Cleanup on Aisle Manchac!

For the last several years, one of the highlights of our schedule has been hosting Volunteer LSU guests for spring and fall cleanups.  We have a great time, and they keep coming back, too.  Last time, we did a land-based cleanup on the Litter Banks of Ward Creek and came out with another huge haul.  This time, they requested a paddle cleanup on Bayou Manchac, and we thought that was a great idea.

We loaded up a couple trailers of canoes and headed out to Bayou Manchac in the shadow of Old Jefferson.  It’s great to have friends who let you launch from their lawn, especially since there is not currently an improved BREC paddle launch on Bayou Manchac.  (Word on the water is that the wheels are already rolling, but if you want the scoop before the mud starts moving, you’ll just have to wait… or join us for a day on the water, where there are lots of “little birdies”.)

The water was a bit low, but we had an uneventful entry and exit, and not a single canoe went open end down.  (One pair of paddlers did end up with a lot of water in the bottom of their boat, but that was just a side effect of getting an insanely heavy and waterlogged couch cushion out of the water.  They get the just-being-awesome prize.)  We ended up with over two bags per person by the time we made it back for lunch.  A worthy haul for a winter water paddle cleanup.

We even got to read about ourselves in The Daily Reveille, and I think that may have been the first time an event hosted by PaddleBR got a story there.  Conveniently, this is 2018, so you can read it too: “Volunteer LSU canoes Bayou Manchac in cleanup effort”

All in all, a great way to wrap up a weekend on the water.  We had also paddled out the day before for a paddle trail maintenance run on Bayou fountain, but we didn’t have a single fallen tree to work, so nothing to show from that run.  We’ll have plenty to show soon, however, when we kick off “Project: ReWard”.  That’s going to be epic.