Half of the participants
Our informal "Out-and-Back" paddle (no close-proximity shuttles) commenced at the Kickerillo-Mischer Preserve boat ramp at 10:00 AM. It was a beautiful sunny day. Kurt Muller and I met and got in our boats, Kurt in his Pungo 120 and I started in my 17.5’ Sealution. We noted some shallow water on the way to the “grate gage”. We confirmed the shallow water with about 6.1 bars exposed. We saw great and snowy egrets on this end of the lake, along with a few turtles.
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Turtle, Great Egret & Snowy Egret
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We tested the low part of the peninsula and found it too shallow to cross today. Continuing on toward the other end of the lake, we saw a sparrow, a few black vultures, lots of turkey vultures (we could smell that something had died on the island), an osprey and a kingfisher.
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| Kingfisher |
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Lake |
We paddled until just before noon, when we returned to the boat launch, and had lunch at a picnic table.
I traded boats and we got back on the water. I was trying out a 15.5’ Cape Horn for this portion of our paddle. We followed almost the same route we paddled in the morning, and, mirabile dictu, saw many of the same birds and turtles from our earlier excursion.
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| Kurt |
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White bird |
The distinguishing feature of this round was a dead gar floating in the middle of a channel.
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| Gar as discovered |
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Gar on paddle |
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Gargoyle |
Continuing back to the put-in / take-out, we saw a few more turtles and birds and snapped a few photos “for the road”.
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| Turtles |
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Showy Snowy |
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Great Egret hunting |
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Great Egret hacking |
Here’s where we went:
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| GPS Route |
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GPS Stats |
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Grate Gage |
Photo album: Click here