Saturday, July 2, 2016 - Baum Road - Smith Creek - Northwest River
Now, it's REALLY summer!
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I decided to launch from the put-in on Baum Road in Chesapeake. It is on the east side of Northwest River Park and it managed by the City of Chesapeake Parks and Recreation. It provides access to Smith Creek and ultimately Northwest River. Smth Creek wraps around the southeast side of Northwest River Park.
As I was driving down there and I noticed that Pocaty Road was flooded at Blackwater Road and Pocaty Creek was WAY high and muddy, it occurred to me that Smith Creek would likely be high and muddy (even though they are connected to different rivers) due to the big rain event that happened in this area yesterday afternoon.
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Smith Creek did not disappoint in the "muddiness" factor. It was VERY muddy all the way to the junction with Northwest River. But although the water level was high, it was still fine for paddling with no problems.
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It was interesting as i paddled down and then into to river itself and some other creeks off the river how the water color changed. Smith Creek was a very light tan at first and gradually became a bit darker as I approached the river. The river itself was clear (not muddy) and was its usual brown-stained color. Another creek I went into was a very reddish-brown color.
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Once I got to the river, there were (as one would expect) a lot of boats and jet-skis. Lots of wakeboarding happening. But, surprisingly, there actually times that there were no boats in sight even on the main river.
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Lots of marsh flowers are blooming and I was able to see a myriad of butterflies and bumblebees. And of course, there were tons of dragonflies. Lots of birds were out. I was able to see a bunch, including an Osprey that I watched for a long time and a Great Blue Heron that stayed in front of me for a while, but I was able to HEAR so many more. There were times that I stopped paddling and closed my eyes and just listened as I drifted. Peacefulness defined for sure.
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Thunderstorms are forecast for the next two days of this lovely holiday weekend, so we shall see if there's anymore kayaking to be done ...
Great day today. 2 hours and 40 minutes on the water and 5.4 miles on the GPS. Scroll below the pictures to see the track map.
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Edit: Here's the GoPro video.
