Project Clearwater — Expedition Twenty-Two [upcoming]
2014-05-09
Project Clearwater
Expedition Twenty-Two [upcoming]
RAIN! We finally had rain again! :)
Bayou Fountain has jumped back up onto the gauge at Bluebonnet, so we’re going to try to get out to the park at the usual 8am (instead of the previously considered 10am) to take advantage of the conditions (and to make time for dealing with any shifting that may have occurred due to sudden high water). If you were planning to come out for 10am, we can still do that, too. Just call, email, or post to let us know to look for you, or just come out to enjoy the much less shallow bayou.
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PaddleBR 
Thanks for all of your efforts!
I’d like to start joining you guys to help clean/maintain the bayous in the area. I’m an avid kayaker and usually have to leave Baton Rouge to paddle.
Please add me to any email distribution list you have.
I’m new to the area. I come from a different world known as Arizona. In AZ there are a bunch of water canals everywhere, but they were totally off limits. Is it legal to canoe or kayak in the bayous in baton rouge? The fountain bayou is near my house and I’ve always been drawn to it, but didn’t think it was legal. I just stumbled onto this site. Someone please learn me good on the rules of bayou paddling.
While I can’t speak to small private canals, we have many waterways that are open to paddling as long as you stay on the water. The land surrounding Bayou Fountain, for example, is almost entirely privately owned. Highland Road Park stands out as a public access point. While there’s no place to get out and walk around, it is perfectly acceptable to paddle the waterway, and a wonderful waterway it is.
In the case of Bayou Fountain, specifically, we contacted property owners along the entire length from Highland Road Park to Bayou Manchac to secure permission to install cypress paddle trail mile markers every half mile. We certainly want to reiterate that the banks of the bayou and the land surrounding it are all private and are not to be entered, but the waterway is quite open to paddling with access from Highland Road Park (and downstream access currently from Manchac Park on Bayou Manchac).
Thanks for the information! I’m still in the daydreaming phase. I don’t even have a boat, but I’ve thought about it for nearly the entire 10 months that I’ve been here. It seems like there are probably some really interesting things and wildlife to photograph.
Another question, regarding the cleanup efforts. When you collect all that trash, is there a place you can drop it off for city to pick up or do you have to haul it to the local dump? It would be great if there were designated locations along the bayou to drop off the trash bags and debris for city to pick up. Perhaps a partnership with the local waste disposal company. :)
For the larger cleanups, we have various contacts, including DPW. We just stack it all for easy pickup and make a few calls, and they come and make it disappear. We’re happy to get the litter out of the bayou, and they’re glad to haul it away for us. (I can haul an entire fleet of my three canoes and two or three of my kayaks with my little hatchback, but hauling a big cleanup’s litter to the dump would be just a bit beyond it’s abilities.)
Of course, if it’s just the customary paddler’s bag, there are trash cans at the parks. (Everyone has a paddler’s bag to snag a couple pieces of litter in passing, right?)