Mike's Page - Paddling

Recent Paddling

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:49:57 -0700

I've been getting a little more kayaking in lately, mostly to new places. In February I paddled the South Fork Edisto River. In March I went on my first whitewater trip to the Lower Green in North Carolina. My 14.5' boat managed the Class II rapids and I stayed dry, but plenty of that was luck. Last week I did a jaunt along the Lake Greenwood shoreline and found Black Crowned Night Herons living in an inlet near my neighborhood. This past Saturday I paddled the Enoree River. It started with an hour of steady rain, but ended with quite pleasant weather. It's good to get out on the water!

paddling.net Photo of the Week, part 2

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 08:16:17 -0800

If you've clicked-through from my photo on paddling.net, welcome! Click here to see a larger version.

Some other links that might interest you:

Writeup and more photos from the Minnesota trip where the kayak photo was taken
More of my photos on paddling.net
Paddling 70 miles of the Suwannee River
Palmetto Paddlers, the South Carolina paddling club I belong to

Happy holidays!

Back to Turkey and Stevens Creeks

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 16:47:42 -0800

Wednesday the 27th I met up with Brian O. for a winter paddle on the Turkey and Stevens Creeks. The creeks are only paddleable when rains bring the water level up. Christmas day rains peaked the Stevens Creek USGS gauge at just over 10 feet (rains three days earlier brought it to 12 feet). Steep banks cause the depth to vary wildly, but the 2-4 foot range seems to be best for paddling. Our Wednesday run was at just above 4 feet. I last ran this stretch in February 2005, when the water was at about the same level. The weather wasn't as nice as the last time; it was in the low to mid 50s, but the low sun, steep shady banks, and chilly breeze made it seem colder at times. We put in from some slippery, muddy steps near the Key Bridge and were underway at about 10:45am.

Of all the places I've paddled in South Carolina, I think the Turkey Creek is about my favorite paddling spot. It's fairly close to home, has interesting geology and trees, and plenty of wildlife. I think the fact that it's only occasionally paddleable helps to protect its resources.

It wasn't long before we scared up several beavers. They would slip down the muddy banks and disappear in the water. I would scan the area for half a minute, but they didn't resurface. Brian happened upon a swamp rabbit in a rocky nook beside the creek. I didn't realize that they are a different species of rabbit, but they are. Wikipedia has a good writeup on them including an interesting bit of Presidential trivia. Fauna for the rest of the trip included more beavers, a buck deer, and a couple turtles.

Over the 7+ mile trip were maybe half a dozen small rapids and a couple slightly bigger ones. They kept things interesting. Brian spent time paddling back into them in his smaller boat while I took pictures. He found a couple small "holes" where you could sit in place and just use the paddle to keep your position. I tried a little upstream rapid paddling in my longer kayak, but usually the smallest divergence from paddling directly upcurrent would result in the water catching my bow and turning me downstream.

We had just passed some small rapids and were chatting when all of the sudden a strange current caught my stern and started turning my boat perpendicular to the current. The kayak quickly began to try to roll downstream. Fortunately I was able to brace with my paddle and get back upright just in time. I'd like to think some of that was the result of several years' paddling experience, but it was probably also a lot of luck. At any rate I avoided a cold bath! We later realized that neither of us had carried a bilge pump, which I almost always have on the water.

We spotted the takeout and the Highway 23 bridge around 2:20pm and hauled our kayaks up the slippery steps and took the short trail (long when carrying a boat!) back to the parking area. It was a fun ride and a special piece of water.

There is so much beauty in these creeks that is hard to photograph while you're moving at four miles per hour. I hope to take advantage of the normal low water level sometime and slog around with my better camera gear. But definitely not until it warms up!

See the full photo album.

Everyone have a happy new year!

Back from the Mountains

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 10:49:57 -0700

Three times! It takes forever for me to write a blog entry anymore, so I'm just lumping some trips together.

Two weeks ago I went with the Palmetto Paddlers to camp and kayak the French Broad River near Asheville. It was a very rainy experience. Friday the 24th, I carpooled with Brian O., and we stopped off for cookies at the Wildflour Bakery in Saluda before heading up to Brevard. Several club members camped at the Davidson River Campground. On Saturday, more paddlers met up with us at the put in on the river. Many of us thought it was odd to see a river flowing north, not south or east like a typical South Carolina river. But the French Broad is on the other side of the Eastern Continental Divide, and flows over to Tennessee. The paddle trip was OK, but I'm not much for urban paddling, as there was a lot of highway noise along that stretch. The views of the Biltmore were fleeting, but we did see it. After the paddle, several of us visited the Compleat Naturalist, a little nature store in Asheville that has the most comprehensive field guide selection I've seen. That night we had dinner at the Twin Dragons in Brevard, an insanely large buffet of Chinese, Mexican, and other stuff. Sunday a few of us took a detour to the new DuPont State Forest to see three waterfalls. Brian and I took the scenic route back to SC, and stopped at Caesar's Head State Park. We had wanted to see the migrating hawks and the view, but had to settle for a sheet of white cloud, as the park was fogbound. We also stopped in Ware Shoals, doing a little prospecting for a paddle trip on the Saluda River there. Here's the official club trip report.

The next weekend we went with good friends to the area near Boone, North Carolina. It's the first I've been there, and it takes a long time to get there. But the rented cabin was beautiful and worth the ride. Saturday we took the kids to the Tweetsie Railroad and let them have fun. Sunday we drove part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and took in the views. The fall colors were just beginning to get underway, and I'm sure they'll be much better about now, but the parkway will probably be that much busier too.

In the middle of last week I took my son for a short mountain camping trip. We sort of picked Oconoee State Park at random. It's a decent park, tucked up in the mountains near the upper-left corner of the state. It was expensive to camp; for some reason they charged me a reservation fee for a walk-up, and there's 10% tax charged too. We had a section of the campground nearly all to ourselves, and it was pleasantly quiet. The following day we took a trip up to Whitewater Falls, which straddles the NC/SC border. We stopped at the upper falls. The fall colors were just thinking about appearing there. I've been there three times, and a weekday morning is a good time to go there and avoid the crowds. Sometime I'd like to get down to the lower falls but I haven't had the time for it yet.

I think I've had enough mountains for now; I need some beach time!

paddling.net Photo of the Week

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 08:14:01 -0700

Cool, my canoeing photo from Emerald Lake in Canada made the paddling.net photo of the week. See more of my pictures from the Canadian Rockies.

A long time ago I got this photo from Lake Jocassee and this one from the Sparkleberry Swamp picked for photos of the week.

Kayak for Sale

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Wed, 03 May 2006 08:32:15 -0700

One of my kayaks is for sale. If you live in South Carolina or nearby, please have a look.

Update 2006-05-06: The boat has been sold to a member of the Palmetto Paddlers.

Canoe Camping Top 40

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 05:43:03 -0700

While discussing options for a new kayaking "expedition," my paddling buddy Brian told me about this website: Canoe Camping Top 40. I didn't count to make sure there are forty listings, but there are a lot, and each comes with a good description of the river, the camping, and has links to books, outfitters, water gauges, and more.

I've only paddled on the Edisto and Suwannee from their list; I guess I have a lot more to try! Currently we're looking at maybe doing the Green in Kentucky or the Buffalo in Arkansas.

Unfortunately their website is an AOL-member site, and can be pretty slow. Someone get these guys a webhost!

Bomb Island

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:13:46 -0700

Last Saturday I joined the Palmetto Paddlers for an evening trip out to Bomb Island on Lake Murray. This island, also known as Lunch Island or Doolittle Island, is summer home to many thousands of purple martins. The island got its name because it was a practice target for World War II pilots.

I missed the cookout at one of our members houses on Lake Murray, but made it in time for the paddle. It had been a very hot August day, and it was still in the mid 90s (~35°C) when we took to the water at 6:30pm. We had a large crowd made up of 17 kayaks and canoes. We paddled out of the shady cove and into the hot sun, floating on a lake as warm as bathwater. The big lake was stirred up like a bathtub too, with powerboat wakes mixing to create unpredictable seas.

We kept out of the way of the boat traffic as best we could. We paddled to a nearby island and into a shallow gap. From there we could see Bomb Island across a large patch of open water. There was still plenty of daylight so it was an easy crossing.

A few powerboats lingered in the vicinity of Bomb Island, many being used as swimming platforms to beat the heat. We circled counterclockwise around. A few boaters had stopped for a picnic on the western side, which isnt closed off. We eventually ended up just off the eastern end. Signs on this side of the island proclaimed the roost and asked people to keep out. The water here was shallow enough to get out of the kayaks, and many of us jumped in to swim and cool off.

The sun was low in the sky and the purple martins began their performance. Swarms of the birds arrived from all directions, circling the island, climbing and diving. Some rested atop the trees and soft squawks of thousands of birds combined to an impressive cacophony. The waves came and went, usually absent when I fished my camera from its waterproof bag, returning when I put it away. But it was pleasant to bob in the water, cool off, and watch the birds.

As the sky grew darker, we got back into our paddle-craft and circled to the north shore of the island. This side was loaded with a flotilla of powerboats, and it really offered a better view of the birds than the eastern end. Here you could see hundreds of birds at the waters edge, getting a drink or playing in the mud of the sharply eroded shoreline.

We floated here and watched the sunset. Two unusual lines rose from the horizon near the sun and crossed nearly the whole sky. Perhaps crepuscular rays? We sat for a while and debated the best time to make the crossing back to the landing. Start before the powerboats or wait for them to leave? We ended up waiting for many of them to leave.

The members of our group had a diverse group of kayak/canoe lighting methods. A few others and myself had headlamps, others had elaborate marine lighting attached with suction cups, and others had blinking red LEDs. As we paddled back, it became apparent that the more lights, the better, as several powerboaters crisscrossed the lake, churning up the water. One idiot in a noisy "muscle" boat doubled his speed after he noticed our group.

We probably should have kept our paddle group tighter as we returned, but we fortunately all made it back without incident, with stories to tell about the birds of Bomb Island.

Update 2005-09-01: The club trip report.

Paddle Sparkleberry with the Governor

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 12:18:47 -0700

South Carolina's governor, Mark Sanford, is going to paddle the Sparkleberry Swamp this weekend. This area is the proposed site of a controversial bridge which will connect the tiny towns of Lone Star and Rimini. The trip is open to anyone who wants to join in.

I can't go on the trip, but I agree with the governor that the Sparkleberry Swamp is a poor place to put a bridge. I've paddled this beautiful area twice, in December 2001 and January 2003. The Palmetto Paddlers go there frequently.

Suwannee River Trip

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 18:13:58 -0700

I finally finished my writeup, photo gallery, and maps from last month's multi-day paddling trip on the Suwannee River in south Georgia and north Florida. We paddled 70+ miles of river and made a couple interesting side trips before heading home.

Click here to check it out!

Turkey & Stevens Creeks

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 18:47:37 -0800

Yesterday I went on a spur-of-the-moment paddling trip with my friends Joe and Brian. I've wanted to paddle the Turkey and Stevens creeks ever since a missed attempt in 2001. The area has very steep banks and the water level is often too high or too low for safe paddling. Combine that with busy schedules and it's a creek you can't paddle too often. But Monday's steady rains had provided the right amount of water for a run, so we jumped at the opportunity.

(See the photo album)

We parked two vehicles at the take-out (SC 23 at the Modoc Bridge) and drove up to the put-in (Edgefield County Road 68 at the Key Bridge) in Brian's truck. As we were preparing, we saw a huge limb break from a tree across the creek and crash to the ground. It reminded me of the "if a tree falls in the woods" philosophy question. Well, we heard this one fall!

By the time the boats were loaded, the fog had burned off and the sun appeared. The put-in is on a slope with some muddy wooden stairs and a space next to it for sliding boats. We had to lower the boats down the slope with ropes on the bows and sterns of the kayaks. Then it was off on the Turkey Creek! The water level was running at nearly 4 feet when we got underway, and was still rising.

We got underway at about 11:45 AM and were soon in a totally wild area surrounded by huge trees and steep banks, leading up to high bluffs. The temperature was perfect: 60s increasing to the low 70s by the afternoon. Every once in a while we'd round a bend into an area where the bluffs blocked a lot of the sun, and the temperature would drop noticeably.

This area was apparently affected by glacial activity, and we passed several interesting rock formations along the banks. Some rocks appeared to have been compressed flat layers, then turned upward at an angle and broken off, leaving a jagged edge. The rocks I saw in the middle of the creek were smoother, but I'd hate to impact one of the sharper ones hidden by high water.

The water was flowing well and we moved quickly downstream. It wasn't long before we hit a fairly strong rapid...at least it was the biggest one I've ever paddled in my flatwater 14.5 foot kayak. I made it through unscathed, and even enjoyed it. Brian had gone through first and snapped a great shot of my run.

Along our route we passed dozens of large cypress and sycamore trees. It's unusual and wonderful to see the cypress trees in a rocky and hilly setting; I'm used to seeing them in the lowcountry swamps. Brian and Joe noted that they didn't see any smaller cypress trees and wondered if the conditions had changed since the big ones took root. As we reached the confluence with Stevens Creek, a breeze blew in and a big cloud of pollen drifted down from one of the trees on the bank. I'd never seen such a thing.

When we reached Stevens Creek, the creek widened a bit and straightened out some. There was a little less whitewater too. Joe and Brian had paddled this stretch nearly a year ago on a Palmetto Paddlers trip, and Joe had told me of a visible drop-off in the water that we had to run. I was anticipating it the whole way, but the drop never came...apparently the higher water covered it all up.

At one point we came to a small rapid and I rode up over a concealed tree that slowed me down for a few seconds. I turned and saw Brian coming up on it, thinking that he knew about it, but he didn't see it and it caught him and turned his shorter kayak sideways. He made a nice save by scooting across while bracing himself on the bow of Joe's kayak.

The wildlife was quite active. We spent a lot of time floating with the current and quietly listening to our surroundings. There were ducks, hawks and other birds along the way. We spotted several deer up on the high banks, and even saw one exiting the water for higher ground. Joe and Brian saw an otter pass right by my kayak, but I was looking for it further in the distance and missed it. I did get to see a beaver make a close inspection of our group. One beaver spent a long time slapping its tail, possibly to warn others of our visit. We also ran across several turtles enjoying the sun.

It didn't take us long to get down the Stevens Creek and before we knew it, we heard traffic on the Modoc Bridge and saw the stairway for the take-out. The take-out was similar to the put-in, but did not have a space next to the stairs for sliding the boats out, so we had to haul the boats right up the stairs. Brian got out first, but his boat slipped his pull rope and Joe and I had to chase down the kayak in the steady current. Once we were out, we sat down for lunch, since the water level really left us no good place to stop along the length of the trip. We finished around 2:30 PM...it was a quick 7+ mile trip!

I used GPSVisualizer to make a map of the trip. I used the color-by-speed option and you can see where some of the rapids were by the higher speeds. You can also have a look at the GPS track coordinates and a graph of the water levels for February 21-22.

Many thanks to Brian and Joe for including me on a fascinating trip!

Some links:

Back on the Water

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 15:34:15 -0800

Yesterday I got out for some paddling on Lake Greenwood. It was only in the 40s, but the sun was out and there wasn't much breeze, so it turned out to be an enjoyable and comfortable trip. I'm trying to get back in paddling shape for a camping trip this spring.

The water level is typically low this time of year, which I assume is so that people can work on their docks and there's some storage volume in expectation of the spring rains. But this winter the level is about as low as I've seen it. The depth is no problem for a kayak, and it's neat to see areas normally hidden underwater. I'm not too keen on seeing all the tires along the shore that are exposed. They couldn't have fallen off cars in the all the places I've seen them, so I guess people put them there to attract fish, but it really makes the lake look like a trash heap. Lots of birds around including seagulls, ducks, and coots.

I made a loop around "my" part of the lake between the two bridges, something like 3.5 miles. I brought the GPS along and made a map with GPS Visualizer.

Garage Kayak Rack

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Fri, 29 Oct 2004 20:38:01 -0700

I finally got around to getting my two kayaks off the garage floor and more efficiently stored. I built a simple wall-mounted rack on the side of the garage. So far it's working great. Originally I was going to build it out of 2x4s and pattern it after a design I saw on the web, but while browsing the home-improvement store, I saw some heavy-duty shelf brackets, and decided I could just build it with those. I carefully attached them to the wall studs with 3 inch screws. Then I bought some water-pipe insulation and slid it over the tops of the brackets for padding and to create a less-slippery surface. I fixed these to the bars with plastic zip-ties. I'm using bungee cords to help keep the boats from accidentally slipping off the shelf brackets. I attached the bottom bungees between the shelf brackets, and the top ones between the upper shelf bracket and some eye-bolts I screwed into the studs.

It remains to be seen if there will be much horizontal force that causes the brackets to try to spread apart. The brackets are certainly not as strong in that direction. If it becomes necessary, I think that I could run a small wire horizontally between the brackets to keep them from spreading. I probably won't have to, but we'll see.

This wall-mounted method replaces a homemade rope-and-pulley system that I used to have. It was a pain to get the kayaks off the floor...it took two people to do it, and it was always tricky to properly clear the garage door when it was up. The result was that the boats spent the majority of their time on the garage floor. Hopefully that'll be a thing of the past!

Paddling Photos Published

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Thu, 28 Oct 2004 15:36:07 -0700

Two of my paddling trip photos were published last Sunday in the Columbia, South Carolina newspaper, The State. They were small parts of a big two-page spread covering the various aspects of Congaree National Park (which sadly didn't make it to the web). One was a landscape shot from the Congaree Bluffs, and the other a photo of my wife paddling the Cedar Creek. It's fun to see my stuff in print, and great to see a big writeup about a place I love to visit. Thanks to my friends in the Palmetto Paddlers for introducing me to lesser-known parts of the Congaree (and sending me a copy of the paper).

This isn't the first time I've had a photo published in a paper. I had a bird photo published in the Orlando Sentinel in 2002. I need to get more photos online...I'm always way behind, and you never know what someone is interested in. I just love going to the places and capturing the images. Maybe someday I'll be able to make a living at it.

Short Trip on Lake Greenwood

nospam@example.com (Mike Boone) — Sat, 28 Aug 2004 11:47:36 -0700

Yesterday I snuck out for a couple hours to paddle on Lake Greenwood, just down the street from my house. It was hot and sunny, but as I don't get out as much as I used to, it felt good to cook in the sun. I paddled up to the northern trestle bridge, and to the quiet inlet above it, one of the few undeveloped places in the northern part of the lake. There I saw a pair of blue herons, many Tetragnatha spiders hiding low-hanging trees, and a few clouds of buzzing midges.

As I headed back, I heard a train's horn and saw dozens of grackles burst from the nearby trees as the train appeared on the bridge. I found it odd that the CSX locomotive was facing backwards as it hauled its cars; I've seen rear-facing engines before, but always behind a forward-facing one.

After the train departed I stopped on the rocks under the bridge and inspected a beautiful pink wildflower, hibiscus-like and growing on some sort of vine. There was a calm nook there to park my boat, so I jumped out for a quick swim.

On the way home I stopped to see a lakefront construction site in my neighborhood from the water...there go some more trees . I chatted with an onshore neighbor, and saw several turtles sunning themselves on the driftwood near the boat ramp.

I took my GPS along and used GPS Visualizer to make the map. You can tell the USGS aerial photo is old because it shows very little development in my neighborhood, and the quiet inlet in the northwest corner no longer has a beach of any sort...it's eroded all the way up to the treeline.