Thursday, May 12, 2005
2005-05-10, Southwest Creek
2005-05-10, Paddling Southwest Creek
We left a shuttle vehicle at Rte 17 south of Jacksonville at the bridge over Southwest Creek. We put-in at the bridge on Route 53 west of Jacksonville. Put-in time was about 9:30 and take out about 3:30.
We picked up a bag of trash right there at the put-in. This is par for the course.
The water was high and we had a good strong flow. Almost immediately we came upon strainers consisting of blown down trees with floating logs and other debris piled up against them.
We also found three beaver dams which we opened up by removing sticks at the lowest point to create a flow through them through which we could pass. These dams were between one a two feet high.
We also encountered heavy, dense growth of a noxious weed which will soon completely block the river in this first section down to Haws Run Bridge.
Heavy trash appeared after the Haws Run Bridge. People are throwing their trash off this bridge. We must find a way to stop this practice.
The weeds disappeared after this bridge but the strainers and blown down trees were numerous and continued most of the way to route 17. So much so that we do not recommend paddling this section until they are removed. We cut with a chain saw and worked our way through these strainers but they will be quickly blocked again.
Onslow County has removed these blockages for mosquito control in the past. We hope they will do so again soon as this is a lovely river very close to Jacksonville and should and could be kept open with very little expense.
Four deer were seen. Two were about 20 feet in front of us as they crossed the river. A mother duck played being wounded to lead us away from her brood who scattered all over the river ahead of us.
We hope this beautiful river can soon become a permanent Canoe Trail for all to enjoy.
We left it clean of all man made litter. The picture is of a typical strainer, debris and litter and blown down trees.
Today’s participants were Tom Fineco from New Bern, Al Morris from Smyrna, Dale Weston from Jacksonville and Elmer Eddy from Swansboro.
We left a shuttle vehicle at Rte 17 south of Jacksonville at the bridge over Southwest Creek. We put-in at the bridge on Route 53 west of Jacksonville. Put-in time was about 9:30 and take out about 3:30.
We picked up a bag of trash right there at the put-in. This is par for the course.
The water was high and we had a good strong flow. Almost immediately we came upon strainers consisting of blown down trees with floating logs and other debris piled up against them.
We also found three beaver dams which we opened up by removing sticks at the lowest point to create a flow through them through which we could pass. These dams were between one a two feet high.
We also encountered heavy, dense growth of a noxious weed which will soon completely block the river in this first section down to Haws Run Bridge.
Heavy trash appeared after the Haws Run Bridge. People are throwing their trash off this bridge. We must find a way to stop this practice.
The weeds disappeared after this bridge but the strainers and blown down trees were numerous and continued most of the way to route 17. So much so that we do not recommend paddling this section until they are removed. We cut with a chain saw and worked our way through these strainers but they will be quickly blocked again.
Onslow County has removed these blockages for mosquito control in the past. We hope they will do so again soon as this is a lovely river very close to Jacksonville and should and could be kept open with very little expense.
Four deer were seen. Two were about 20 feet in front of us as they crossed the river. A mother duck played being wounded to lead us away from her brood who scattered all over the river ahead of us.
We hope this beautiful river can soon become a permanent Canoe Trail for all to enjoy.
We left it clean of all man made litter. The picture is of a typical strainer, debris and litter and blown down trees.
Today’s participants were Tom Fineco from New Bern, Al Morris from Smyrna, Dale Weston from Jacksonville and Elmer Eddy from Swansboro.
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