Byrne's Lake
Saturday, January 22, 2005 brint.adams@us.army.mil
The first thing we noticed when turning off of Hwy. 225 towards the Byrne's Lake park, was the newly completed roadway all the way to the parking lot. The next thing was all of the cars, trucks and trailers parked there. This was the most crowded I have seen the park for some time. When we started to put in, we noticed a pickup truck with a dead deer in the back. As we got into our canoe, a kayak paddler came around the corner, all decked out in camouflage. When he got out, he was carrying a pistol with a scope on it, and his sit-on-top kayak was all covered in blood. He had carried the deer draped over the kayak and over his lap to get it back to the pier.
After this excitement, Billy, Taya, Linda and I set out from the Byrne's Lake launch area at 10:10 AM under partly cloudy skies, 70 degrees, 10 mph wind and a low tide. We began paddling upstream and went about 0.5 miles, as far as we could go. Wintertime opens up the woods, so you can see deep inside to the hills and other varying characteristics, which are not visible during the summer when all of the undergrowth is grown up and leafed out. We saw much more of the underlying landscape on this trip than during any of the other seasons.
Most of the trip out to Tensaw River was uneventful, as we passed several fishermen and a campsite along the north shore, almost out to the river. The campers were in the process of carrying their gear back out on several trips, by way of a small jonboat. On our way back, we decided to take the small waterway off to the south.
When we got about as far back as we could, we made a small turn and surprised a very large alligator (about 12 feet long) who was sunning himself on the bank, just out of the water. Linda was in front, and when the gator lifted and turned his head towards her, they were no more than 6'-10' feet apart. As Linda screamed, the gator got up, thrashed his tail around and dove under the surface. At that point, we had glided over the top of where he went under. As we turned around in the close quarters, he surfaced between our canoe and Billy's kayak, who was coming up behind us. So, of course Linda was right next to him again, as the gator looked around at both boats, thrashed in the water and dove under again. This time both Linda and Taya screamed, as both boats eased on out towards the main channel.
The remainder of the trip was not nearly as eventful, as we continued to discuss our close encounter. Overall, we paddled about five miles in about 1.5 hours. We were out, packed up and on our way by noon, on what turned out to be a beatiful morning, with a little excitement thrown in for good measure.
The first thing we noticed when turning off of Hwy. 225 towards the Byrne's Lake park, was the newly completed roadway all the way to the parking lot. The next thing was all of the cars, trucks and trailers parked there. This was the most crowded I have seen the park for some time. When we started to put in, we noticed a pickup truck with a dead deer in the back. As we got into our canoe, a kayak paddler came around the corner, all decked out in camouflage. When he got out, he was carrying a pistol with a scope on it, and his sit-on-top kayak was all covered in blood. He had carried the deer draped over the kayak and over his lap to get it back to the pier.
After this excitement, Billy, Taya, Linda and I set out from the Byrne's Lake launch area at 10:10 AM under partly cloudy skies, 70 degrees, 10 mph wind and a low tide. We began paddling upstream and went about 0.5 miles, as far as we could go. Wintertime opens up the woods, so you can see deep inside to the hills and other varying characteristics, which are not visible during the summer when all of the undergrowth is grown up and leafed out. We saw much more of the underlying landscape on this trip than during any of the other seasons.
Most of the trip out to Tensaw River was uneventful, as we passed several fishermen and a campsite along the north shore, almost out to the river. The campers were in the process of carrying their gear back out on several trips, by way of a small jonboat. On our way back, we decided to take the small waterway off to the south.
When we got about as far back as we could, we made a small turn and surprised a very large alligator (about 12 feet long) who was sunning himself on the bank, just out of the water. Linda was in front, and when the gator lifted and turned his head towards her, they were no more than 6'-10' feet apart. As Linda screamed, the gator got up, thrashed his tail around and dove under the surface. At that point, we had glided over the top of where he went under. As we turned around in the close quarters, he surfaced between our canoe and Billy's kayak, who was coming up behind us. So, of course Linda was right next to him again, as the gator looked around at both boats, thrashed in the water and dove under again. This time both Linda and Taya screamed, as both boats eased on out towards the main channel.
The remainder of the trip was not nearly as eventful, as we continued to discuss our close encounter. Overall, we paddled about five miles in about 1.5 hours. We were out, packed up and on our way by noon, on what turned out to be a beatiful morning, with a little excitement thrown in for good measure.
posted by brint @ 1:24 PM
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