Little Boiling Creek
Saturday, February 4, 2006 brint.adams@us.army.mil
The plan was to meet the group at the Yellow River Bridge at 10:15 AM. I got off to a late start and crossed the bridge at 10:18 and saw a few parked cars, but the group had already left. I drove on ahead to the head of Little Boiling Creek, but no one was there. So, I turned around and went to the normal put-in on Boiling Creek at the wooden bridge. I found four vehicles there, but the group had already left. It was apparent, with the location of vehicles, the group had changed plans and headed downstream to take the normal Boiling Creek/Yellow River route to the take-out at the Hwy 98 bridge.
I was interested in seeing just how far I could get heading upstream on Little Boiling Creek, so I took off solo, at 10:45 AM on a beautifully sunny 60 degree morning. The water level was a little higher than last month due to the recent rainstorms. Along the way south, there were plenty of colorful signs of spring popping out as well as many turtles basking in the sun. I followed a Great Blue Heron to several roosts upstream, until he finally had enough of my interruptions, so he flew back towards me, almost overhead, and unloaded a large bomb, which fortunately landed only about ten feet away.
I reached the Boiling/Little Boiling split at 1.37 miles and continued up Little Boiling Creek. Around one turn, I startled a large gator, out sunning on the bank, who came crashing into the water just ahead. I made it about another half mile, before I started to come up against some blockages across the creek. The water was so warm and comfortable, I just got out of my kayak, took my hand saw and went to work. It was pretty slow going as I worked my way upstream, walking and pulling my kayak upstream, as I cut my way ahead.
I got to one point, where it was not apparent where the channel went, as it spread out, flowing down through a stand of trees. I walked ahead, leaving my kayak for a little while, to find the best route back to the channel. I cut a narrow passage through, which took about an hour to get maybe 20 meters. At this point, I had no idea I was near a jeep path, but all of a sudden, I saw Gary's van coming down along the bank. I yelled out to him and he stopped to decide where he would park and put in. There was a landing back about an quarter mile, which he drove to and paddled back up through my newly created water path.
Once Gary caught up to where I was still sawing my way along, most of the rest of the stream was fairly clear. There were a few blockages I stopped to clear, while Gary went on ahead. I finally caught up to him and found him standing in the creek, next to his canoe, with a sheepish grin on his face. Somehow, he hit a current, which flipped him over, for the first time in 30 years (he says). Gary didn't have any dry clothes, so he decided to get out and walk back to his van.
I continued up to where the road crosses over and the creek comes shooting through a large round culvert into a big pool. I tried to paddle up into the culvert a couple of times, but didn't get far. So, I decided to get out and portaged my kayak up across the road to the other side. By that time it was about 3:15 PM and I had only travelled 2.86 miles. Rather than go exploring further upstream, I jumped into my kayak and shot down through the culvert and spit out into the pool below. It was a pretty wild whitewater ride with nowhere to go but straight ahead.
I wasn't sure what Gary was going to do, so I figured I better get started back downstream, as it was going to be close to dark before I got back. But, after paddling for only about a quarter mile, I saw Gary coming out again. He stopped and offered to take me back to the bridge. I was very grateful, as I was pretty exhausted from spending the day sawing and blazing the way. We made a plan to come back soon and this time do the downstream trip we had intended for today. It should be a breeze, now that I got the stream cleaned out the whole way.
The plan was to meet the group at the Yellow River Bridge at 10:15 AM. I got off to a late start and crossed the bridge at 10:18 and saw a few parked cars, but the group had already left. I drove on ahead to the head of Little Boiling Creek, but no one was there. So, I turned around and went to the normal put-in on Boiling Creek at the wooden bridge. I found four vehicles there, but the group had already left. It was apparent, with the location of vehicles, the group had changed plans and headed downstream to take the normal Boiling Creek/Yellow River route to the take-out at the Hwy 98 bridge.
I was interested in seeing just how far I could get heading upstream on Little Boiling Creek, so I took off solo, at 10:45 AM on a beautifully sunny 60 degree morning. The water level was a little higher than last month due to the recent rainstorms. Along the way south, there were plenty of colorful signs of spring popping out as well as many turtles basking in the sun. I followed a Great Blue Heron to several roosts upstream, until he finally had enough of my interruptions, so he flew back towards me, almost overhead, and unloaded a large bomb, which fortunately landed only about ten feet away.
I reached the Boiling/Little Boiling split at 1.37 miles and continued up Little Boiling Creek. Around one turn, I startled a large gator, out sunning on the bank, who came crashing into the water just ahead. I made it about another half mile, before I started to come up against some blockages across the creek. The water was so warm and comfortable, I just got out of my kayak, took my hand saw and went to work. It was pretty slow going as I worked my way upstream, walking and pulling my kayak upstream, as I cut my way ahead.
I got to one point, where it was not apparent where the channel went, as it spread out, flowing down through a stand of trees. I walked ahead, leaving my kayak for a little while, to find the best route back to the channel. I cut a narrow passage through, which took about an hour to get maybe 20 meters. At this point, I had no idea I was near a jeep path, but all of a sudden, I saw Gary's van coming down along the bank. I yelled out to him and he stopped to decide where he would park and put in. There was a landing back about an quarter mile, which he drove to and paddled back up through my newly created water path.
Once Gary caught up to where I was still sawing my way along, most of the rest of the stream was fairly clear. There were a few blockages I stopped to clear, while Gary went on ahead. I finally caught up to him and found him standing in the creek, next to his canoe, with a sheepish grin on his face. Somehow, he hit a current, which flipped him over, for the first time in 30 years (he says). Gary didn't have any dry clothes, so he decided to get out and walk back to his van.
I continued up to where the road crosses over and the creek comes shooting through a large round culvert into a big pool. I tried to paddle up into the culvert a couple of times, but didn't get far. So, I decided to get out and portaged my kayak up across the road to the other side. By that time it was about 3:15 PM and I had only travelled 2.86 miles. Rather than go exploring further upstream, I jumped into my kayak and shot down through the culvert and spit out into the pool below. It was a pretty wild whitewater ride with nowhere to go but straight ahead.
I wasn't sure what Gary was going to do, so I figured I better get started back downstream, as it was going to be close to dark before I got back. But, after paddling for only about a quarter mile, I saw Gary coming out again. He stopped and offered to take me back to the bridge. I was very grateful, as I was pretty exhausted from spending the day sawing and blazing the way. We made a plan to come back soon and this time do the downstream trip we had intended for today. It should be a breeze, now that I got the stream cleaned out the whole way.
posted by brint @ 10:16 PM
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