Project Clearwater

Expedition Nine [upcoming]

We’re heading out from Highland Road Park on Saturday at 8am.  The forecast looks *fantastic*, with good skies and pleasant temperatures.  It should be a perfect day for paddling Bayou Fountain.

We’ll be pulling the cork on Blockage #15, the 65-yard monstrosity we’ve been working the last two expeditions.  There’s considerable litter collected in the flotsam behind the dam, so we’d really like to have some people picking litter while we finish off the blockage.  We’ve pulled enough wood out of it that it’s now possible to move around in the flotsam fairly easily with a canoe or kayak, as we’ll be there in waders to lend a hand if you need it.  This is a perfect opportunity to knock out a bunch of the accumulated litter all in one place, so if you’ve ever even thought of spending even just a little time out there helping out, now would be the time to make that happen.

If it would help to beg (or bring freshly-baked cookies), we’re not above that.  (If the cookies will push you over the top, let us know before Saturday morning so we can get them baked.)  Seriously, this is going to be a big day for progress, and we’d love to have you join us.  Also, if you need to ride along in our boats, we can certainly accommodate that — we have space, PFDs, and paddles to spare.

Project Clearwater

Expedition Eight [upcoming]

The first expedition in the Blockage #15 campaign was a fantastic success, and we even made the 10 o’clock news!  While it’s likely too late to be on TV, there’s plenty more work where that came from.  We’ll be launching this Saturday at 8am from Highland Road Park, as usual, and it’s now about 2-1/4 miles or a bit under an hour of leisurely paddling to get to/from the work area.

Any way you’d like to work, we’d be happy to let you.  We get in with waders.  We winch from dry-ish “land”.  We pull logs while conveniently in canoes.  We power through in kayaks to grab the litter.  It’s pretty much all on the table, so if you’d like to help out, be our guest.  You probably don’t want to bring toy poodles or young children, of course, as it’s messy work with occasional pointy bits, but that’s just simple logic…  (So far we haven’t seen any snakes or alligators in the log jams, which must mean that they’re all cowering together under that one last piece, waiting for someone to come along, right?  If only I could find a stick to poke around with!)

Project Clearwater

Expedition Seven [upcoming]

And so it begins.  We have reached Blockage #15, which we have now laser-measured at 65 yards long.  This blockage is the pinnacle of Bayou Fountain logjams, both in its size and in the fact that it is the halfway point of the project.  Once we’re through it, it’s all downhill from there (in the figurative sense, that is).

There is *plenty* of litter in the flotsam if you’d like to pick litter.  You’ll likely need a kayak and push poles or hand rakes to work your way through the dense flotsam if you want to pick litter from a boat, and we can set some pull-along lines for you if you so desire.  We’ll be working on pulling and winching the huge quantity of logs onto one side of the bayou to open the other side for passage, and it will certainly take multiple trips to break through this one.  If you’re working the wood or winches, you will certainly get muddy, so wear your boots.  We like to wear chest waders and just work waist deep in the bayou, but there’s plenty of above-the-water options available as well.

Departing as usual from Highland Road Park at 8am Saturday (January 18, 2014).  Look for the red Kia with the canoe trailer and PaddleBR window stickers.  If you bring your own boat, the best launch is from just right/upstream of the archery range.  Head left/downstream and go about 2-1/4 miles and you literally will not be able to miss us.

Project Clearwater

Expedition Six [upcoming]

Blockage #11, the first of the big three on Bayou Fountain, is open!  Now we have the next three “normal” blockages to clear to get to the most epic of all Bayou Fountain logjams, Blockage #15.  Theoretically, this should be a somewhat shorter day, and being back by the Saints game sounds like a plan.  Launching will be from Highland Road Park just upstream of the archery range, as usual, and heading downstream at 8am is the idea.  It’s a two-mile paddle each way (2-1/4 if we make it all the way to #15 for a quick photo op).

All are welcome, as usual.  We’ll gladly support any litter pickers, and there’s plenty of wood around for anyone who wants it.  Unless we get torrential rains, it shouldn’t be a problem to get straps and saws applied to the downed trees and branches, and the temperatures look quite springlike.

Project Clearwater

Expedition Five [upcoming]

Blockage #11 withstood an initial assault last weekend, losing much of its content but not quite yielding.  We intend to finish that job this Saturday.  Depending on how things go, we may even continue downstream to the next blockage or few, which are much, much smaller.  We’ll launch at Highland Road Park for 8am, paddle the two miles to the blockage, and get to work.  We probably won’t be back in time for the Chiefs/Colts game, but we’ll certainly be back with plenty of time to be home and all cleaned up by the Saints game.

Most of the remaining jam on #11 is likely made of floating interlocking logs and branches (with the occasional tree, naturally, as nothing could be *too* easy).  Some of us will certainly be working wet, but we’ll also have canoes for working from floating platforms.  As usual, we welcome anyone who’d like to share in the labor, and if you bring powered gear we may even ooh and aah.  Anyone wanting to pick litter can bag-and-stage, as always, and we’ll collect on our way back to the park.