Solo Trip on the Northwest River, June 20, 2004
(Note: There are 26 pictures on this page so it may take a minute to load)
My original game plan for this day was to paddle Mill Dam Creek in Southern Virginia Beach. It runs a very similar course as the Pocaty except it empties into the North Landing River due West of Munden Point Park on the other side of the river. The put in was not very friendly looking and there was a crowd of fisherman who were pretty well entrenched. A change of plans was in order.
Since the Northwest River tributary, Smith's Creek, was only about 5 miles West from Milldam Creek, I went there. The wind was putting in a good blow at about 15 mph out of the Northeast. This resulted in a much lower water level than my previous trip here in April with Bill and his son Billy. It was not impassable but just noticeably low. So I set out with a destination of the Northwest River proper in mind. I am now taking my new digital waterproof camera on all trips. I have twenty six high resolution pictures available per trip. While the $39 price tag on the camera was nice, the 1.3 megapixel quality and no zoom features leave a little to be desired. Additionally the camera seems prone to the slightest movement on my part which is quite a bit considering my kayak is a mere 21" wide and wants to wobble constantly. I futzed with the pictures in my photo software because some shots were just not good so you'll no doubt notice the changing brightness between pictures. But hey, some pictures are better than none, right?
Calm, reflective water. This is my favorite condition to paddle in so far.
This is pretty much the widest part of Smith's Creek.
This little offshoot of Smith's Creek had a lot of these trees that stand alone in the water. Yeah, that's the technical term for them. The shiny thing on the left is a metal cowl that keeps predators out of the bird nesting box on a post. There are probably about 6 to 7 of these spaced around Smith's Creek.
This area just off of Smith's Creek was very interesting. The picture is not detailed enough but the stands of foliage on the right side are very green with huge leaves and almost tropical looking. Nowhere else did I see anything like this. Notice around the bottoms that it is very swampy. It was only about 8" deep in here and even less around those stands of foliage.
This is the Northwest River as viewed from where Smith's Creek empties into it. I am looking mostly South here and the Northwest River Park and eventually Route 168 (Road to Moyock, NC and Outer Banks) are off to the right (West).
This is another view of the Northwest River from Smith's Creek. This is the other branch that heads to the South and meanders through some very undeveloped area and eventually dumps into Tull's Bay which is the off the Currituck Sound. Maybe eight to ten miles away? I really want to explore that area. I headed down that way about 1 mile on this trip. You'll notice the nice wakes in both this picture and the previous. There was not a lot of boat/jet ski traffic but what was there really flew by.
You cannot see it in the picture but just beyond the forested shore I could see the radio tower for a local radio station based in Moyock, North Carolina. It lets you know civilization is there but not within reach.
Jet skier coming from the branch down by Northwest River Park.
This tree was very impressive with it's ring of old growth stumps around it. Just like it was being protected.
Same tree and the little offshoot of river beyond.
This is the same offshoot and tree from above. I saw a blue heron perched on the horizontal log to the right of the big tree. He was huge and you cannot see him here unless you know exactly what to look for. His reflection in the water came out clearer than him. Look directly above the work "blue" in "blue heron" in this caption and you'll see the log and he is on the right end of it. This is one where you can say "you just had to be there".
That is the entrance to Smith's Creek in the right background.
Another corn field seen from a river. Just like on the Pocaty. Didn't turn out well at all.
Shaking that camera too much. This is a dock next to a small house just off the water in Smith's Creek. This is the only house I have seen from the creek or river in the two times I have been out here.
The creek really starts to look small on the way back after being in the big Northwest River. One of the coolest things about these little creeks is the enormous reflectivity of the water. The pictures don't do it justice. You feel like you are gliding in the air instead of the water.
Just pulled up to the Baum's Road put in and clicked off that 26th shot. Shaky again.
It was actually a very short paddle, only about 2 hours or so. The put in closes at sundown and I didn't fancy spending the night there. I've never seen the movie, Legend of Boggy Creek, but I would have no trouble believing it looked like this. So I didn't go very far into the Northwest River before turning around. This area is going to be one of my "dream" paddles. I would like to put in here at Baum's Road and paddle all the way down to Tull's Bay marina in North Carolina and back again. I think that would be about 10 miles each way minimum. I have not even paddled 10 miles total on any trip. The longest I've done is about 7 and it was on very calm and small water. A trip like this one would have to take place on a day where not a lot of wind is predicted. So I'll keep paddling and work up to it over time. No snakes seen on this trip. Just a blue heron, a few ospreys or hawks, some turtles and a lot of jumping fish. I had a good time even though it was not my planned destination and was pretty much a duplicate of April's paddle here. I'll work on the shaky camera shots and start thinking about my next new place to paddle. I hope to get a map uploaded to this page much like I did on the Pocaty page. This would give a clearer understanding of the geography in this area. It is really unusual to me because there are so many large bodies of water in this vicinity, Back Bay, North Landing River, Northwest River Currituck Sound and just a few miles further East, the Atlantic. Those are just the main bodies of water, there are many tributaries off the rivers to be explored. See ya soon.