Bayous Tallapoosa & Jessamine loop
Sunday, January 15, 2006 brint.adams@us.army.mil
Saturday's wind died down and left us with very calm water for a beautiful, but very different paddle for the fortunate five who came out this morning. The temperature was around 48-55 degrees throughout the day, with a mostly overcast sky. Our group gathered at the Stagecoach Inn in Stockton, AL and drove the short distance north to Baldwin County's Rice Creek Landing.
When we arrived, the expected low water level was even lower than we had imagined, with barely enough water trickling by to let us drag along the bottom, until we got about 20 meters away. Rice Creek was very eery, as it seemed like we were almost below ground, seeing cypress trees and knees uncovered, exposing huge trunks usually underwater. There was even a sand bar exposed out at the mouth of Rice Creek, which we dragged across for the first time.
We turned north up Briar Lake, passing several fish and hunting camps, some on land, some floating and some sitting on the exposed muddy shoreline. A couple of us spotted a buck squatted on the shore, his head laying off to the side, appearing to be dead. As we approached to get a closer look, he bolted up and away through the palmetto. We continued paddling north on the much wider Tensaw Lake, until we reached the mouth of Bayou Tallapoosa. It is located only about 1/2 mile south of the two covered platforms hidden behind Dead Lake Island.
The water level was low into Tallapoosa and we didn't figure we would get very far. So, we decided to go in and come back out to the platforms for lunch. To our surprise, and although we had to do alot of weaving and manuevering around, we never came upon a fall we could not paddle over or around. There were some tight spots, but none requiring us to exit our boats.
So, we continued slowly up Tallapoosa the whole distance of about three miles until we reached the Tensaw River on the other side. Along the way, we saw many signs of deer, beaver, hogs and even watched a pair of otters scamper playfully along the bank and down into the water. At the Tensaw River, we decided to stop for lunch at a large 3-story camp, sitting around their empty fire pit.
We continued paddling down Tensaw River to make the loop, rather than retrace our paddle on Tallapoosa. So, off we went downstream with about a 1.5 mph push, making good time at about 6 mph for the next four miles. We passed the entrance to Middle River and the primitive public campground on the way to Bottle Creek. After a short distance down Bottle, we turned east into Bayou Jessamine. It was similarly very low and slow going as we dodged around all of the many exposed falls. We finally came across our one and only log of the whole trip, we had to stop and drag our boats over. It was about halfway down to the Jug Lake split, which we decided to pass this time, since we were about 12 miles into the paddle so far.
The rest of the way was uneventful out Jessamine, back up Tensaw along Larry Island, and through the cut to Briar Lake and Rice Creek. Our total trip was 15 miles, taking about 4 1/2 hours paddling time. All of us were sufficiently worn out and glad we had a chance to see the delta from a different "down under" perspective.
Saturday's wind died down and left us with very calm water for a beautiful, but very different paddle for the fortunate five who came out this morning. The temperature was around 48-55 degrees throughout the day, with a mostly overcast sky. Our group gathered at the Stagecoach Inn in Stockton, AL and drove the short distance north to Baldwin County's Rice Creek Landing.
When we arrived, the expected low water level was even lower than we had imagined, with barely enough water trickling by to let us drag along the bottom, until we got about 20 meters away. Rice Creek was very eery, as it seemed like we were almost below ground, seeing cypress trees and knees uncovered, exposing huge trunks usually underwater. There was even a sand bar exposed out at the mouth of Rice Creek, which we dragged across for the first time.
We turned north up Briar Lake, passing several fish and hunting camps, some on land, some floating and some sitting on the exposed muddy shoreline. A couple of us spotted a buck squatted on the shore, his head laying off to the side, appearing to be dead. As we approached to get a closer look, he bolted up and away through the palmetto. We continued paddling north on the much wider Tensaw Lake, until we reached the mouth of Bayou Tallapoosa. It is located only about 1/2 mile south of the two covered platforms hidden behind Dead Lake Island.
The water level was low into Tallapoosa and we didn't figure we would get very far. So, we decided to go in and come back out to the platforms for lunch. To our surprise, and although we had to do alot of weaving and manuevering around, we never came upon a fall we could not paddle over or around. There were some tight spots, but none requiring us to exit our boats.
So, we continued slowly up Tallapoosa the whole distance of about three miles until we reached the Tensaw River on the other side. Along the way, we saw many signs of deer, beaver, hogs and even watched a pair of otters scamper playfully along the bank and down into the water. At the Tensaw River, we decided to stop for lunch at a large 3-story camp, sitting around their empty fire pit.
We continued paddling down Tensaw River to make the loop, rather than retrace our paddle on Tallapoosa. So, off we went downstream with about a 1.5 mph push, making good time at about 6 mph for the next four miles. We passed the entrance to Middle River and the primitive public campground on the way to Bottle Creek. After a short distance down Bottle, we turned east into Bayou Jessamine. It was similarly very low and slow going as we dodged around all of the many exposed falls. We finally came across our one and only log of the whole trip, we had to stop and drag our boats over. It was about halfway down to the Jug Lake split, which we decided to pass this time, since we were about 12 miles into the paddle so far.
The rest of the way was uneventful out Jessamine, back up Tensaw along Larry Island, and through the cut to Briar Lake and Rice Creek. Our total trip was 15 miles, taking about 4 1/2 hours paddling time. All of us were sufficiently worn out and glad we had a chance to see the delta from a different "down under" perspective.
posted by brint @ 6:31 PM
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