I see the day trip reports are flowing with the rise of temps. here in North America and I'm pleased to have a contribution too from the Gulf Coast of Texas. A friend was in town from Minnesota for a job interview with NASA's Johnson Space Center, affording me the perfect opportunity to show off our local paddling opportunities and Armand Bayou Coastal Preserve hardly a stone's throw (in Texas distances) from the space center itself. We pulled into the parking lot at Bay Area Park at 4:15, first time in a long time I'd seen it so devoid of cars and people. Perfect paddling weather, temps. in the upper 70s and lower 80s, moderate winds, sunshine dappled by the hardwood forest along the shores. The southwest winds of the past few days have piled the water into the bayou. The closest gages at Morgan's Point and Eagle Point (bayou is about halfway between them, but inland and empties into Clear Lake) showed levels almost 2' above the mean. No muddy bottom to be seen, and the water lapped the asphalt next to the parking area. I predicted good alligator viewing on the bayou, and we were not disappointed. First sighting was a big boy of about 8' fully out of the water. He stood up to launch himself into the bayou with a big splash. Eyes and snouts protruded from the water several times along our route - more abrupt gator launchings too, including one in tandem. I was giving Russ my windup to "Big Bertha" and sure enough, one really big one and two smaller ones where I'd predicted them. The gators seem to be fairly comfortable with person-powered boats in the water, and we were within 50' of several feet of them, keeping a respectful distance and moving slowly. The flowering plant of the day was the coral bean (see the Aggie hort pages if you're curious, http://aggie-horticultre.tamu.edu/ornamentals/nativeshrubs/erythrinaherace.htm ). I've never seen this many in bloom, their red flowers were in sight almost everywhere along the bayou and sometimes up 15' or so into the trees and shrubs. False indigo had just started blooming way up the bayou. The trip was incredibly birdy too, at least one brilliant blue grosbeak, reddish egrets of both color phases and immatures, gold-crowned night heron, great blue herons, little blue herons, great (American)egret, and the splashy red of cardinals. Another lovely paddle on the bayou - hope it's getting warm in your neck of the woods, too. Natalie Wiest Houston/Galveston/League City, Texas *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
25 March 2004 Correspondence from Northern Ontario Dear Paddlewisers: It is still too soon to report on paddling here, for aside from a few isolated rapids, the ice is not yet out. You will be please to know, though, that I have taken to walking around Boulevard Lake for pre-season exercise now that skiing is finished. Yesterday I felt rather enervated, with spring in the air and all, so I jogged rather than walked. I even managed to pass an older woman walking with a cane. My walking partner says that my pace is too slow, and I suppose she is correct, but we are what we are. I require water, either liquid or solid, to travel. I think that the song ?Breaking up is hard to do? should be changed to ?Break up is hard to endure.? Yours in paddling, Richard Culpeper http://my.tbaytel.net/culpeper/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
14 April 2004 Correspondence from Northern Ontario Dear Paddlewisers: Last evening I took my kayak out for a spin on the Current River here in town. I had not been in the wee boat since last summer, so I was quite looking forward to it. The shank?s mare shuttle went well, for none of the walkers in the park raised an eyebrow at my trunks, despite there still being snow lying about. While donning my drysuit (a challenge that usually takes me a quarter of an hour and burns a few hundred calories), a young lad drove by, then turned around and hopped out to chat with me. He had a C1 on his roof, so he joined me in playing in some rapids. All went well until he lit up a cigarette. Now it should be disclosed that I abhor smoking. One of the proudest moments of my legal career is having drafted a no-smoking bylaw for a town north of here. So when the young fellow lit up while paddling, I must admit that an ill thought concerning him passed briefly through my mind. To my shame, I thought, ?I hope he dumps and loses his cigarette.? Well, the thought was brief, for that is exactly what happened. He tried rolling, but didn?t quite make it up, although the cigarette was still between his lips. He tried rolling again, but again failed, this time losing the cigarette. He tried several more times, turning more and more red with each attempt. Eventually he made it all the way up, and coughed his guts out, the way only a true half drowned smoker can. After he recovered, I continued down the river?s rapids, counting a couple of ducks and a deer on the way, none of which were smoking. Yours in paddling, Richard Culpeper http://my.tbaytel.net/culpeper/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
27 April 2004 Correspondence from Northern Ontario Dear Paddlewisers: Last Sunday four of us wound our way up to a river near Lake Nipigon to scout for routes for an outdoor adventure race (a raid) being held in a few weeks. We were to met at 6:30 a.m. for breakfast at my paddling partner?s home on Superior, but the other two paddlers arrived quite late, so we didn?t head out until mid-morning. Usually the drive would be a couple of hours, but we were delayed by a fallen log. Having only an axe and some small saws with us, it took quite a while to clear the way. Shortly after that, we came across a fair bit of snow, so we had to put on chains. After leaving our companions? vehicle at the take-out, we made our way back with the two canoes to the put-in, arriving at 2:30 p.m. There had been a huge burn in the area in the last few years, so the landscape was desolate. The sky was overcast, it was snowing/sleeting, and it was cold. Being a whimp, I suggested that we come back another day, and my paddling partner agreed. Our two companions decided to paddle the river, so we waved them goodbye, and drove home. When they returned to town, they had a tale of woe to tell, the central point of which is that we now have to go back to recover their canoe from a pin. The sad part of the story is that the pinned boat was a nice new canoe that had never seen water before. It had the name of the sternsman?s outdoor adventure business deckled on the sides upside down so people would be able to read it when seeing it on his roof racks. Now it is advertising his business on the river, but not exactly the way he wants his business to be advertised. In as much as it would be a bit embarrassing to have the raid participants race by the pinned boat with the organizer?s advertising on it, we?ll do our best to recover it prior to the event. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately), there is a plan in place, which involves a crawling out into the current along a fallen tree upon which the boat is pinned, and then cutting the tree in half with a semi-submerged chain saw. I?m going to bring along lots triangulars and duct tape for obvious reasons. So I can?t call this a trip report, for there has not exactly been a trip, and I?m not certain if there will be a trip. I thought, however, that you fine folks from the U.S. of A. who have had occasion to watch Bob and Doug McKenzie or Red Green on television might be interested to learn that these characters are pretty much compilations of normal folks going about their daily lives up I here in the great white north. Yours in paddling, Richard Culpeper http://my.tbaytel.net/culpeper/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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