Trip on the Pocaty River,  June 12,  2004

I paddled the Pocaty River West of the Blackwater Road with my friend Bill and his son Billy.  We put in and made a round trip to the Nature Conservancy's observation deck/platform at the mouth of the Pocaty where it meets the North Landing River.  We did a good amount of exploring into various areas off of the main river too.

 On a prior, solo trip here I saw a Compaq computer monitor in the water.  The water is very shallow in that area and the top 6" or so jutted above the water's surface.  On our way past it during this trip,  the monitor was almost completely covered.  The water was very "chocolate" looking.  Almost like paddling in chocolate milk.  That fact coupled with the high water made me realize that we were seeing the results of the previous evening's torrential downpours.  I have never witnessed the direct results of water runoff from the surrounding land.  Now I can see why what we do in our yards affects our bodies of water.  The wind was blowing very hard and the current was running from all of this runoff.  We reached a fork in the river closer to the North Landing River than Blackwater Road and there was a distinct line in the water separating the "chocolate" looking water from the more natural looking tannin tainted water.  It was very interesting.  In that same area we encountered an osprey.  It was soaring along when it suddenly took a nose dive into the water.  Unfortunately for the bird,  it came up empty mouthed.  On our way back we saw several ospreys but none went swimming for lunch this time.

I purchased a cheap,  waterproof camera prior to the trip.  It is a very low quality digital camera so the pictures aren't as nice......

We stopped at the Nature Conservancy's observation platform for a quick lunch.  Bill and Billy got on the platform and looked around a bit.  I opted to stay in my boat as I have quite a lot of trouble getting in and out from docks.  The water was significantly lower than the dock and I just knew I would be asking for trouble to try it.  The water is not very deep here but I did not feel like sinking 2' into the muck while doing a reentry into the kayak.

I paddled around a bit before settling next to Bill and Billy's canoe for a bite to eat.

Bill atop the platform with the preserve as a background.

We ate and talked.  Several large boats came flying by on the North Landing River and we spent several minutes riding out large wakes from them.  We finished up and were getting ready to head back just as a huge boat came by and sent some really nice wakes our way.  We tried our best to surf them.  I think Bill and Billy did better than I did with them.  With the wind and current added I was having trouble going where I wanted to.  Chock that up to inexperience and no skeg or rudder on my kayak.

On the way back we explored a fairly large finger of water that extended North and West off the main river.  If you paddle there you will know you are in the same area because there is an old duck blind in the middle of the water clearly visible from the main river.  This finger had a smaller offshoot from it but it did not extend very far and had lots of submerged trees to whack our paddles on as we turned around.  Once we returned to the main finger we headed forward.  There were several places where we thought it was impassable but once we got closer, found a way through.  The intimacy of the forest at this point was amazing.  We came upon a snowy egret standing on a log.  We were within 15' or so of it before it flew away.  It stayed in the vicinity while we paddled on.  Way up in this finger there was a tree fallen completely across the river and underneath it was a tree that had fallen into the water.  Bill and Billy managed to maneuver in and over the fallen tree while leaning back to pass under the tree spanning the river.  I watched them and then took a try at it.  Unfortunately the passage required a sharp left hand turn before going over the fallen tree.  I could not put enough weight forward to push the tree down and pass over it.  If I could have gotten a running start it may have slid down under the speed/force of my kayak.  So I was at the end of my exploration there.  Bill and Billy went on for several more minutes encountering another tree scenario just around the bend and out of sight.  I sat in this little lagoon and waited for them while enjoying the peace and quiet....and keeping an eye out for water moccasins.  A short time later they returned and told me about the river further on.  We headed back for the main river.

On the way back to the main river we encountered our snowy egret friend perched atop a tree.  He was having some time staying in it with the wind. He is on the left hand side at the very top of the tree in the center of the picture.

I visited a paddling website that has this cool link to satellite photos of the Chesapeake Bay region.  The webmaster has marked many paddling spots on it and you can view photos or topographic maps.  I downloaded 5 photo images of the Pocaty River and imported them into AutoCAD where I made a simple line map which we carried with us.  It was fairly useful and we did not make any wrong turns.