Tales of Two Paddles

Our last camp and paddle trip to Merchants Millpond State Park yielded three great paddle days. So when we set out earlier this week for another trip to MMPSP we had high hopes.

Well, we loafed at the campsite Monday afternoon, did not paddle, and enjoyed the solitude of being the only campers in the park. Tuesday was overcast with threatening rain but we put the canoe in the water anyway. The millpond was choked with duckweed and we struggled to make it back to Bennett's Creek. The water was high and we made good progress up the creek, but after one slow detour around a beaver dam and a portage (with lunch break) we turned around, failing to beat last Spring's upstream distance record. However, on the way back we were rewarded with an up-close look at a bald eagle; first flying low beside us through the trees, then a few minutes later circling around to our left side with a limp heron hanging from his talons. Wow!

We were up early Wednesday morning but the light rain and cold temps drove us back to Raleigh with dry paddles. However, since the canoe was still on top of the car and Thursday looked like a good day to paddle, we headed 80 miles east on Thursday morning to get in a day paddle on Contentnea Creek, upstream and back, from the Snow Hill boat ramp. It was a very nice paddle, reminding Sun-Ling and I of the blackwater creeks of Florida. The water level at the Hookerton gauge was 5.31 feet and we paddled over most of the downed trees but did have to portage a downed tree around the oxbow. We'll definitely be back to the Contentnea which has about 80 miles of navigable waters.

Campfire.


Bennett's Creek Portage and lunch.




Duckweed on the Millpond.


Contentnea Creek Portage and lunch.


Florida? No. It's North Carolina.


The put-in at Snow Hill.

Merchants Mill Pond Paddle and Camp

Last week we hauled our canoe and tent over to Merchants Millpond State Park and enjoyed some very fine camping and paddling.

One day we paddled east through the millpond, through Lassiter swamp and up Bennett's Creek for about two miles before turning around. The high water this year made the paddle up Bennett's Creek a record setter, beating by far (almost a mile I reckon) our previous attempts. Highlights were lunching on an old, now flatten, beaver lodge and spotting a yellow-crowned night heron.

The next day we put in for the first time at the Gatesville dock/ramp and paddled up the Bennett's Creek Paddle Trail to the Merchants Millpond dam and back. Another great paddle with many beaver lodges, jumping fish, and another great lunch at the turn-around. This paddle trail also has a couple of platforms for canoe-camping.

In the map below, the first paddle is the green line; the second the red line. Our campsite is circled in yellow and the orange X marks our favorite lunch spot.



Hanging out back at camp after a day of paddling.


Fav lunch spot; although this photo was taken while we had only stopped for a snack and leg stretch....Our canoe is barely visible at the water's edge.


We startle a goose.


Near the point where Lassiter Swamp ends and Bennett's Creek begins.


This old remnant of a beaver lodge on the upper section of Bennett's Creek made a perfect lunch spot.


Somewhere up Bennett's Creek.


Second day's lunch spot was at the turnaround; that is, eastern put-in of the paddle trail.


Part of the canoe camping platforms on the Bennett's Creek Paddle Trail.


The Gatesville dock.




And all of the flickr photos are here.

Merchants Mill Pond Camp and Paddle

After 2 months of fruitlessly watching the weather for a stretch of consecutive weekdays with sunny skies, we headed off to Merchants Mill Pond State Park near Gatesville, NC on the Friday of Veterans Day weekend with our tent, canoe, and gear.

Although the canoe campgrounds were full on Saturday night, the family campground where we stayed was half empty, and we spent 3 peaceful days, paddling, enjoying AM and PM campfires, and soaking up the daytime sun.

While we did not spot a lot of wildlife, there was a variety: turtles, deer, racoons, beaver lodges but no beavers, geese, flickers, pileated woodpeckers, crows, daddy longlegs, and a kingfisher. The resident alligator was nowhere to be seen.

Campsite.


Reflections on the pond.


Favorite lunch spot on the mill pond.



Highlight of the trip: paddling up Bennet's Creek at the east end of the pond.


Tight spot on Bennett's Creek.



Beaver Lodge.

Goats - Carl Sandburg Home - Flat Rock, NC

Goats - Carl Sandburg Home - Flat Rock, NC, originally uploaded by meckleychina.

Last month we visited the Carl Sandburg Home at Flat Rock, NC. His wife Lilian raised and bred dairy goats whose descendants still live on the farm.