Saturday, June 5, 2021 - Indian Creek - Northwest River
After a few days of heavy rain this week, it cleared off and the temperatures really rose today. I had intended to launch from the little launch at Baum Road near Northwest River Park in Chesapeake. But when I got to the launch site, the gate was locked and there was a sign saying that the site was closed for maintenance. I'm not sure how much maintenance they would be doing as this area isn't much more than a patch of gravel and cleared area of trees.
So, continued a few miles down the road (on the other side of Northwest River Park) and launched from the launch at the Indian Creek Bridge. This area isn't much more than a patch of gravel and a cleared area of trees either. But it's not gated. Surprisingly, there wasn't anyone fishing here today. Typically, there are always a few people here fishing from the bank, and you have to maneuver around them when launching. The launch area did, however, smell a bit like rotting fish. Not sure where that smell was coming from. I didn't see anything that I thought could be the source. Thankfully, once I got on the water and got a few feet away, the smell diminished.
The water level was fairly high and the water was a bit muddy. Both things are attributed to the heavy rain we had this week. If you look in the pictures, you will see that once i got to the main river, the muddiness went away and the water had its normal clear, tannin-stained brown color.
After I got to the main river I went right (west) and paddled into several small side creeks. I like paddling into these small creeks and seeing all the amazing nature. There were so many birds out that I could hear singing in the trees during the whole paddle. I also saw a bunch of turtles sunning themselves on partially submerged logs.
There were a few power boaters out, but not as many as I expected on a June weekend day with the temps in the high 80s. All the boaters were super polite as they passed me. Keeping their distance or slowing down as they went by.
Such a great day on the water.
2 hours 40 minutes on the water and 4.6 miles on the GPS. Scroll below the pictures to see the track map.
