Saturday, June 5, 2021 - Indian Creek - Northwest River
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Such a great day on the water.
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2 hours 40 minutes on the water and 4.6 miles on the GPS. Scroll below the pictures to see the track map.
