the Way of the Turtle

3.6 Mile Paddle on Irondequoit Creek
Sunday, July 4, 2010

I was a bit surprised that Ann didn't object when I picked the Irondequoit Creek through Ellison Park as the place to paddle today... the current is brisk in spots and it can be pretty hard work. On the plus side there's a lot of shade, and that was a major plus on a hot day like today.

We started at the Monroe County Pure Waters substation off of Browncroft Blvd and headed upstream into Ellison Park. The creek twists and turns a lot, so we had gone over a mile and a half before going under Blossom Rd near the park's main entrance. We continued a bit further but then decided to head back, since it was well past noon and we had a couple of errands to run before Ann needed to get ready for Chili's July 4th parade.

Along the way we spotted lots of birds - there were swallows nesting at most of the bridges we paddled under, so we got to see hungry little swallow chicks waiting for their parents to bring them food, as well as plenty of adults swooping and soaring all over the place. There were also several kingfishers along the way - in one spot three of them took to the air as we paddled through.

One of the drawbacks to Irondequoit Creek is that it's a very popular place to paddle, in part due to BayCreek Paddling Center at the mouth of the creek on Irondequoit Bay. From what we've seen they keep very busy with boat and gear rentals, and quite a few of the canoes and kayaks that we passed today probably came from there. There's a section of the park that's very popular with dog owners as well, and on a hot day like today a lot of the dogs were out in the water... fortunately none of them seemed too interested in climbing up into a boat...

JMH