White's and Turtle Bayou Paddle
June 16, 2019
by Natlie Wiest
As the summer heats up, shaded paddle places are desirable venues, and White’s and Turtle Bayous fit the bill for the canoe club trip on Father’s Day, June 16. Ten paddlers in nine boats set out upstream on White’s Bayou, paddling to the upstream obstruction forced a turnaround, then headed back to our put-in site at White’s Park for lunch.
We weren’t the only ones enjoying the bayous that day – a local meetup group was there too, including at least three HCC members, and we exchanged pleasantries and paddle places on the bayous.
Two of our official club trip members chose to paddle only the morning on White’s, so the eight of us remaining paddled on up Turtle Bayou to its turnaround logjam, and back to the put-in/take-out.
My favorite swamp shrub, the buttonbush, was in full bloom along the bayou. There were halberd leaf hibiscus blooming too, but I didn’t manage to get a photo of them. Birds were not super plentiful but at least the white eyed vireos were singing, as confirmed by John and Cindy Bartos. It was a really pleasant day to be out on the bayou, Joe Coker with his son-in-law Ricki and grandson Ryan, and me with son-in-law Weston. My ever helpful and cheerful tandem partner Ellen put in quite a few strokes, and John Ohrt and Craig Walker rounded out the group. Wish you could have been along too.
Here are our participants, minus Craig who somehow eluded my camera, but next time…
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Joe Coker,
Ricki Marshall,
Ryan Pennington
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John Bartos |
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Trip coordinator,
Ellen Shipman,
Weston Morris
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John Ohrt
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Cindy Bartos |
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The author, Natalie Wiest |