Horsepen Bayou
Dec. 13th, 2014
by Dave Kitson

A few of us decided to do a short paddle prior to the Christmas Party so Joe Coker, John and Cindy Bartos, Mike Pollard, Natalie Wiest, Sophie Lopez, Fran Wilcox, Christy Long and I met at Bay Area Park Sunday morning. The hope was to go upstream but unfortunately it is still totally blocked by water hyacinth so we headed to Horsepen Bayou instead.

I had heard that the eagles were back in the area so this was a good chance to check it out and sure enough as we approached the entrance to the bayou one of the birds flew to the nest. A little further on we saw one flying over the bayou as well so they are definitely there getting ready for nesting season. There were a surprising number of herons, mostly the smaller types, but relatively few egrets along the bayou on this day. Although the day was cool Natalie surprised a 6’ gator out sunning itself on a log. We paddled to the pipe easement next to U of H and got out for lunch then headed back. There was a group of brown pelicans sitting on a fallen log just beyond the entrance to Horsepen. They were super friendly and not at all bothered by us paddling by and taking pictures.

The group split here with everyone heading back to the put in to head home in preparation for the party and Joe, Mike and I heading a little further down Armands so Joe could get a few miles which gave him over 200 club miles for the year. Congratulations Joe. We did not paddle too far since there was a pretty stiff headwind to deal with and we needed to head back so we could make the party on time. The trip for the three of us ended at 6.2 miles and 3.5 hours.

Check out the pictures on the website.

The author, Dave Kitson