Gardners Creek 12-18-11

Chilly morning paddling on Gardners Creek today. Put in right off of highway64 right before Jamesville at Robersons Marina. An eclectic mix of cats, chickens, birds i didnt recognize, and small children to greet us. After giving my three dollar boat fee to the pleasant lady behind the counter we were off. The creek was nice as weve seen and soon the hum of highway 64 was behind us and we were in the amazing tranquility of another eastern NC creek. Cold weather and a bit of wind would not deter us today.

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Catfish Lake 11-13-11

We were trying to canoe the Newport River but the wilderness access was under construction and closed. So with a little head scratching and debate we decided to check out a spot weve often talked about but never investigated. Catfish lake in the Croatan National Forest. The day was a little windy making the lake a little choppy. Cool spot.
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Swift Creek 10-16-11

Another lovely day on The Swift Creek. An almost chilly morning progressed into an amazing fall day. Didnt see much wildlife except for a lot of ducks. Its quite alarming when twenty waterfowl take flight near you when you didnt know they were there. Some brilliant splashes of red and orange dazzled us as we paddled along on a sheet of glass.
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Bennetts Creek 10-2-11

Great day of canoeing on Bennetts Creek. We put in at a little park in Gatesville and paddled east towards Merchants Millpond. The hard working folks at Merchants Millpond cleared the creek of all the fallen trees left behind by hurriane Irene so the paddling was easy.
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Beautiful overcast day trip to Merchants Mill Pond.
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Roanoke River and Conine Creek 8-7-11

We set out this morning with cloudy minds under a cloudy sky. A short drive to Williamston and we set off on the Roanoke river again. Determined to see the Conine camping platform we planned on paddling east on the Roanoke then a west on the Conine. A pretty big loop. We did the 6 mile paddle to the camping platform with no problems. Definitely a place I will camp at in the fall or winter. The four or five mile paddle down the Conine was a bit more problematic. It started of relatively clear but got progressively harder and harder to navigate. We had to get out of the canoe four or five times to either go over or around fallen trees. I was afraid we were going to hit a logjam under the highway seventeen bridge but the Conine let us pass. Just barley. So at this point we had paddled ten to twelve miles of easy to very difficult and time consuming waterways and we looked like a couple of mud farmers. Now the whole idea of taking the Conine was to travel with the flow of the Roanoke the whole trip but when we finally passed under highway seventeen and took our left on the Roanoke the wind that had been picking up steadily for hours was blowing right in our face which made it almost seem like we were going against the flow. Never had so much fun doing such hard work. We saw what I am assuming is the same pair of bald eagles from last week. Wild scuppernong grapes were everywhere.
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Video is from an overnight camping trip at Goose Creek State Park. A great place to camp and paddle.

Roanoke River 7-31-11

We got an early start to a day of canoeing the Roanoke River near Williamston today. Heavy downpours on the way didnt deter us. It hasnt rained for more than an hour a week in MONTHS so to be sure the rain would pass relatively quickly. It did, but it came back later with a vengeance! Kim and I got about an hour and a half up the river when it started to sprinkle bringing the "should we turn around debate". And after a minute or two we decided that though we hadnt obtained our goal of reaching the Conine Creek the darkening skies and ever increasing rain were leaving us no choice but to turn back. Then the rain really started to fall. A few minutes of panic then simple acceptance. We had to stop several times when the rain got too hard to bear and to bail out the canoe. Pretty cool! Previous to the rain we spotted a pair of bald eagles and slowly chased them down river for a while.One of the videos is of one of the bald eagles. Great trip! Kudos to Martin county for the clean and very nice wilderness river access and for their amazing and beautiful roanoke wilderness.
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Raven Rock State Park 7-16-11

Took a day trip to Raven Rock State Park this Saturday.Almost record low temps had us in a great mood for some hiking. We took the Campbell Creek loop (5 mi) that goes to the Cape Fear River. There were surprisingly few people there so the walk was nice and peaceful.Had some wildlife encounters, big creek fish, snakes and lizards mostly. Spoke with the ranger about the canoe trails and we will be on that river SOON!
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Beaufort County Weekend

We spent a lot of time over in Beaufort County this weekend. We started Saturday at goose creek state park. The dragonflies were everywhere. Got a video of a swarm of hummingbirds. We saw deer also. Sunday we put our canoe into Tranters Creek again. Look for an owl in one of the pictures. Its sitting on the top of a rotten tree and its natural camouflage makes it kind of hard to see. Most birds fly off when we get close but the owl didnt budge. It just sat there yelling and hissing at us. Awesome!!!!!
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Tar River 7-2-11

A minute and a half trip to Port Terminal Wildlife river access here in Greenville and we were canoeing up the ol' Tar River. We went from Port Terminal to the Greenville Town Commons and somehow the wind was in our face both ways. Saw a lot of folks walking the new section of the Greenway by the river. Though it pains me a little to have a formerly private place that Ive been going to since I was little open to the public it is nice for the town.
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Merchants Millpond State Park 6-25-11

A truly fine day of canoeing at Merchants Millpond. A place of much history and raw beauty. The park was smaller than expected but we still managed to get four hours of paddling in. A different experience it was like canoeing through a forest. Hoped to see a gator but they were not to be found today.
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