Branches and Kayaks and Logs, Oh My.

Recently, Bayou Fountain had been quite low, but more rain brought it back to something more “normal”.  We figured that meant an easy day, and we weren’t far off.

During the summer, a couple of us switch to four-day work weeks, so we generally hit the bayou on Fridays to get the paddle trail maintenance done before the weekend paddlers get to the bayou.  School is back in session now, however, so paddle trail maintenance is back to its usual Saturday sessions.  Of course, that means that we tend to run across more people on the water, which is always fun.  This time we even ran into some paddlers in from the Breaux Bridge area for their first taste of Bayou Fountain.

There were a couple small trees or parts of trees down in the bayou this time, plus one small jam.  You could actually make it around or through without any real difficulty, but of course, things would keep stacking up and eventually become problematic.  No problem here, naturally, as a few minutes with saws and ropes easily cleared each spot.

I suppose you could summarize the general approach of paddle trail maintenance expeditions as “Cut down, prune back.”  You cut any fallen trees or jamming logs as you paddle down Bayou Fountain, and then if you have any energy or time left, you do any small pruning on the way back upstream.  Since there were only three or so relatively minor things to work on the “cut down” leg, there was plenty of reserve left for the “prune back” leg.  From Screen Porch back to the Wall, we did slight fixes wherever the always prolific growth required it.  (If you can hit both ends of a kayak paddle at the same time, it just might be just a bit overgrown.)

Meanwhile, back at the launch, a plinth has appeared.  From the looks of it, I’d say it’s the pedestal for a sign, which would suggest we’re getting close to BREC’s grand opening of the paddle launch.  We’re still looking forward to it.

Coming up, there is a Sunset Paddle with BREC Outdoor Adventure scheduled for Wednesday, August 23rd (to make up for the August rainout), with the last BREC Sunset Paddle of the season on September 6th.  Also at University Lake, BREC’s Pets n’ Paddling event is coming up soon (September 10th), with BREC’s Kayak in Colors set for September 24th.  Event season is always a fun time, and this year’s should be great.