Solo trip on Tull's Creek,  August 8,  2004

I paddled Tull's Creek in Moyock,  North Carolina on Sunday August 8th.  I have been very interested in this area and was happy to finally be paddling here.  I found out some good information on the launch site from the woman who co-wrote the book on the North Landing River and it's tributaries.  Her information was dead accurate and much appreciated.  I will not be posting a map for this trip as the aerial photos for this area have something wrong with them and are very legible.  I'll try to describe the area instead.  

This area of Moyock is East of Route 168 and West of the Currituck Sound and is bordered on the North by Tull's Bay.  The bay is "fed" by the Northwest River coming from up North (Virginia) and the North Landing River,  which is also comes from Virginia (North).  The Southeast portion of the bay opens to the Currituck Sound.  Knotts Island is just to the Northeast  of this area and the Currituck ferry comes across to the mainland just South of this area (about 10 miles or so?).  Just a little ways up the Northwest River (from it's mouth in Tull's Bay) towards Virginia (North) there is a Western running branch of water called Moyock Creek that actually goes up into Moyock at it's most commercialized area,  almost meeting Route 168.  This will be a paddle I will do in the future.  The mouth of Tull's Creek is along the Southern portion of Tull's Bay that borders Moyock.  It runs twisting and winding in a generally Southern direction and eventually passes under Route 168 at the intersection of Route 34 (Sligo).  If you have ever traveled down 168 past Moyock on your way to the Outer Banks of North Carolina then you have passed by the Southern part of this creek and in fact passed over it.  I never had a clue it was here.

Heading out the little finger of water from the boat ramp that leads to Tull's Creek.  At this point I am about 5 miles South of the creek mouth.

Tull's Creek looking in a Southerly direction.   A big communications tower in the distance.  It's not very far off the creek once you get down South around it.

The waterway makes a turn to the East and forks.  I followed the left fork which took me to a bridge on Poyner's Road.  It was too low to get underneath and since I knew this was not the main part of the creek,  I didn't portage to explore the other side.  The put in and this branch of the creek create a narrow peninsula and the bridge that I came upon was only about an 1/8th of a mile South of the put in.  Very strange to have paddled this distance only to be within a short distance of the launch.  There appeared to be a good amount of creek on the other side of the bridge to be explored.  A look at a map later confirmed this.

I left the bridge and headed back to the other fork in the creek.  It eventually lead to Route 168.

The scenery was nice and it was secluded.  There was a very large tower just a short distance off the creek.  Once that passed from view it appeared as if I was in the middle of nowhere.  Appeared is the operative word there.  While you couldn't see any sign of humans,  you could here it loud and clear in the form of traffic.  Route 168 must be very close along the Southernmost 3 miles of Tull's Creek because the sound is constant and quite loud.  But even with that it is a pleasure to paddle here.  

I passed a few markers for the Albemarle Paddle Trail noting miles which I assumed to be from the mouth of the creek.

I seem to botch up the shots that I want to show something very specific.  Just like this one.  This is a view of the bridge on Route 168 that cuts off the Southern paddling route.  The creek continues but smaller.  I don't know if getting under the bridge is possible or advisable but I wasn't trying it this time anyway.  As for portaging....forget about that!  Traffic is heavy and fast coming through there.

Looking up into the little finger of water that leads to the Poyner's Road boat ramp from the main creek.  It is only about three miles from here to the bridge at 168.  I'm on my way North and realizing that maybe a paddle all the way to the mouth of the creek at Tull's Bay may not be doable today.  Still I head North and see what's up there.

Big tree coming down.  I wonder if this happened all of the sudden or if it was a gradual lean into this position?

I didn't encounter any boats down South but hear someone coming from up North.

Did anyone lose a bass boat?  At first I thought this was a dock from far off.  Then as I got closer I was convinced it was a boat whose occupants had gone ashore.  Upon further inspection it was clear this boat was not going anywhere.  The funny thing (at least to me) is that it is old looking like it's been this way for awhile.  I'm wondering what happened here because I cannot see any catastrophic damage to the boat.  I would have thought someone would have come back for it.  Even if they didn't want to you would think some authority would have them recover it just to get it out of the area.  I bet more than a few john boat fisherman have thought about trying to get this thing bailed and towed.

This is one of the first areas that I've paddled where the shoreline is forested and is mostly usable land (not marsh).  There are a few big marshy areas here and there but for the most part huge trees dominated the shore.

A little offshoot to explore.  It didn't go far but provided a break from the main creek.

I believe this is an area where there was a rather large amount of water extending off the main creek.  It looked like a good place to explore.  Not today though.  Today is for trying to get to the mouth of the creek.

It appears that this tree was on good solid ground.  Still it went over.

Snapped at it's midsection.  Probably a dead tree prior to breaking.

There was a fork in the creek and I took what appeared to be the Northeastern heading branch.  Later I confirmed my choice with a map and it was the correct way to the mouth of the creek.  The other fork meandered off into a relatively unpopulated area of Moyock.  Another area to explore next time.

A very nice home on the creek.  This little residential area is called Beechwood Shores and is just South of town and East of 168.  This was the best property on water.  The others appeared to be on dredged canals.

The paddle back was nice.  I had only encountered four boats on my way North.  They were very courteous and slowed when approaching me.  The first boat caught me by surprise.  I had just checked the time,  taken a few photos and was starting to eat a snack when I realized I had stopped in the middle of the creek.  I got careless since I had not encountered any boats at that time.  He saw me clearly and throttled down (I was in no danger of being run over) but still there was a huge wake on this narrow part of the creek.  It was pretty fun to go through the wakes.

Heading back up to the Poyner's Road boat ramp.

The Poyner's Road boat ramp.  Free with parking,  picnic tables and bank fishing.  I paddled so quietly down the water that the shore fishermen were startled to see me.

Getting ready to unpack,  load up and go home.  A very nice few hours on the water.  I think I may get a NC freshwater license so I can fish down here next time.  This creek looked like it had a lot of places for bass to congregate.

Another picture that didn't turn out sufficient to show what I intended.  This sign caught my eye coming in to the launch.  The tacked up poster you see says "Boaters Beware" across the top in bold letters.  This struck me as strange since I've never seen a sign like that anywhere I have launched.  Sure plenty of signs for don't do this or that but never so forthright as "Boaters Beware".  I checked it out prior to launching and was informed that Tull's Creek is used by firefighting planes to scoop up water used to drop on brush and forest fires.  Every once and a while here in Southern Virginia we get a whiff of burning and it is usually when there is a big fire in North Carolina and there is a good Southerly breeze bringing the smell up to us.  So I know they have these types of fires.  The poster went on to say that the planes scoop at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour!  It also says that they are considered watercraft when doing this and of course they have the right of way.  I don't think anyone would argue with that.  I must say that the pilots who do this must be incredibly talented fliers as the creek does not seem like a very big target for a plane going 90 miles per hour.  I could not imagine seeing something like this from a kayak.  It would be exciting but a little frightening too depending on the circumstances.  Very interesting.  Great!  Now I have to worry about being scooped up and dropped on a forest fire?  Capsizing doesn't seem so bad all of the sudden.

Getting ready to leave.  I did not encounter anything unusual today.  No snakes,  no land critters,  no fish.  The birds were plentiful though.  I think I'll be coming back here again before long.  Maybe one day I'll put in here and paddle all the way to Dozier's Bridge on Princess Anne Road just a short ways from my house.  That would be a trip for sure.  Some 20-30 miles of paddling.  I think a much more realistic goal would be from here to Northwest River park in Chesapeake.  About 15 miles.  Well in the meantime I'll explore this area.  It's only 53 minutes from here to my place in Virginia Beach and that's taking the backroads.

See ya next time.