Trip Report: Bottle Creek Indian Mounds
Bottle Creek Indian Mounds
Saturday, September 13, 2003
by Brint Adams - brint.adams@us.army.mil
With this paddle representing my directorial debut, I wanted to do everything possible to insure that all who came, left 100% satisfied. So, I ordered up perfectly beautiful weather and it came through, as we met at the Conoco at the I-65 & Hwy 225 exit just south of Stockton. Dick, George, Randy, Karen and David + wife met and we left by caravan at 9:35 AM to the Rice Creek boat launch area. The lot was already half full with fishing boat trailers and we filled up the rest with our vehicles. All of us were in the cool water and on our way at 10:00 AM, heading down Rice Creek to Richardson Island. Once there, we crossed over to the cut-through and made our way through Richardson Island to David Island on the Tensaw River. We paddled down river to the mouth of Jessamine Bayou and headed into the narrow, winding and fully tree-covered bayou.
At about 1/2 mile in, we took an unscheduled stop at marker 5 on the south side, where George had heard there was located the largest cypress tree in Alabama. Four of us got out and trekked back into the forest about 200 meters. We started out on dry ground, but the deeper in we went, we encountered ever-increasingly deeper mud. Eventually, George and I continued barefoot in over calf-deep mud, until we found the Cypress, which was quite impressive. Although not extremely tall, the very old tree was massive around the base of the trunk. We made it back to the boats, cleaned up and moved on to catch up with those who didn't stop. Bruce came along and joined us there, as he must have needed his beauty rest and Starbucks, and was a little late starting out. Along the many twists and turns, we made our way around, through and over many fallen trees. We woke up numerous turtles, sitting out on logs across the water, trying to find a little sunlight, as well as a few small gators sliding down the bank into the bayou. We exited the Jessamine into Bottle Creek and headed down stream about 1/4 mile to the next major left-hand turn and got out on the small sand beach on Mound Island right on-time at 12:00 PM.
After pulling our kayaks up into the woods and out of sight and applying large quantities of Swamp Buddy spray, we began our 1/2 mile hike inland to the Indian Mound site. We stopped briefly along the way as a Cottonmouth crossed our path, but I think he slithered away as much from smelling the Swamp Buddy, well in advance of our arrival, as seeing us invade his territory. We made it to the site and first walked around awhile surveying several of the supposed eighteen mounds. We split up and several of us ascended the steep incline, about 50 feet vertically, up the highest of the mounds. We stayed on top for lunch, contemplating how the Indians may have built the massive mound and then lived atop it, while having to hunt, fish, haul water and grow maize in order to eat their own lunch.
We collected the group, ventured back to Bottle Creek and began the 4.5 mile return trip on the water at 1:30 PM. We gained a little time as the Jessamine had a slight current pushing us along as we traveled back to Rice Creek and arrived at 3:00 PM, also right on schedule. All were reasonably tired and hungry upon arriving at the take-out point and so, of course, could not pass by the Stagecoach Inn without stopping for some well-deserved carbo loading. So, my first lead seemed to fully satisfy everyone, although maybe any trip ends that way as long as it is at the Stagecoach
Saturday, September 13, 2003
by Brint Adams - brint.adams@us.army.mil
With this paddle representing my directorial debut, I wanted to do everything possible to insure that all who came, left 100% satisfied. So, I ordered up perfectly beautiful weather and it came through, as we met at the Conoco at the I-65 & Hwy 225 exit just south of Stockton. Dick, George, Randy, Karen and David + wife met and we left by caravan at 9:35 AM to the Rice Creek boat launch area. The lot was already half full with fishing boat trailers and we filled up the rest with our vehicles. All of us were in the cool water and on our way at 10:00 AM, heading down Rice Creek to Richardson Island. Once there, we crossed over to the cut-through and made our way through Richardson Island to David Island on the Tensaw River. We paddled down river to the mouth of Jessamine Bayou and headed into the narrow, winding and fully tree-covered bayou.
At about 1/2 mile in, we took an unscheduled stop at marker 5 on the south side, where George had heard there was located the largest cypress tree in Alabama. Four of us got out and trekked back into the forest about 200 meters. We started out on dry ground, but the deeper in we went, we encountered ever-increasingly deeper mud. Eventually, George and I continued barefoot in over calf-deep mud, until we found the Cypress, which was quite impressive. Although not extremely tall, the very old tree was massive around the base of the trunk. We made it back to the boats, cleaned up and moved on to catch up with those who didn't stop. Bruce came along and joined us there, as he must have needed his beauty rest and Starbucks, and was a little late starting out. Along the many twists and turns, we made our way around, through and over many fallen trees. We woke up numerous turtles, sitting out on logs across the water, trying to find a little sunlight, as well as a few small gators sliding down the bank into the bayou. We exited the Jessamine into Bottle Creek and headed down stream about 1/4 mile to the next major left-hand turn and got out on the small sand beach on Mound Island right on-time at 12:00 PM.
After pulling our kayaks up into the woods and out of sight and applying large quantities of Swamp Buddy spray, we began our 1/2 mile hike inland to the Indian Mound site. We stopped briefly along the way as a Cottonmouth crossed our path, but I think he slithered away as much from smelling the Swamp Buddy, well in advance of our arrival, as seeing us invade his territory. We made it to the site and first walked around awhile surveying several of the supposed eighteen mounds. We split up and several of us ascended the steep incline, about 50 feet vertically, up the highest of the mounds. We stayed on top for lunch, contemplating how the Indians may have built the massive mound and then lived atop it, while having to hunt, fish, haul water and grow maize in order to eat their own lunch.
We collected the group, ventured back to Bottle Creek and began the 4.5 mile return trip on the water at 1:30 PM. We gained a little time as the Jessamine had a slight current pushing us along as we traveled back to Rice Creek and arrived at 3:00 PM, also right on schedule. All were reasonably tired and hungry upon arriving at the take-out point and so, of course, could not pass by the Stagecoach Inn without stopping for some well-deserved carbo loading. So, my first lead seemed to fully satisfy everyone, although maybe any trip ends that way as long as it is at the Stagecoach
posted by brint @ 9:22 PM
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