May 28th - Paddled a Creek off Cypress Bend

I went by Bickham Dickson the other day and it was so low, it looked like it was just a flooded field. You could see the grass under the water and the channel was pretty narrow. So I decided not to kayak there. But I wanted to do some paddling. Today was about 96 degrees. And since we had a family reunion at Cypress Bend, I decided to bring my kayak along.

After the reunion was over I decided to go to a friend's house on the opposite side of the lake from the State Park. She had mentioned that I could explore the creek that enters into the river around her house. It's a long trek from her house to the launching point so I used the paddlecart to help haul the kayak. I think I finally got the paddlecart to work right. I didn't lose the yak once! (It has fallen off the paddlecart everytime that I had used it before!) I guess I just had to get some practice in.

It was probably the wrong time to be on the lake for wildlife...around 3 PM, but I went anyway. The creek was great to paddle on. Very calm, easy to paddle. There was a pretty stiff headwind. I had to go very slowly because of the submerged trees. There were lots of times that I could feel the submerged tree grazing the bottom of the kayak as I went over it...kinda disconcerting! And several times my paddle hit something that I couldn't see. But I made it ok. I went all the way to the head end of the creek. By then it was just too crowded with trees and stumps coming out of the water, so I turned and went up the other side of the creek.

I saw an egret flying by, but had to dig through the dry bag to find the camera again, so I didn't get a good picture of him.

I saw a Blue Heron land on the dock of one of the houses. He sat there for the longest. I probably got within 20 feet of him before he took off.




I was able to get one good picture of him as he flew away. He sure was big.









I thought I would paddle up to the dam, but when I got out into the main channel, it was so rough that I just couldn't make much headway. So I went across the creek toward the other side of the spit of land that my friend lives on. Someone had built a "seawall" at the outmost point of the land, and as I went by it, the waves were pretty big from the reflections of the waves hitting it. I wasn't sure that I would make it through that without swamping so I turned back up the creek. I got close to my friend's house and her girls called out and told me it was 30 minutes to supper... yeah crawfish! I needed to go make the cocktail sauce anyway, so I went in.

All in all it was a good paddle...about an hour and a half. Got a blister on my thumb. It was rough out in those waves! I am looking forward to going camping next weekend with the kayak. Hopefully I will get some paddling done on the lower end of the Cossatot River as it comes in to Lake Gillham.

Well, that's it for now. Happy paddling!
Cathy

Cypress Bend

I got out Sunday and did some kayaking. After watching the Brent Reitz Forward Stroke Clinic DVD that Peggy sent to me, I couldn't wait to try out the techniques. I wanted to try some of the self rescue techniques too, but the water was really dirty. I got a lot of clay on my boat, shoes, and paddle just getting in the water. So that will wait until Gillham Lake June 2nd.

My older brother Don and his wife Susie joined me at Cypress Bend. It was a pretty day, but there were a lot of big boats on the lake so we had a lot of waves. It was pretty tough to paddle with all of the wave action. No way to go in a straight line. I practiced the power paddling that the video showed. It certainly does work and gets you somewhere pretty fast. But without a rudder, there was no way I could guide the yak where I wanted it to go without a lot of one sided paddling...too much wind and wave. Susie and Don's canoe kept going out towards the middle of the lake because of the winds and waves. And there were way to many boats flying by to be out very far from shore.

We paddled for about 45 minutes down to the boat dock at the end of the park. I got out and let Susie try to kayak. She really liked it. So, maybe they will be getting kayaks for their 36th wedding anniversary coming up soon!

It was so crowded on the lake that there weren't very many birds around. I caught one snowy egret, but it was really too far away to get a good picture. And I saw one blue heron fly over, but Don had my camera taking a picture of me, so I did not get a picture of it.

Well, before I left, I just had to take a picture of something pretty, so I took a picture of a pretty flower I saw. So I'll leave it at that, and hope to paddle at Bickham Dickson next Saturday. I know it has a lot of wildlife...including lots of alligators. Well...

Happy kayaking!

Cathy

Dorcheat Bayou Moonlight Float

I enjoyed my first outing with the Bayou Chapter of the Ozark Society. Our trip started at 7 PM and we paddled down the bayou for about 45 minutes.

I convinced my older brother Don and my niece Michelle to go with me. It was their first time in a canoe together...what fun they had going in giant zigzags. I think the trip down was about 3-4 miles, but they paddled lots more than that!

This was my second time to be in my kayak. It was great. The Perception Sundance 12.0 is just the right size and there is room for me to change my position as often as I need to. The foot pegs are easy to move around.

Here are some of the pictures as we paddled down the bayou.


Is was a LONG way for my first trip. But we had fun. We didn't see any wildlife except a few little birds. No alligators or snakes...Yeah!







When we came to the old railroad trestle we had to go to the far right as that was the only opening that was unobstructed. It was right next to the bank. This was ok in daylight but on the trip home it was quite scary! I don't know why but in the dark as we went under the bridges that we encountered, it felt as if the water was up higher and climbing into the kayak. And it felt like it took forever to get out from under it. I felt like I was paddling, but getting nowhere. Even Don had this feeling. I guess it is caused by parallax, but I am not sure. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this?

That looks like rock on the banks of the bayou, but they have put old broken up concrete on the banks. I guess that will help stop erosion. It looked pretty neat. It almost felt like we were in Arkansas.


Finally, just about dusk we pulled into the sand bar. Our organizer, a local canoe/kayak expeditioner had set it up really neat. He had tiki lights, and a BBQ pit set up where he cooked lots of different things. He had ka-bobs, broccoli, and then each of us brought something to cook too. I brought hamburgers, Don and Michelle brought smores. Others brought steak, hot dogs, and veggies. He also had arranged for a traveling banjo man to play for us. We had sing-a-longs with some John Denver songs, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and others. It was really a great time for all.


We have had quite a bit of rain lately, so the sand bar which was just a sand strip, but we still had plenty of room to eat, and sit and watch the moon come up.

As we were waiting for the food to cook, I got Michelle and Don to try out my kayak. They both liked it. Maybe they will get one and we can go kayaking lots!














After the moon came up about 10 PM, we made the long trip back. It was kinda scary going up a bayou in the dark. The bayou does make lots of twists and turns and several places that we could have gotten lost, but we make it back with only two incidents. Nothing major... I was taking a "shortcut through some trees and got caught on a submerged log. It took some real effort to get the kayak off the log, and when I put the kayak up today, I can see where the log gouged a nice long scratch on the bottom. Oh well, I guess it is the first of many. I was just glad that I was not capsized when trying to get off that thing!

Well, I guess that is the end of the trip report. Hopefully this was the first of many. Next week, my niece graduates from college, so I won't be able to go kayaking next weekend as I will be going to Ruston for that. So maybe in a few weeks, I will get back on the water... 'til then... Happy kayaking!

Cathy

May 12th - First Blog Entry

Hi all. This is my first blog attempt. I just got a kayak last weekend and am looking forward to posting my camping and kayaking trips here. I am going kayaking this weekend, so I hope to have some pictures to post soon.