Bayou Fountain — March 14, 2015

With the water and current on Bayou Fountain both a bit above normal, it was a great day to paddle on Bayou Fountain.  Spring is definitely springing.

After the Sunset Paddle with BREC Outdoor Adventure Friday night, the morning came rather early, and a quick check of the gauges via the PaddleBR Map showed that the water had jumped up on Friday and was still rather high.  Still, by the time we arrived at Highland Road Park, everything was looking quite nice.  A quick check of the current showed more than normal, but not enough to do more than slightly slow the paddle back upstream, and the chain gauge…

Less than two feet between the bottom of the pipe that marks the bridge and the water, but a bit less than a foot and a half was just enough to avoid having to pull the canoe out of the water and around the bridge.  (Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal, really, but since my canoe was loaded with all the heavy gear for a paddle trail maintenance day, it’s got to be easily over 100 pounds heavier than it is on a casual paddle.)  Fortunately, it’s easy enough to hop off the seat and tuck down to slide under the bridge.

After the bridge, it was just another relaxing paddle for three miles or so.  With spring here at last, buds and leaves and flowers are starting to show up everywhere.  Turtles are out in force.  Even the gar have started to make their splashes known again after the long, still winter.  The colorful bits are always nice.

Everything was easy going until just a bit downstream of mile marker 1.  Finally, some of the logs that had been expected made their presence known in a series of small to medium jams.  With a good downstream current in that section, it was easier to clear things than it often is, and I even got to play logherd for a bit.  (Log work when you just paddled a sail around for a few miles the previous night does feel a bit more tiring, in case you’re wondering.)

There wasn’t too much work out there, and the trip back upstream wasn’t bad, in spite of having a bit more current than normal.  By 2pm or so, it was back to (more or less) dry land at the park to load up.  With less rain forecast in the coming week, the bayou will likely settle down for a while.  We’ve been wanting to do a bit more exploring, so if the water levels return to nominal, we may get a chance to check some areas out.  We’ll certainly be out somewhere next weekend paddling and enjoying our spring while we have it.