4.9 Mile Paddle on Black Creek
Thursday, July 31, 2008
What a great place for paddling! We put the kayaks in at the boat launch near the Genesee River and headed upstream until we hit a blowdown that completely blocked the creek... at that point we'd been out long enough that we decided to turn around and head back rather than portage over or around the fallen trees to keep going (and then repeat the portage on the way back.)
There were a couple of spots where the creek passed close enough to civilization that we paddled past a backyard or two, but for the most part it would have been fairly easy to convince ourselves that we were somewhere in the wilderness, if not for the sounds of trains, planes, and cars off in the distance. But even with that this was a wonderful creek to paddle... a bit ticky in spots due to submerged logs, but nothing too difficult, and almost no discernable current.
Wildlife was abundant throughout the trip... great blue herons, green herons, and kingfishers, as well as the typical mallards. I started out making a short loop through a shallow area surrounded by water birds of various types, and convinced Ann to go through the same area on the way back, where we passed through a group of cedar waxwings swooping around catching bugs. We also passed plenty of turtles sunning themselves and even a couple of muskrats out looking for lunch.
Best of all, the rain held off until just after we got everything packed back up and were ready to head home... what a great way to spend an August afternoon!
JMH
