Bodcau Bayou

When you ask someone to name some of the most beautiful states in the US, it's not surprising that Louisiana is not even in the running.  When asked about scenic beauty, most think of mountain vistas with a cool breeze and crisp, fresh smell, or white sand beaches with waves of salty air battling the sting of the sun.  Most people wouldn't even consider dreary, flat Louisiana.  The natural beauty that Louisiana offers up is under-appreciated, neglected even.  It's a shame because the wilderness environment of Louisiana is almost unparalleled and few other places in the US are similar. 

Last Saturday David and I had plans to head up to Bodcau Bayou, but this didn't work out.  We reschedule for this morning, and Elizabeth was off so she was able to join us.  The sun took the day off, too.  Early this morning we got some much needed rain, but it had stopped by the time I walked outside.  It started up again as we drove up to Haughton.  No big deal, fun kayaking weather!  It eased up as we arrived at the boat launch.

David and Elizabeth ready to play despite the drizzle.

The rain really picked up as I was unloading the kayaks, and by the time I had the first one down lightning was crashing around us.  I was ready to go, and I think I could have convinced David pretty easily, but Elizabeth was the voice of reason and there was no way she was going out and wielding a paddle over her head.  David, of course, had to do whatever Eliz told him to do, so we sat in the car for a few minutes and waited out the worst of the storm.  It eased up and, though we got pretty wet as we finished unloading, by the time we got in the water the rain had more-or-less ceased.

A*

We put in on the northwest side of Bodcau Dam and explored the bayou for a ways.  The recent lack of rain had taken care of one potential problem for us...the water level was much lower than usual.  In several places along Bodcau the bayou channel is consumed by a flooded woody swamp.  It's notoriously easy to get off course and get lost here (or so I've heard).  Our course up the bayou channel was obvious, so we didn't have to worry much about finding landmarks or dropping a trail of crumbs---and it's a good thing to, because the fish were hitting the water surface like crazy after the storm.  Bread crumbs would not have served us well!

B*

The low water level did leave us with one problem though, there was lots of debris in the water.  Well, I don't guess you would really call perfectly appropriately placed cypress knees that have been rooted where they stand for God knows how long debris, but there was stuff below (and above) the surface.  Log jams are a problem here in low water.  At one point Elizabeth found herself a little too attached to a log jutting from the surface and had to spend a couple of minutes freeing herself.

C*

There were no alligators tagging along this time, at least none that we saw, but we spooked a great flock of white egrets that were hanging out with a couple of Great Blue Herons and an ibis.  From time to time I would see Little Blue poking his beak out from behind a cypress tree, but I never could get a good shot. 

Here's an interesting view of one of our early companions passively observing as we floated by...or below I guess.

We went as far as we could in whichever direction it was that we started out in (left).  With the low water levels we got an amazing look at the bases of massive cypress trunks guarded by dozens of not-all-that-little knee gnomes.



David took the camera for a bit...see, I really was there!

When our progress came to a halt, blocked at a fork in the bayou by a felled tree in one direction and low water levels in the other, we turned back from whence we came and headed in the other direction.  We were careful as we retraced our path so as not to startle the frog that had previously flung himself at Elizabeth and fallen into the water just a few inches shy of her kayak with a very large, very ploppity splash. 

There was no sign of the frog, but we watched a snake gliding through the water and paddled over to investigate.  He was a cute little thing, popping his head up and disappearing when I got too close, then popping up again a little closer to the bank each time.  I never got a good look at his body, but I think he was a yellow-bellied water snake.


(Yellow Bellied?) Snake head peeking up.

We were carefully watched by observers on lofty perches.  Here are a couple of members from the panel of judges.  There were more, many of whom I'm sure we never saw.  I have to admit; if we were floating by me I'd probably stop and stare, too.  We do tend to be a goofy family.


Elizabeth spotted this previously spooked white egret keeping watch from on high.



My trusty favorite, the green heron.  Hard to identify given the lighting and the angle (straight up).

One thing about today's trip is that we didn't get very far.  The bayou was so beautiful, we frequently caught ourselves just sitting and gazing about in amazement.  There is something very tranquil and surreal about this environment.

Yes, that's mist back there.

Elizabeth kept talking about how great this was, and then she would comment on how much she is going to miss me when I move.  It's nice to know that I will be missed, but something tells me that if I weren't taking the 'yaks my absence wouldn't be as painful!  Love ya, ElizaBEST! :-)




D*



All too soon we had to break ourselves away from the peace and purdyness of Bodcau Bayou.  The D.I.N.K.s has a previous commitment, and I had to get to work.

E*

Hopefully we'll be able to make it back out here once or twice before I head to South Carolina.  I would love to see it when the water level is up and I have all day to explore!

Paddling back in to the boat launch.



* The Creative Captions game---As you can see, several of the images are missing captions.  These are labeled with letters A through E.  Come up with a cute, witty, or fitting caption and leave it as a comment.  Don't forget to tell us which photos it's for!

Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Reserve

So, last Friday I took the kayaks to Monroe.  As previously mentioned, I was a little uneasy about traveling with them.  I spent the hour and a half drive constantly leaning forward to get a glimpse of the kayaks' positions and looking for any change that might indicate that the 'yaks would soon be sailing through the air and wreaking havoc on I-20.  I needn't have worried.  When I arrived at "Granny's Garden Place Inn", the straps were still as secure as ever, and I am finally confident that this system will serve me well.  I might get some ratchet straps before I make the 850 mile drive to SC with them, though.

After a nice visit and a great dinner with Mike & Becky, I called it a night.  Saturday morning I picked Mike up and we headed to the lake before sunrise.  As we were putting in at the boat launch, we startled a small gator who was lounging in the swampy shallows about 10 feet from the launch.  All I really saw of him was a flash of tail as he thrashed the water announcing his less-than-graceful departure, but I'd estimate him at about 3 ft.  It was a quiet morning.  2 boats had put in before we arrived, and one was putting in as we were, so there was not a lot of traffic on the 2000 acre lake.  It took a few minutes for Uncle Mike to get in and get comfortable, this was his first time in a kayak.  We paddled around the launch for a little bit...well, we paddled away from the launch, relocated the cooler (water and Mike's root beer, no alcohol), Mike lost his glove, I went back to look for it, we gave up, we paddled away from the launch and finally out into the lake.

Uncle Mike early in the morning while he still had one glove

Not long after the above picture was taken, Mike's second glove went missing.  (We would later find the first under his butt, but the second has taken up residence, we assume, at the bottom of Black Bayou Lake.)

We slowly paddled around the eastern shore as we got comfortable in the water.  As we checked out "Alligator Point" a couple of fishermen boated up (apparently we were in their fishing hole).  They wished us luck with our day, expressed their concern for our well-being, told us of the huge gators we were sure to see, and promised to come to the rescue if and when they heard our screams.  They are an easily unsettled bunch of boys, those bayou fishermen. 

We continued out into the lake to check out an old duck blind.  I didn't get any photos of the blind, but I got to hear the old duck hunting stories, like the one where Mike and Dan forgot to shut the door on the blind and the boat floated off into the lake.  The boys refused to retrieve the boat, so Papa Joe had to strip down and dive in in the middle of winter.  I can't imagine that he was very good company after that!  While at the blind, I found a beautiful dragonfly caught in a spider's web.  I'm pretty comfortable with the circle of life thing, but the web was abandoned.  This poor little bug was going to have a meaningless death.  Actually, now that I think about it, I bet a bird would have swooped down and gobbled it up pretty quickly...oops.  Anyway, I had to free it.  This was somewhat of a challenge in itself, trying to navigate close enough the free the dragonfly, trying not to get so close as to discover that there was a spider there (not much bothers me, but spiders are on the list, high on the list), and trying not to kill the dragonfly in the process.  I freed her. She fell in the water. I rescued her.  I pulled out my pocketknife and carefully performed a spider web extraction procedure to remove the strong-as-steel threads from her slightly torn wings.  She flew off.  She fell in the water.  I rescued her.  She perched on the lifejacket at the bow of the boat.  After a while I noticed that she was gone.  I expect she dried off and flew on the have a nice, long, fulfilled life...right?


"Lucy" drying off on the bow of the kayak afer an encounter with a spider web.

We headed back to the eastern shore to continue our way around toward the "Fourth Lake".  As we glided over the massive lily pads (one benefit of a kayak over a canoe), we were visited by a lively little fellow.  I did not recognize this white and black bird, but he immediately became one of my new favorites.  He let me float up pretty close to get some shots of him.  I think he was even posing.  I later identified him as an Eastern Kingbird, though the white terminal strip is not visible in my photos.  On this little jaunt we also saw an anhinga in a powerful pose, but he would not let us get very close.

Eastern Kingbird



Anhinga

Meanwhile, back on the shoreline...  As we paddled around, I tried to maintain some sense of where the boat launch was and was able to do so satisfactorily I think, but not knowing the lake, I can't tell you exactly where we were now.  Paddling along we watched green herons, anhinga, and some type of small, beautiful duck that I never got a very good look at.  We continued into some type of lagoon-like "finger" of the lake.  I was watching the shoreline off to my left and finally said, not wanting to get my hopes up, "That stick over there sure looks like an alligator", to which Uncle Michael replied, "That's an alligator!" 

We watched her for a moment and then she went under.  We thought that was that, but she popped up again just a few feet down the bank.  She slowly followed the bank for a while and we eventually went on ourselves.  She was behind us now and I was keeping an eye on her.  She was circling around and kind of seemed to be following us.  I did say that I wanted to play tag with the gators after all!  She obviously had reason to stay in the vicinity, and with it being nesting season, I think she was just a momma-to-be keeping a lookout. 

Momma gator circling around

We were in search of the illusive "Fourth Lake" and as the "finger" of the lake that we were in continued to narrow it tapered off into a cut-through of sorts.  Being in the kayaks we were able to slide over and through the globs of water hyacinth and soil that were floating on the water and found ourselves in an area of the lake that is inaccessible to most and seldom, if ever, visited. 

As we snaked through we saw signs of alligator "trails", but none of the ancient reptiles made an appearance.  We were able to sneak up on a Great Egret that seemed to be doing some fishing. 

We watched him for a while.  He passively watched us.  Eventually he got tired of being the center of attention and made his fishless getaway.

When we finally got to a point where it was clear we wouldn't be able to fight through the vegetation and floating islands much further, we turned around.  We emerged back into the main lake and found the gator that we had previously harassed facing us, eagerly (?) awaiting our return.  I took a few more shots, but she clearly did not want to be bothered, so we let her be and moved on.

We continued through some areas of the lake that were more dense with cypress trees, a perfect place for gator spotting.

 And spotting we did.  I lost count at about a half-dozen.  Here's a decent shot of a pretty big one that we watched for a little while. 

This was the "big one" of the day.  Maybe 9 feet?  I dunno.

As we headed back toward the boat launch we paused for a minute so that Uncle Mike could decide not to venture out onto the eerie-looking wooded bank and so that I could watch a couple of green herons having a bit of a tussle.  Green herons have been a favorite of mine for about the last year and a half, ever since I saw (identified) my first one.  This guy looks pretty peeved, but in the end he won the fight.


The victorious green heron

Careening over the lily pads as we wrapped up our little adventure, we were kept company by a red-winged blackbird.  There were tons of these guys around.  I haven't seen any in years, so it was good to see them again.

All in all, we had a great morning on the water.  It was wonderful to be able to spend it with Uncle Michael.  And I'll leave out the story about me knocking the old fisherman out of his boat.  Better me than the 15 foot gator that (supposedly) bumped his boat the day before!  All these guys have stories about why we were lucky to make it back alive.  It's a shame there is so much fear of these beautiful, graceful creatures that really just want to be left alone.  They can get the adrenaline pumping though!

Looking forward to going out to Black Bayou again, hopefully next time with David and Elizabeth along for the ride as well.

'Yak Rack

I am an immediate gratification type of person.  I want what I want when I want it.  Or, if I have it, I want to play with it!  But, I've got a teeny car.  Her name is Cassie, short for Midnight Dancing Cascades.  Cassie and I have been together for a little over 4 and a half years.  She was three miles old when I got her, and we've had a great time together for a bit more than 104,000 miles so far.  I expect we will be together for at least another 150K.  I think I've had her oil changed professionally once (maybe twice), and I've had to send her in for new tires from time to time.  Other than that, no one else has touched her, and she is still running perfectly.  I should take her in for a well-car checkup, but that might jinx our good fortune.  So, all of this is to say that I'm not complaining... but Cassie simply can't handle a couple of 10 foot kayaks without help, she wasn't built for that and I wouldn't expect it of her.

So, I did research.  I did a lot of research.  I wanted to play with the 'yaks, but I couldn't get them anywhere, so I was eager.  I never realized how specific (and expensive) post production car racks are.  I found a 'yak rack that I liked, but I had to get a base system to attach it to.  In the end I ordered the 'yak rack, the base rack, and the base rack fit kit from three different companies and then had to wait for everything to come in.  It all shipped pretty quickly (save for relativity, of course), and I just barely missed having it all set up for last weekend.  The last parts came in last Saturday, but I couldn't get them until Monday. 

But, we are all set now.  The rack system is on and seems to be working well.  It drives nicely around town at least.  I'm apprehensive, due to a previous near disaster on the interstate with these babies last fall.  I'm sure having witnessed many McCormick debacles as a child doesn't help with the anxiety either.  The first real test will take place in about an hour.  I've got the 'yaks loaded, and I will be heading to Monroe this afternoon.  Tomorrow, my Uncle Mike and I will watch the sun rise over Black Bayou Lake.  But, I'll save that for my next entry. 

Meanwhile, how frickin' awesome does Cassie look with her new accessories?  Yes, I know, many people have commented on the 'yaks being bigger than the car.  In that case, Cassie is happy to be an accessory for the boats.

A World that Belongs to Me

A few weeks ago I was given two Splash 1 sit-on-top kayaks, made by Crescent Kayaks.  This was quite a surprise and an honor because I know how much the previous owner, a good friend and mentor, has cherished these boats.  But, as I prepare to head to South Carolina, where I will try desperately to keep my head afloat in the world of graduate mathematics, opportunities for other types of floating (and paddling) will abound.  I think the idea is that the 'yaks, which have been neglected for the last decade, though obviously dearly loved, will finally get some attention.  In accepting them I feel that I am also accepting a responsibility, neigh an obligation, to provide them with this attention as often as possible. 

I think (hope) that this sense of duty will be one of the things that keeps my life in order over the next five years.  I tend to get wrapped up in my work and sometimes forget to take in the world around me.  This is not something that I regret or fear, I do it because I love it.  But, I am well aware that too much focus can hinder my productivity.  That's just the way I work, I'll sprint through it and do great for short distances.  I can even handle the 3200m at that pace.  But, the next five years...this is going to be an ultra-marathon.  I have to make sure that I know how to slow down and breathe, and I have to make to do this, else I'll get burned out before I get that "Dr." before my name!

Having the opportunity and obligation to spend time on the water away from the world that most of us live in may well be my saving grace.  I look forward to early mornings settled into my 'yak, snuggled down in a blanket of mist, watching the sunrise and waking up with a different world, a world that belongs to me.  A world where you have long conversations with Great Blue Herons and play tag with the gators (hopefully I'm always "it", but if not, that's okay).  I look forward to sharing this with family, friends that I know and will meet along the way, and maybe more importantly with myself, by myself.  This may be how I maintain my sanity, my peace, and my perspective in the years to come. 

Now, the reason for this blog...  I'm not keen on being restricted to a certain format.  I don't want my creative juices staunched.  I would much rather build a quick website, mostly because I have control issues as any who know me well can attest to.  But, I am currently in server limbo.  I will not be where I'm at long enough to try to get my account up and running, and I am not yet where I am going.  So, if I want some space on the World Wide Web, this is the easiest, quickest way to get it right now.  This is for me, to chronicle my experiences paddling and to contemplate where my thoughts take me along the way.  Maybe I'll share it with a few people, maybe the world, maybe no one.  I have not yet decided.