Salem Lake

Here's one of the nicest reservoir paddles I've yet to enjoy!  What makes a Salem Lake paddle so pleasant for area paddlers is that while the lake isn't really that big -- about 360+ acres -- the lake bends and arcs in such a way as to have you think that you're really further away from your launch point that you really are.   The picture below doesn't show the entire lake body.

Plus, if you take the left finger of the lake, you can paddle underneath Business I-40 and watch the trucks and cars rumble loudly overhead.  Then you can congratulate yourself for being on the water and not on the interstate!

Vital Statistics:  Because Salem Lake is a city-run park, you have few more rules than usual to abide.

First, the park has hours and whatever the hours are, the lake closes 30 minutes before that.  So, if you're looking for a Spring paddle and the lake closes at 5 pm, you need to be off the water at 4:30.  Also, unlike other paddles at Jordan Lake, for example, you can't get on the water until the park opens, usually somewhere between 7 and 9 am, depending on the day and season.

You must also wear your life vest and you cannot swim in the lake.  Period.

If you decide to fish from your kayak, then you must have a fishing license, which you can purchase at the park office.


Boat Ramp:  Yes!  A nice one at that. It has one of the more generous areas for boat prep.  Because Salem Lake is popular for fishing, you'll likely see a good many people fishing off the pier or launching their own small boats as well.


Restrooms:  Yes!  Up at the park office.

Rentals? Yes, but they are seasonal and dependent on water temperature.  After the water temps drop below 65 degrees, the city doesn't rent canoes or kayaks.  Usually this means rentals are available from April through October.


Fees:  Yes!  This is a Winston-Salem city park, but both residents and non-residents must pony up a launch fee.  The city website gives fuller details, but I *think* I recall paying $4 a boat on the several times I launched here.

You can also buy a season's pass if you really like paddling here.


Other Amenities:  What makes Salem Lake so nice is that you'll find a few picnic tables scattered about as well as a seven-mile trail circling the lake.  It's a great walk, and if you paddle, you're going to see lots of happy people out walking or, perhaps, riding their mountain bikes.    So, you can paddle and explore an urban environment as long as you like and then stretch out the lower body with a walk.

Another side benefit to a paddle here is that you'll likely chart a route to the lake that takes you past Old Salem.  If that happens, and if you like indulging in North Carolina history, you can add to your outing by stopping by Old Salem and walking about there.

What Might You See?  A good-sized population of coots likes to winter at Salem Lake.

Lake Jordan - Ebeneezer Point

Of the two excursions I've enjoyed at Lake Jordan, this one is the better.  Like Farrington Point, it is open 24 hours a day, but unlike Farrington Point, the two double ramps are farther apart, which means that loading and launching your kayak may be a touch easier due to lack of competition for ramp space.  

The main thing to have  a happy trip is to resist the urge to turn into the camping area because the boat ramp isn't there!  You'll see a low sign just past the turn in to the camping area that indicates that the boat ramp is another half mile up the road.

Vital Statistics:  You can find the Ebeneezer boat signs in Wilsonville, where CR 1008 crosses US 64.  Once you put in, you can once again design whatever sort of reservoir paddle you want.   I've paddled both right (toward the camping area, seen in the picture) and left (toward the bridge) from the put-in.  

If you paddle right toward the camping area, you'll see a small bit of beach that you can beach on.  Be aware, though, that most of the beach is reserved for swimmers at the campground.  

Boat Ramp:  Yes!  But...on my trip here I saw poison ivy right up to the edge of the concrete ramp.  Be alert.


Restrooms:  Yes!  No worries about poison ivy in this part of the equation!


What You Can See:  Big ol' reservoir.   However, if water levels are down and you paddle close to the waters edge, you will likely see remnants of fresh water mussels where birds have dined.  You'll also see cool root systems of trees close to the water.  And as always as Lake Jordan, you stand good chances of seeing eagles.


Tip About Reservoir Paddling:  I'd go in cooler weather.  One of the counter-intuitive things I've learned is that paddling on a warm day can make for an even hotter outing on the water.  YMMV of course.  Also, if you want to begin to hone your skills with handing choppy water, a reservoir is a good place to do so.  You don't have to learn about currents, tides and chop at the same time.   If the weather is cooler and you want to go test your wet gear, reservoir paddling might just fill the bill.

Lake Jordan - Farrington Point

Everybody starts somewhere, right?

Farrington Point on Lake Jordan served as my very first put-in for self-guided paddling after purchasing my kayak.  Here I proved that a person needs only two inches of water to tip herself out of her boat.   (You can tell from the sand beneath the water in the picture below how close I was hugging the lake's edge that first day. In fact, you can see the edge of the water.)  For sure, I needed to learn how to pop in and then pop out of my boat without flipping myself over, something I can now do.

It was a grand, if laughable, experience, especially considering that on this particular day the 13-year cicadas had emerged from their homes (or maybe it was the 17-year cicadas, I don't really recall) and were singing their hearts away.  LOUD.   But I didn't know about the cicadas at the time and became more than a little concerned that maybe Shearon Harris nuclear plant (on nearby Harris Lake) was getting ready to blow.   The whirring of the cicadas was deafening.

But if you're in/near the RTP area, and especially if you live in/near Chapel Hill as I did at the time, Lake Jordan is a great place to get up to speed with paddling basics.  In addition, you  just might see some bald eagles and herons as you paddle about the lake.


Vital Statistics:  Since you're on Lake Jordan, you can paddle whatever reservoir route you concoct.  What a lot of people do is paddle left underneath the bridge into the upper reaches of the lake so as to scout for eagles.


Boat Ramp:  Yes, four that are popular with local fishermen.  Because kayakers show up here often, boat etiquette abounds.


Restrooms:  No.  You are strictly on your own.    If you decide to take your hygiene requirements to the woods, be sure you know what poison ivy look like.  The woods are full of it.


Where to Paddle:  For my maiden voyage, I paddled left underneath the bridge on Mt. Carmel Church road and headed toward the upper reaches of the lake.  I didn't go as far as I will next time, mainly because I was learning all kinds of balancing techniques for sitting in the boat and I was thinking about that pesky nuclear plant.


What You Can See:  You'll see that the pictures for this entry don't show the same season (one late spring, the other fall).   Not to worry.  It occurred to me in snapping these that if you go in the fall (or late summer when there's drought), you may have more opportunities to beach your boat on the revealed lake edge to get out and look around.  You may also see remnants of roads that once traversed the area before Lake Jordan was built and dammed.  


Anything Else:  Yes!  Lake Jordan is a big recreation area, and if you want to camp and paddle, you'll have lots of choice in campgrounds.  New Hope Point, Poplar Point, Crosswinds, Vista Point, and Parkers Creek areas offer camping.   Check the NC state park website for availability.


And about entering/exiting your boat:  here's the non-intuitive trick about entering/exiting your boat.  You boat is actually more stable if it's in the water than if you try to keep either the bow or the stern propped on dry land.   Resolve to get your feet/shins wet, and you will be less likely to flip your entire person out of your boat.

Cape Fear River / Carolina Beach State Park Combo

This is one sweet paddle, and I'm going to apologize up front for not having more pictures.  As we launched our boats, I was convinced that there wouldn't be much to take pictures of.

Wrong!

The route hugs the side of the Cape Fear River, and because that land is part of Carolina Beach State Park, you see no development.  Only birds (ospreys), sand dunes, and coastal vegetation.  And, lest I forget, jumping mullets!  (Can't beat jumping mullets!)  I  highly recommend it.

Vital Statistics:  This paddle is about three miles long, but if you have the skill and stamina to do so, you can add more distance.

You launch from a nice, if small, sandy beach to the left of the Carolina Beach State Park marina. Then you hang a sharp left and paddle south.  After some paddling, you'll reach, on the left, a small bay.  (One fellow at the launch called it a "dredge pond." I guess one man's dredge pond is another man's bay.)  Whatever it is, you can circle the edge.  Then before you return, you can stop at a small sand bar at the neck of the bay for a stretch break.

As you paddle south, take care to avoid the channel the larger boats use over to your right.

The picture looks north up the Cape Fear River.  Inset between the two fingers of rocks on the right is the entrance to the marina.  Don't go there.  The second instance of water is Snow's Cut; don't go there either.

Also, do NOT head west.  You'll be in the major shipping lanes for Wilmington.

Boat Ramp:  Yes!  Sandy beach for us small boaters!  If you don't have a kayak, you can rent one from a  rental kiosk there.  Also, because you're launching from a sandy spot, you will have no ramp contention from the marina. The state park charges a fee to launch ($6 at this writing), so that keeps  some traffic down as well.   Still, the parking lot is generous and you can find grassy spots to place your boats as you take them off your car.


Restrooms?  Yes!  Up at the Marina office.  You'll also find a small selection of snacks up there.

What Else to Know:  You are paddling in some strong water.    Prior to wetting my bow, I was a wee bit concerned about the match between my stamina and the water since they don't call it Cape "Easy - Peasy."  I figured there's truth in naming, right?  And the day I paddled, the wind was shipping just some.  No bonafide whitecaps, but small chop.  Plus, I was paddling against the incoming tide.  But by staying relatively close to the river's edge, I was able to enjoy a really fine excursion -- and had an easy-peasy ride back to the launch.

Snow's Cut: Just Don't Do It

The first trip over the US 421 bridge spanning Snow's Cut at Carolina Beach is likely to thrill you.  It did me!  For starters, you're going to feel as if you're flying.  (Great civil engineering design for that!) Then you're going to see an thread of water that looks pretty benign, like a friendly little river.  And then you're going to think, "this would be fun to paddle."

Well, stop those thoughts.  Just stop them now.  Because from all of the research and conversation I have gleaned, you don't want to be there.  

Why?

Because that ditch is, apparently, anything but benign.   (For that reason, you get no picture of the beast.  You get a sincere and heartfelt warning instead.)


Snow's Cut links the power of the water flowing into/ out of the Cape Fear River to the power of the water of the Intracoastal Waterway.  That's a lot of power, especially considering that the Atlantic Ocean is just over the dunes and islands nearby exerting even more force. And if that were all you had to worry with, that would be enough.  But it isn't.  There's more, even after you add in the wind conditions.

As large boats and yachts traverse the cut, they each create a wake which might, under more open circumstances, be fun to ride.  But the circumstances of Snow's Cut are not open.  You're in a steeply-sided ditch.

What happens is that the waves of each wake roll to the sides of the ditch.  Then they bounce back, creating what is called a recursive wave.  You don't want any part of a recursive wave.  Seriously.  You and your little kayak stand to be tossed about in a bad way, possibly flipped and/or smashed on the sides of the ditch.

The first time I heard about recursive waves, I was paddling in Lake Superior.  The day before, an expedition (12 kayakers / 6 boats,  i.e., tandems for more stability in the big water), was stranded on the cliffs of Pictured Rocks because they paddled too close to the cliffs on a mildly blustery day, and were subsequently trapped by the recursive waves.  By all accounts, they were lucky to survive.

So, in Snow's Cut, you face the power of the tides, the power of the current, the power of the wake,  the effect of the winds, and the treachery of the recursive waves.  In short, you face a stretch of very confused and unpredictable water that is looking to send its power and energy somewhere.  And you can then add in a multiplier effect if one yacht is cruising in one direction and another yacht is cruising in another direction.

To underscore the power of that confused water, consider this:  Snow's Cut has been connecting the Intracoastal Waterway to the Cape Fear for about 80 years.  In that time, the ditch has eroded from its original 30 foot width to about 400 feet.  

After I went to school on this stretch of water -- and  decided that the better part of valor was to paddle somewhere else -- I better understood why, on a day when I was considering launching at the boat ramp in Carolina Beach State Park to paddle Snow's Cut, the attendants at the Marina looked at me with alarm on their faces and said, "You're not going to paddle there, are you?"   I was about to do something incredibly foolish.   And who wants to be stupid to that degree, right?

Masonboro Island - Southern End

Looking to paddle near Wilmington?  Then an excursion to Masonboro Island may quickly appear on your radar screen.

However, trying to paddle to Masonboro Island may also frustrate you because the standard advice for paddling to Masonboro Island is to use the Trail's End put-in and travel to the north end of the island.  However, this advice comes with a huge caveat:  time your visit at high tide.

Now if you're like me -- that is, you're just beginning to understand and interpret the impact of tides on paddle trips -- then that advice is useless.   Do you put in at high  tide?  An hour or so before?  Once you paddle over at high tide, how long do you have on the island before you're faced with a paddle back over a low tide?

The reason for the advice is, well, reasonable.   The sound side of Masonboro Island tends to mudflats and salt marsh at low tide.   If you don't time your trip just right, then you're hauling your boat through the mud.  When that happens the good times are over.

You likely recall as I do that high tide comes around twice a day.  Soooooo, if you paddle over at, say, 9:30 in the morning, do you have to wait to paddle back at 9:30 at night?  Uh-oh....we're in trouble.....I'm not paddling at night....

Because I had visited Wilmington twice before and been thwarted both times by tides and wind conditions, I was looking for a different way to paddle to Masonboro Island.  It's tough for personal time, good weather, and well-time tides to come together at the same time.

So, I bailed on the Trail's End route and used instead a route to the southern end of Masonboro Island (marked by the red arrow in the picture above) using the Snow's Cut boat ramp (not on this signboard).  If you study the picture, you'll also see an indicator for the Trail's End put-in as well as the marshy patches you've got to paddle through if you opt to paddle to the north end of Masonboro Island.


Vital Statistics:  If you put in at the Snow's Cut boat ramp, Masonboro Island is about two miles one-way (I think), maybe a touch less, via the Intracoastal Waterway.  Once you put in, you'll want to go paddle north just a bit, then hug the mainland side of the channel to dodge the large, very fast boats creating lots of rollers to ride as well as any tidal action that might sort-kinda pull you out through Carolina Beach Inlet into the Atlantic Ocean.  (People do paddle around Masonboro Island the entire 18 miles.  I'm not one of them.)

Then, when you are even, more or less, with the southern tip of the island, turn right, cross the Intracoastal and then ride the small breakers to beach your craft.  You can then get out want enjoy the island without worrying about a dropping tide.   (DO NOT enter Snow's Cut.  More on that in an upcoming post.)

Boat Ramp:  Yes!  But it's busy.  It has upwards of 90 parking spaces and was nearly full when I arrived at 9 am.

One the day I visited, the grey trout were biting and the fishermen were driving like the Joey Chitwood Hell Drivers through the parking area to get to the ramps to launch their boats to get to the fishin'.  But the good news is that the boat ramp has three ramps, and the right-most ramp is more narrow than the other two, so smaller boats tend to put in there.

Restrooms:  Yes!  Portajohns, possibly seasonally provided.  Still, some facility is better than none.

What Will You See?  Great views of the water front of Carolina Beach blending to outer Wilmington, lots and lots of pelicans, lots of boats, and then a really fine sandy point to land and walk on a near-pristine beach.

I was particularly taken with watching the pelicans dive.  I'd seen them in action before, of course, but this time I saw them close and personal.  As they dive, their short little legs wobble as if they're trying to prevent the dive they just initiated.  Pelicans have indeed devised a tough way to feed themselves.  Seeing them up close also allowed me to see the incredible curvature of their bills as well as watch the prey  go down the hatch.  Their neck skin is thin indeed.

Also, I found it thrilling to look to the horizon as I paddled by Carolina Beach Inlet (right).  At near water-level view, the ocean appears to bubble as the breakers foam and surge.  Pretty neat!


Anything Special To Be Aware Of?  Yes...besides sunburn, you'll need to watch for the boaters.  The boaters in the larger, faster boats seem, on average to have little regard for the "No Wake" signs.  Even homeowners have posted placards asking for "no wake."  Those pleas don't seem to cut much ice with these guys, many of whom look like Papa Hemingway as they lean into the breeze to get to the fishin'.  (Old Man and the Sea, anyone?)  The most considerate boater of all was a guy in huge catamaran, so high off the water that for a moment I thought I could paddle paddle underneath him (not that I would).  He eased through that part of the channel and left little to no wake to ride.

Do you need a kayak with rudders for this trip?  Maybe so.  My boat (a 14 footer) has a specially shaped hull that compensates for the lack of a true rudder/skeg combo, so I didn't miss the stability.  If your boat is short (say 11 feet), you might not want to try this trip unless you're really comfy in your boat.

Finally:  Time on the Water.  Depends on your strength and the current in the Intracoastal.  On the outbound trip I felt like a world-class Olympian due to the  current, and on the return, not so much.  I was combating the outbound current and some fatigue.   That said, allow at least three hours for the trip.


What I've Read (But Not Tested) About Tides:  I understand that the first hour a tide begins to change, it does so slowly.  It picks up speed as it approaches hours 3 and 4 in the 6-hour cycle.  Then it slows again as either high tide or ebb tide is reached.  So, I infer that if high tide is at 9:30 am and I want to use the Trail's End put-in, then I should be paddling by 8 or so to be able to go over (still on the high tide) and come back two hours later (or so) without risking the mudflats.   (The route is thought to require 20 - 40 minutes, depending on your paddle speed.)   YMMV.

Mountain Island Reservoir

This reservoir excursion is great for paddlers in the middle of North Carolina:  no long trips to the mountains or the coast.  On the day I visited, far less boat traffic was apparent than I think would have been on Lake Norman, which is north of Mountain Island Reservoir.  Plus, because much of the area borders other interesting places -- Latta Plantation and the Carolina Raptor Center -- you can cobble together a nice, day-long outing.  Another plus is that if the weather sends you a fine day, even in the winter, you can get here and enjoy an excursion quickly.  As you can see from the picture below, I paddled here in mid-autumn.

Vital Statistics:  Since this is a reservoir, you're on your own to design a route.

But I highly recommend that when you depart the cove where the boat ramp is located, you turn right and paddle up to a sand bar where, if you're paddling with a lot of friends, you can enjoy a game of volleyball!  If not that, then you can beach your boat, take a few "survivalist" pictures to amuse yourself later.  (See picture!!!!)  I think that, unless water is being released from Lake Norman, the sandbar is always see-able.  And, if memory serves, you need to  bring your own volleyball.  The net is (or, at least, was) provided.

To spot this reservoir on the map, look west of I-77 and north of I-485.    By the way...if you don't own a Delorme North Carolina Atlas & Gazetteer, go get one.  It's the best tool to use to figure out water, roads, and boat ramps.

Boat Ramp:  Yes.  I paddled this piece of water about a year (or so) ago, so when I revisit, I'll update this info with a picture of the ramp at Neck Road, in Mecklenburg County.  I do recall that it's a nice ramp, with nothing tricky about it.

Restroom:  No.  You'll want to take care of this chore at one of the shopping areas nearby.

What You Will See:  Nice-sized reservoir.  It's not huge in the way that Lake Norman is, and because of the surroundings, it's not overly loaded with houses and private docks.   But it's big enough so that you won't feel as if you're paddling about in a bath tub.  

The Wonderful Beaufort Waterfront

I haven't paddled every piece of water in North Carolina, but even so, I'm ready to go on record by stating that this excursion is in the top five best paddles in the state.  It's exceptional for the eye candy of the Beaufort waterfront, for the stops you can make along the way, and for the salt-water skills you can hone.

Vital Statistics:  You have good options with this trip.

You can launch and paddle down and back along the waterfront.  Published trip lengths vary, but I *think* the Beaufort waterfront is roughly three miles long.

If you'd rather just paddle across Taylor's Creek to the Rachel Carson Preserve to walk about over there, you can do that.  That little jaunt won't take but five minutes.  Or, you can paddle the length of the waterfront, and then beach your boat to walk on either or both of the mile-long trails on the south side of Carrot Island.

Or you can paddle around Carrot Island for a total of about 6 - 7 miles.  If you take this paddle, which is what I did, then you can beach at the marsh trails for a rest stop, re-launch, circle left around the point, paddle Bogue Sound, and then pick your way through the marsh islands in the North River Channel to return to Taylor's Creek.  I found this paddle to be a great experience for my current skill level.  I gained experience with swells and breakers (in a good way this time!) and learned about navigating (at eye level) the marshy island areas.  The one thing I decided not to do was beach on Bird Shoals, on the Bogue Sound side of  Carrot Island.  I'm not too smart yet about launching in breakers.  However, I believe this would be a good place to begin to learn.

Boat Ramp:  Yes!  Use the one on the north side of town, at the end of Lennoxville Road.  It's a double ramp with a generous parking lot.  However, get ready for ramp contention.  LOTS of people use this ramp, and my experience was that many of them don't observe good boat etiquette, especially the woman in the Yukon who almost backed over me.  (Manners and rear-view mirrors are apparently overrated in her world.)

Would be nice if the NC Wildlife people would add a small sandy beach for those of us in self-propelled boats.  I wasn't the only paddler having to dodge behemoth-boat people.  

That said, a compliment is due someone because of the map board at the ramp.  Study it before you launch so that if you decide to circle Carrot Island, you have a relatively good idea about how to pick your way around the marsh islands.

Restrooms:  Yes!  And picnic tables when you get back and want to enjoy a snack before loading your boat.

What You Will See:  Beaufort.  Sailboats. Yachts. Maybe the wild horses (they were over on Shackleford Banks when I paddled.) Birds.  Fishermen on Carrot Island.  Flounder beds!  I actually saw flounder beds!

Thorofare Bay Traverse

This little excursion became the replacement for the failed attempt to loop Hog Island (see previous post).  I figured that after I had gone to the trouble to go all the way out to the Cedar Island ferry, I needed some sort of route to paddle.  This one was ok.

Vital Statistics:  You launch on the Thorofare; to the east is the East Thorofare Bay and to the west, the West Bay.   The Thorofare seems to be about a mile long, so a side-to-side paddle nets you two miles.  Then you can add on as much in either (or both bays) as you wish to fill whatever time you have to paddle.

Where to Find:  Look for a dirt road on the south side of the Monroe Gaskill Memorial Bridge on NC 12.   The boat ramp is almost at the end, maybe a quarter mile.

Boat Ramp:  Yes, but it's small and a bit hinky.  There's a steeper-than-usual drop off on the front, so you might want to launch from the side.  This ramp also seemed to be a favorite of fishermen, all of whom where friendly and observing good boat etiquette.


Restrooms:  No!  You'll see a station, but that structure belongs to the USMC I think.  It was surrounded with fencing that indicated US federal property.  The boats were for sure attached to the USMC.


What You May See:  Egrets?  I saw a few -- and a lot of marsh grass.  Many channels exit right and left of the main Thorofare channel, but these sub-channels are closed to paddlers.  You are in a national wildlife refuge, and these areas are for the migratory birds.  Abide the closures.


So Why Paddle Here?  Well, the fun of paddling in either of the bays cancels out the certain sameness of paddling in the marshes.  I paddled to/into and about West Thorofare Bay, which made of a nice day of paddling.  It's a good place to practice your salt water skills in sorta/kinda big water.   East Thorofare Bay might be equally fun.  If I were into kayak fishing, I would give that a try here.  Also, if I were paddling with young children, I'd paddle here.

Any Bewares?  Yes....remember that property that the USMC owns I mentioned earlier?  Well, on the western side of West Thorofare Bay, the USMC owns land that it uses for training purposes.  Just before we put in to paddle, three fighter jets were thundering about the sky.  We were lucky when they quit for the day.

Hog Island Loop

I thought I was ready -- skill wise -- for a loop of Hog Island.  I was not.  That said, I'm glad for the attempt because of the skill growth I experienced in the open waters of Pamlico Sound.  I recommend this trip only for paddlers who are very comfortable with paddling open sea water and who have the stamina to do so for upwards of six hours.

Vital Statistics:  This route makes a balloon around Hog Island, which is to the right (east) of the Cedar Island ferry dock.  It's about 7.5 miles long.

The Route:  You're on your own to scout and find this one.  After departing the boat ramp, you paddle along the shoreline until you reach a large channel, then you continue to paddling until until you reach the tip of Hog Island.  Then you turn right again into the protected water of Cedar Island Bay.  When you reach the large channel you bypassed earlier, you hang a left, to paddle through the channel to return to the Pamlico Sound.  Then you turn left to return to the ferry dock.  The picture below faces east, so you can get a sense of what the distance looks like.

What I Learned:  I selected this route from a book by Pam Malec, Guide to Sea Kayaking in North Carolina.  She designates it as an intermediate-to-advanced trip, and because I've paddled some big water (Lake Superior,  Kabetogama Lake, Barkley Sound and had some experience crossing open water), I thought I was ready.  WRONG, because:  the map makes the route look safer than it really is by showing a route that hugs the shoreline.

What I learned is that there is a "sweet spot" if you will, between where the swells just pass you by -- and you can ride/traverse them easily -- to where the swells decide to become breakers and start pushing you to shore.  I did not capsize nor did I swamp my kayak, but truth be told, I wasn't ready for the mental effort to keep my boat in that sweet spot.  After about 30 minutes of outbound paddling, I decided that on this particular day it was wiser to capitulate than persevere.

You might decide from the picture above that the water doesn't look too challenging.  Maybe for your ability it isn't.  But for me, I was reminded of how different water looks at water level than it does from a standing level and that I have more to learn.  Such is Life, eh?

I also learned that in picking a sea-going route that islands are your friends.  They diffuse the power of the water somewhat.


Boat Ramp:  Yes!  If you're up to the challenge, then you'll appreciate the very nice boat ramp.   Because this access is so very remote, you're unlikely to encounter much in the way of boat ramp contention.  In my picture, the boat ramp is to the left, on the yon side of the pilings.  We chose to hoist our boats over the bulkhead and use the sand.   Be aware that you're sharing the area with the ferry, so take care not to put yourself in the way of that very large vessel.

Restrooms:  Yes!  It's a bit of a walk to the ferry dock, but you'll find facilities there.


Other Things to Know:  Take everything you will need:  water, energy bars, sun screen.  You certainly don't want to bonk out there, so keep the food within easy reach.

Because I did not finish the loop, I cannot speak to places to beach your kayak if you want to rest.  Nor does the guidebook indicate that the calm side of the loop has some areas available.  I can tell you that you probably won't want to beach until you're safely in calmer water unless you're already skilled in launching in small breakers.

Also -- and I hate to admit this because it was was stupid decision on my part -- but use your spray skirt in water like this!!!!  I decided that the day was a little too warm for using mine, and because I detest being hot while paddling, I decided to dodge the spray skirt.  WRONG.  Like I said, I didn't swamp my boat, but I did wonder about my good sense, or lack thereof.   (Later I'll blog about what I've learned about dressing for paddling.)


What You Will See:  Besides a lot of open water, you may see lots of birds.  I didn't, but I understand that the Hog Island area is a haven for lots of birds.  Even if I had made the complete trip, I was somewhat too early for good birding, as another trip in the area revealed.  More on that later.


Which Brings Me to A Good Plan B:  If you're really keen to paddle this area to see the birds, another way to do so is with a different route, beginning in the community of Lola.  I understand from a resource once produced by the Crystal Coast Canoe and Kayak Club (but now no longer available), that Lola has a boat ramp that puts you into the protected side of Cedar Island Bay, which means that you don't have to traverse the Pamlico Sound.  But I didn't discover this tidbit until the next day, so I cannot give you any info.  When time permits, however, I do plan to give this route a try.

Hammocks Beach State Park - Bear Island Trail

Want to hone your sea kayaking skills? Then go to Hammocks Beach State Park.  It's a great place to begin to learn about navigation, tides and currents as well as to enjoy some kayak camping.  I certainly learned a lot on my first overnight trip there.  My take:  Unless you are comfortable with your boat, you might not want to make this your first trip.  It isn't hard, but it does up the ante from reservoir and small lake paddling.

Vital Statistics:  Near Swansboro, Hammocks Beach SP offers two trails, one around Huggins Island and the other to Bear Island, where you can camp.  The trip to Bear Island, one way, is 2.6 miles round trip.

Most of the paddle is through marsh grass, but you do cross the Intracoastal Waterway.  When you do, watch for larger yachts.  If you're with others, cross together so that collectively you make a bigger splash of color and can be more easily seen.  Also, be ready to practice your roller-surfing skills!  The yachts often create some fun water to surf.  Other than that, you'll likely see only fishermen here and there.


Boat Ramp:  The state park service provides an awesome boat ramp for launching kayaks.  It's maybe 50 yards tops from the parking lot.


The Trail:  Look for white-over-orange markers to guide you through the sound water to Bear Island.  Most times you can spot them easily, but they are faded and, on occasion, not well placed.  (If you follow the yellow markers, you circle Huggins Island.)  As you near Bear Island, you'll paddle through a shallow lagoon to reach the landing area.


The Skills You'll Hone:  First, be mindful of the wind.  The day I crossed, the wind was gusting at maybe 20-30 mph (it was blowing hard enough to make conversation impossible) and the water was indeed choppy.  I found that I could mitigate the chop by paddling near the marsh grass on the side from which the wind was blowing.

Then there's the tide.  I hadn't thought, at all, about the tide and on the return trip enjoyed dragging my kayak across a few sand bars that the low tide revealed.  Lesson:  because the water is mostly shallow (except for the Intracoastal), cross on a high-ish tide.  If you don't, then get ready to practice your boat entry and exiting skills.

What do you see?  Oh my goodness, what a view of the Atlantic you'll have!   If you like an empty beach, you'll be in heaven! Just over this dune are all of the crashing waves you can soak in!  shore birds abound.   If you go over on a windy day, keep an eye out for sand sculptures.   Wind can do amazing things with sand!


Restrooms:  Yes, at the state park office near the launch and on the beach during the season, which I understand to be from mid-March to early November.  HOWEVER...it's quite a hike from the camping area (Half a mile?  Maybe a mile?  Hard to tell when you're walking against the sand) to the beach-side facilities.   You can also enjoy a shower there.


Snacks?  Only in vending machines at the park office.  You're on your own for everything once you leave the park office.  Food, water, sunscreen, bug repellant: everything.


Campsites?  The park provides 14 of them.  If you want to camp, make a reservation, because they are popular.

When you get to your site you can enjoy a picnic table which, if the wind is high, can double as windshield when time comes to prepare meals. (I wasn't joking about the wind.)  Beyond that amenity, you get a nice, long walk from the tip of the lagoon where you beach your boat to your campsite.  Unless you want to spend you visit hiking to and fro with your gear, up and down the dunes and across the sand, go light.


Rentals?  Not at the park office.   Just a few miles away in Swansboro you can find rental companies, but I don't know if they rent overnight.


Anything scary?  Well, yes, if you don't know what you're hearing.  And it's not the big yachts and the wakes they leave out in the Intercoastal Waterway.  It's the United States Marine Corps, which is located the next county over at Camp LeJeune.  The USMC specializes in taking any beach anywhere in the world, and the night I camped on Bear Island, the USMC was practicing something that involved something that sounded like bombs.  I kid you not.  All I can say -- after to listening to them train all night long -- is that there is "no quit" in the USMC.  They start training early and they go late.  Unless you camp during storm-prone weather, that thundering sound you here comes from the USMC.


Bug Quotient:  Could be bad, but it wasn't for me.  I think my luck was due to the high wind and the fact that my campsite was nearer the ocean than it was the lagoon.


Helpful Hint:  OK, time for full disclosure....don't make the dumb mistake I made.  If you go on a windy day, take your cockpit cover and use it when you beach your kayak.  I didn't do that and I paid for it the next morning when I discovered a kayak full of sand (yeppers, we're talking wind....).  Even though I had turned my kayak upside down to keep the sand out of the cockpit, I learned that the wind was smarter than I was and that sand goes everywhere.  Take the cockpit cover.   Use it.  You'll be glad you did.

Morrow Mountain State Park

What a great place for a day paddle!  I give it an A.  Here's why:

Vital Statistics:  At the Morrow Mountain State Park boat ramp, you're greeted with happy choices about where and how much to paddle.  To the left (north) is Falls Dam, which holds back the Yadkin River and forms Badin Lake.  

At the boat ramp, what remains of the Yadkin River meets the Uwharrie River and begins forming Lake Tillery, which extends to your right (south) about 15 miles.

The paddle-able length of the Uwharrie (in front of you) extends about 17  miles.   All of these data points mean that you can have a quick paddle to the dam and back, about 15 or so minutes, or up the Uwharrie River, or south into Lake Tillery.   You can paddle all day if it suits you.


The boat ramp, located at the end of the state park road, isn't tricky at all to use.  Though parking is minimal,  you can unload your kayaks in the the boat lot, and drive over to a larger lot that's nearer the boathouse to leave your vehicle. 

You may have some ramp contention with the boaters who are there to fish.  And my first-time observation is that most people come to fish.  And because many people rent canoes at the boathouse, they put in up at the boathouse and not at the public ramp.  But everyone seemed nice and patient as we took turns launching and returning.

On a summer day, you will likely see a lot of skiers, ski boats, and jet skies.  My brief trip revealed substantial waterside development, and just about every cabin had a boat shed of some sort.  The guys who worked in the state park boathouse advised me that the farther south I paddled, the more I'd see the ski boats.  The answer?  Turn around if you don't enjoy that sort of competition for the water space.

Observed Boating Etiquette:  Most people exhibited acceptable boating etiquette.  I saw only one boatload of yahoos who thought it was good manners to speed by the kayakers.  Of course, you can always hear these folks coming, so quit paddling and turn your kayak perpendicular to them so as to ride the wake and the rollers they leave behind.  

Rentals:  You can rent canoes from the boathouse during the season.  (I didn't see kayaks.) Since rental rates change and sometimes the NC Park service cuts hours due to budgets, you can check those websites for most current info.

Restrooms:  Yes, at the boathouse!  The facilities are new and clean. 

Snacks:  Yes!  At the boathouse!  (This boathouse rocks...whenever I can spend the day paddling and then quickly get and snarf down an ice cream sandwich, I'm having a good day.  Go boathouse dudes!) 

Picnic tables:  Yes!  Between the boathouse and the boat ramp!  Just be careful if you use a camp stove.  Some lunatics have put their stoves on the tables and melted the tables (They aren't wood, but are some synthetic melty material.)  Don't be a lunatic and follow suit.   Because of privately-owned land along much of the shoreline, you won't have many opportunities to beach and get out of your boat to snack. 

Suitable for first-timers:  Maybe, if the first-timers are not too fearful.  The water isn't hard, but the vistas make it look harder than it is.   Given the scale of the water, though, a windy day will create some choppy paddling.

Which way to paddle?  Your choice.  Paddle north to see Falls Dam.  I understand that before the dam was built, the falls (now underwater) provided the best whitewater in the central part of the state.  Today you'll see some rocky outcroppings and lots of  turtles.  Seriously, lots of turtles.

Paddle east up the Uwharrie River. The first useful landmark is Dutchman Creek coming in from the right, about 1.5 miles upstream.  If you paddle all the way to Cotton Place Road, you've gone about six miles.

Paddle south to enter the bigger part of Lake Tillery.  

However you string together your route, do paddle up the Uwharrie River.  Why?  Because on the return trip you'll get a good view of Morrow Mountain.  While the Uwharries aren't the Rockies, you'll be surprised by just how hilly the terrain in this part of the state is.  I understand that you can see lots of wildflowers in the spring.  Since my trip was in early October, I saw leaves beginning to turn.

What will I see beside rolling ancient mountains?  Birds!  I saw two bald eagles, several herons, five cormorants, many kingfishers engaged in aerial warfare, and scads of turtles.  The turtles here were particularly amusing:  after they slid away from the rocks where they were sunning, they'd poke their heads just out of the water to see if I had departed their area.   And save time for a trip to the top of Morrow Mountain.  You'll be surprised at the long-distance views.


Anything scary?  Having rafted the Nantahala River, I was concerned, when I heard the word dam, that some sort of water release would occur and that, worse, I'd be out there when it took place.  While water was tumbling through the dam creating electricity and creating a bit of current to paddle against to get to the dam, the dudes at the boathouse assured me that fluctuations in water level were rare and minor.  

Other amenities:  Darned good campground with hot showers in the state park.  Yay! But be aware: you may need reservations for a site.  Being in the central part of the state, this campground sees a lot of business on the weekends. 

Paddle Info about North Carolina

This blog is for people who want to paddle recreational kayaks in North Carolina.  I'm starting it because I, too, am a recreational paddler and I am finding good information difficult to come by.  So, this blog is dedicated to providing useful information to people who want to make a good choice in where they spend their paddle outing. It is not geared to trip reports, gear reviews, or rants about this or that.   If you're like me, you have a limited number of hours to paddle, and when those hours coincide with good weather, you want to be on the water in a good place, not on the water in a not-so-good place.

My goal is to let people in on what they can find when they show up some where, kayak in tow, ready to hit the water.  As I kayak in NC, I'll post what I find.  I do not promise to be 100% thorough for any body of water, and as time goes by, I will likely update what I have learned.

By way of credentials...I'm a seasoned travel writer and have published in various North Carolina newspapers (Raleigh News and Observer, Charlotte Observer) as well as in Our State magazine.  I have a couple of books out there talking about outdoors things to do in the Tar Heel State.  I have a good grasp of what North Carolina has to offer.

While I am an outdoors enthusiast, I am not an elite cyclist, hiker or paddler.  Yes, I know people who have hiked the major long-distance trails in the United States and I know people who have completed serious paddle trips.  (The couple who paddled the Inside Passage to Glacier Bay still amaze me with their accomplishment.)  I know a few people who have spent months on their bikes touring about the country.  But I'm not one of those people, though sometimes I wonder what it would be like to do something like that.  I'm just an ordinary outdoors enthusiast.  (And about my email name:  I got that a long time ago when I was heavily into hiking.  Since that time I have enlarged my world to include paddling.  If this blog takes off and people seem to want some hiking boots on the ground info about hiking trails, I'll provide that, too.)

So, check in from time to time to see if I've provided any information that's useful to you.