Past Leaf Peek Paddle

Temperatures were cooler this weekend. Family was visiting Kathleen's parents, so we decided to paddle up the cove near their house. Kathleen's finger is getting better. Here she is smoking past me:


I made the video with a Flip Video Ultra, a small handheld "point & shoot" camcorder. I haven't had much practice with it yet - hopefully, our recordings will improve. Leaf colors were better last week. Leaves are dropping and there wasn't much red.

At the top/bottom of this long cove is a bridge for Old Stubbs Road. I wanted to go into it to see the other side and whether we could paddle up this feeder creek. Well, it's really not a bridge; nor is the passage a culvert. But it is narrow! There was a leftside opening and a rightside opening. Coming up to them, we saw branches caught up at the other side. I picked one and started in. Lesson learned - if the tunnel is narrower than the paddles, it's going to be hard to make good progress! Using the paddle on one side and our hands on the wall for the other, we made it the first 20 yards or so. The last 5 yards were tricky due to hanging up on the branches. I made it through but had to come back around to pull Kathleen over them by her oar. There were mud dauber wasp nests higher up on the wall. Empty now, but probably not so when it's warm! Not much to see on the other side. Just a small pond with submerged branches where the water drains in. The adventure here was very literally in the travelling (through the tunnel).