boats. One of the Daphne police stopped by on his rounds and recognized Larry,Jr from his restaurant. Having the police keep an eye on your vehicle while you are out messing around in boats makes for one less thing to worry about.
We slipped into the water at 6:50, with a nice pink sunrise coloring the clouds over the eastern shore. A flock of skimmers buzzed us once. We set course to 179 degrees, by Mike Predmore's GPS, for Point Clear. The wind was light and from our left on this leg. The air was hazy, so we did not see alot of detail on shore, half a mile to a mile on our left. We just paddled and visited, to make the miles roll by. A light sea built up by mid morning, which kept everyone's left arm wet. Wet elbows were the general rule of the day. We passed Fairhope pier at about 9 AM, and crossed some open water to Point Clear, where we landed for lunch at 10:10.
Mr. Watson spotted us on the beach and came down to visit. He asked first, "Are you going to Fort Morgan?" He is one of our members on the e-mail list, and he was aware of our plans this day. He looked over our boats, which included two homebuilt 17 foot Chesapeake wood boats, a 12 foot Necky Santa Cruz, an18 foot Necky Arluk III, and a 16 foot Perception Vizcaya. The home built boats looked really sharp with wooden decks and epoxy/fiberglass-coated wood bottoms and sides.
We left the Grand Hotel at 11:45 for Mullet Point Park, on a course of 172 degrees. As we passed two guys fishing by the hotel, one of them asked, "Where are you going?" Larry, Sr. told them, "Fort Morgan". I don't think they believed him. This was a short run to Mullet Point, which was near the halfway mark of the trip. South of the Grand Hotel, the shoreline looks fully developed. Piers and boathouses jut out into the bay at each lot.
At Mullet Point, Mrs. Ruth Mickelson met us with refreshments. Mullet Point does not have a sand beach. It is reinforced shoreline made of rocks and cement blocks. We landed on the cement ramp, and we had a break. The day was warming up to near 80 degrees, from the 60 degrees we had at dawn. A steady wind from the east kept us comfortable, but the seas remained 1-2 feet the rest of the day, coming from our left. As we put into the water, a small gull paddled over toward us. First, Larry, Sr. tried to see how close he could get to the bird. Then Mike took up the chase and caught the bird with both hands! That bird was defective to somehow just let us catch it. It looked normal and undamaged, but stupid.
As we left Mullet Point to turn for Fort Morgan, on a course of 208 degrees, everyone was wearing a spray skirt. We were planning on getting wet on this crossing. Our destination was 12.4 miles away. Sunset was in a little more than 5 hours. We were in good shape to make the distance, as we headed towards a hazy featureless horizon.
Wearing a spray skirt is a funny thing. The function is to keep the ocean out of your boat. Unfortunately, it also keeps humidity in. Sweat trickles down and moisture condenses on the underside of the skirt and drips on you. And what do you do when you need to scratch an itch?
This leg of the trip had little to tell about. Seabirds, especially pelicans, were our main companions. We saw a few insects fly past, dragonflys and Monarch butterflies. When we lost sight of land, we steered by compass and guessed at correcting for set and drift. When we saw the oil rigs, then we had something to gauge our progress. Eventually, we settled on a crab angle of 190 degrees, to keep us upwind of our destination. As we closed on the land, the seas were less choppy, but the current leaving the mouth of Mobile Bay was more of an effect on us.
As the sun set into the thick haze over Dauphin Island, we could identify the ferry landing at Fort Morgan Park. We were watching the beach, looking for Steve Delker and a boat trailer. We headed towards three flashlights, blinking on the beach. We had arrived 11 hours and 40 minutes after leaving Daphne, 24 miles ago.
Monday, January 16, 2006
Bayous Tallapoosa & Jessamine loop
Sunday, January 15, 2006
by Brint Adams
Saturday's wind died down and left us with very calm water for a beautiful, but very different paddle for the fortunate five who came out this morning. The temperature was around 48-55 degrees throughout the day, with a mostly overcast sky. Our group gathered at the Stagecoach Inn in Stockton, AL and drove the short distance north to Baldwin County's Rice Creek Landing.
When we arrived, the expected low water level was even lower than we had imagined, with barely enough water trickling by to let us drag along the bottom, until we got about 20 meters away. Rice Creek was very eery, as it seemed like we were almost below ground, seeing cypress trees and knees uncovered, exposing huge trunks usually underwater. There was even a sand bar exposed out at the mouth of Rice Creek, which we dragged across for the first time.
We turned north up Briar Lake, passing several fish and hunting camps, some on land, some floating and some sitting on the exposed muddy shoreline. A couple of us spotted a buck squatted on the shore, his head laying off to the side, appearing to be dead. As we approached to get a closer look, he bolted up and away through the palmetto. We continued paddling north on the much wider Tensaw Lake, until we reached the mouth of Bayou Tallapoosa. It is located only about 1/2 mile south of the two covered platforms hidden behind Dead Lake Island.
The water level was low into Tallapoosa and we didn't figure we would get very far. So, we decided to go in and come back out to the platforms for lunch. To our surprise, and although we had to do alot of weaving and manuevering around, we never came upon a fall we could not paddle over or around. There were some tight spots, but none requiring us to exit our boats.
So, we continued slowly up Tallapoosa the whole distance of about three miles until we reached the Tensaw River on the other side. Along the way, we saw many signs of deer, beaver, hogs and even watched a pair of otters scamper playfully along the bank and down into the water. At the Tensaw River, we decided to stop for lunch at a large 3-story camp, sitting around their empty fire pit.
We continued paddling down Tensaw River to make the loop, rather than retrace our paddle on Tallapoosa. So, off we went downstream with about a 1.5 mph push, making good time at about 6 mph for the next four miles. We passed the entrance to Middle River and the primitive public campground on the way to Bottle Creek. After a short distance down Bottle, we turned east into Bayou Jessamine. It was similarly very low and slow going as we dodged around all of the many exposed falls. We finally came across our one and only log of the whole trip, we had to stop and drag our boats over. It was about halfway down to the Jug Lake split, which we decided to pass this time, since we were about 12 miles into the paddle so far.
The rest of the way was uneventful out Jessamine, back up Tensaw along Larry Island, and through the cut to Briar Lake and Rice Creek. Our total trip was 15 miles, taking about 4 1/2 hours paddling time. All of us were sufficiently worn out and glad we had a chance to see the delta from a different "down under" perspective.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
by Brint Adams
Saturday's wind died down and left us with very calm water for a beautiful, but very different paddle for the fortunate five who came out this morning. The temperature was around 48-55 degrees throughout the day, with a mostly overcast sky. Our group gathered at the Stagecoach Inn in Stockton, AL and drove the short distance north to Baldwin County's Rice Creek Landing.
When we arrived, the expected low water level was even lower than we had imagined, with barely enough water trickling by to let us drag along the bottom, until we got about 20 meters away. Rice Creek was very eery, as it seemed like we were almost below ground, seeing cypress trees and knees uncovered, exposing huge trunks usually underwater. There was even a sand bar exposed out at the mouth of Rice Creek, which we dragged across for the first time.
We turned north up Briar Lake, passing several fish and hunting camps, some on land, some floating and some sitting on the exposed muddy shoreline. A couple of us spotted a buck squatted on the shore, his head laying off to the side, appearing to be dead. As we approached to get a closer look, he bolted up and away through the palmetto. We continued paddling north on the much wider Tensaw Lake, until we reached the mouth of Bayou Tallapoosa. It is located only about 1/2 mile south of the two covered platforms hidden behind Dead Lake Island.
The water level was low into Tallapoosa and we didn't figure we would get very far. So, we decided to go in and come back out to the platforms for lunch. To our surprise, and although we had to do alot of weaving and manuevering around, we never came upon a fall we could not paddle over or around. There were some tight spots, but none requiring us to exit our boats.
So, we continued slowly up Tallapoosa the whole distance of about three miles until we reached the Tensaw River on the other side. Along the way, we saw many signs of deer, beaver, hogs and even watched a pair of otters scamper playfully along the bank and down into the water. At the Tensaw River, we decided to stop for lunch at a large 3-story camp, sitting around their empty fire pit.
We continued paddling down Tensaw River to make the loop, rather than retrace our paddle on Tallapoosa. So, off we went downstream with about a 1.5 mph push, making good time at about 6 mph for the next four miles. We passed the entrance to Middle River and the primitive public campground on the way to Bottle Creek. After a short distance down Bottle, we turned east into Bayou Jessamine. It was similarly very low and slow going as we dodged around all of the many exposed falls. We finally came across our one and only log of the whole trip, we had to stop and drag our boats over. It was about halfway down to the Jug Lake split, which we decided to pass this time, since we were about 12 miles into the paddle so far.
The rest of the way was uneventful out Jessamine, back up Tensaw along Larry Island, and through the cut to Briar Lake and Rice Creek. Our total trip was 15 miles, taking about 4 1/2 hours paddling time. All of us were sufficiently worn out and glad we had a chance to see the delta from a different "down under" perspective.
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