Sunday, August 8, 2021 - Jones Creek - Isle of Wight County, Virginia
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Today (after surviving the tree falling on my house at 3:30am*), I decided to drive over to Isle of Wight County (about an hour away) and paddle down Jones Creek. The boat ramp is a concrete public boat ramp managed by Isle of Wight County. It provides access to Jones Creek, the Pagan River, and the Lower James River.
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I stayed away from the power boats and went exploring up the creek. This area is tidal and the water level was fairly high when I launched. You can see that the water level is much lower when I returned 2.5 hours later.
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As soon as I launched, I saw a very large Great Blue Heron along the marsh grass directly across from the launch. I got some pictures of it before it took off flying.
The scenery in the marsh was just spectacular. Beautiful blue sky with big puffy white clouds reflecting on the water between lush green marsh grass.
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Lots of birds flying about and living along the marsh. Lots of fish jumping out of the water. And once the water level went down, I saw thousands of fiddler crabs scurrying about amongst the marsh grasses.
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I paddled to the south and under Nike Park Road. Adjacent to the road is the newly opened "Park to Park Trail" which will be approximately four miles of bicycle and pedestrian multi-use path from the Town of Smithfield (Windsor Castle Park) to Nike Park in Carrollton. The part that I passed under is Segment 2 which was just opened in June.
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I paddled down to Nike Park which has a fishing pier and accessible kayak launch on the water.
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On the way back, I saw a Bald Eagle take flight from the top of a tree. This area seems to a have quite a few Bald Eagles that roost around.
Lovely, peaceful day paddling.
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2 hours 34 minutes on the water and 4.9 miles on the GPS. Scroll below the pictures to see the track map.
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*Yes, I big oak tree fell on my house at around 3:30 this morning. It was right on a little ditch on the side, and I think all the rain yesterday over saturated the ground and the tree uprooted and fell toward the house. It was not storming or windy when it fell. For reference, those who know the property, this is the tree with the kids rope swing in it. Sorry, kids. It doesn't appear that any damage was caused to the house. And I am totally okay. We will see this week about getting the tree removed from the house.
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