Kayaking on Big Reed Island Creek

This past Saturday we went kayaking on Big Reed Island Creek.  i've been really eager to kayak here since it is so close to us, but the water has really been too low to kayak. We had a bunch of rain last week, and the water was up so we decided to head out for the afternoon.

Kenan had gone out earlier to scope out the spots where we could park and make sure the water wasn't too high. When we were ready to head out, i followed him in the Subaru ( he had the kayaks in his truck).  i parked the Subaru at our end destination spot, then got into the truck and we drove back to the place where we would start. While we unloaded the kayaks and waited by the water,  Kenan drove his the truck back to the end spot and parked it, then drove the subaru back to where we were waiting. We can't fit all three kayaks on the subaru, so we had to do it this way even though it was kind of a pain. It really wasn't very far though, and only took him about 15-20 min. to return.

Big Reed Island Creek is gorgeous. With the water being higher than usual, we couldn't see the rocks so it made it a little difficult to navigate the creek. There were lot of small rapids, which were still a little scary when you come up on them. Several times i found myself teeter tottering on a big rock afraid i was going to flip.

It was such a beautiful day, i really expected to see more people on the river. We passed two women and a little girl who had been canoeing but stopped for a snack, then we didn't see anyone else until we got to end spot, and there was a  young couple there fishing.

i'm not sure what the full story is behind the hole in the wall, but Kenan said that someone dug through the rock in order to harness the hydro-electric potential.  On the other side of this the water pours out of the rock into what is known as hole in the rock falls.  According to a post on http://www.riverfacts.com/  'The flow is very swift at the entrance of this tunnel and you may be pulled inside in your craft.  DO NOT PADDLE THROUGH THIS TUNNEL. It ends with a 30' two stage waterfall and once you are at the downstream end of the tunnel, you will fall out the side of the mountain and over the falls.  LIKELY FATAL RIDE. '  Yikes. Thankfully we  knew all about it, and were able to avoid the mouth of it and park our kayaks off to the side.

We spent about 3-4 hours paddling on Big Reed Island Creek. It was a really nice float. i spotted a 4 or 5 point young buck drinking at the edge of the creek, but we really didn't see much wildlife. i was a little surprised since we seemed so secluded most of the time.  i've really enjoyed kayaking this summer and am already feeling a little bummed that it'll soon be too cool for it.   i'm hoping we have a couple more weekends of nice weather to enjoy the outdoors before the fall weather really starts to hit. The kids have enjoyed it too, and it's a really nice break from screen time.