Scenes from the Okefenokee swamp in Georiga.
Scenes from Myakka River Scenes from the highly protected south side of Myakka River. Only 30 people per day are allowed to get permits to paddle to the south side. Wildlife was amazingly abundant. Event: Paddle Bayou La Batre Date: October 18, 2014 Distance: 6 miles Registration Info : www.paddlebayoulabatre.org/ Event organizers say, "Paddlers will have an up-close and personal experience of being on a true working bayou, lined with shipyards, shrimp boats, oyster skiffs and scenic natural vistas." I encourage everyone to join this paddle event to experience the scenic views along Bayou La Batre which is just a short distance away from Mobile, Alabama. The colorful shrimp boats reflecting off the calm waters are a beautiful site to behold. You'll get to see a wide variety of birds along the shorelines and the mile long shoreline trash pile that Bayou La Batre is worldly famous for. Bayou La Batre is the Seafood Capital of Alabama where much of your seafood is processed. After you paddle this event you may start looking at food labels to make sure your seafood is NOT processed in Bayou La Batre. Eight Mile Creek is one of Mobile County's hidden nature jewels. Lots of wildlife to observe along the isolated creek if you don't mind paddling through a garbage chute. But, that is typical of all of Mobile County's waterways. I was a bit surprised to see some positive changes at William Brooks Park aka Tucker Launch. The once unusable shoreline is now an inviting kayak launch because of the sandy shoreline. There is a pretty big web of boardwalk trails that take visitors over the swampy wetlands out to Chickasabogue Creek to fish, bird watch, or sight see.
The Ron Jones Paddle Trail is named after the Chickasabogue Parks and Wildlife Manager who died in 2006. The Chickasabogue Paddle Trail was one of Ron's visions and priorities before he died. It is a nice kayak launch. The folks at Chickasabogue Creek are lucky to have Clifford, aka Wolf Dog paddling up and down the creek. The volunteer canoeist spends his days removing the shoreline litter. I'm glad Clifford is still doing his thing. This is an example of how to remove litter from in and along a trash impaired waterway without need of an expensive boat or litter trap. Waterway trash removal needs to be a full time job for one person per watershed. Since the Alabama Department of Transportation won't remove trash from the ditches along their state highways, they should employ people like Clifford to remove trash from the waterways where their roadside trash ends up. |
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