[Riverman]

With recent rains, I had a rare oppertunity to paddle this pretty little stream in the fall- only the second time I've been able to do this. I did Old 34 to Iowa Ave (south of Mt. Pleasant), about 7-8 miles. Cfs was 50- I sometimes consider this a minimum, but the gage is upstream from here, and I had decent water. At the Old 34 bridge, I was surprised to find improved access! Someone has placed a tiny concrete pad on river right under the bridge- maybe 3 feet square, but it's a perfect little spot to get into your boat, though you do have to go through some weeds to get to it. Most trees are still green, but I did see a number of pretty ones. Temps were in the lower to mid 60's- ideal for paddling in my opinion. I got to watch a train go across the railroad bridge, maybe 60 feet above the creek. I went under the "picnic bridge"- an old bridge now privately owned that someone had placed pincic tables on- pretty cool. At the following bridge, I got a bit of a surprise. The bridge was in the process of being rebuilt,& the construction crew had built a rock & dirt ford across the creek. I portaged it on river left- a little muddy. It looks strange from upstream- it looks like the creek just ends, because you can't see any outlet. There are actualy 3 or 4 culverts in the center, but they can only be seen from downstream- don't know if there would be any danger of being pulled into them from upstream or not, but I'm glad I portaged to the left.

A mile or 2 downstream from here is what I call the "Quarter-miler"- 5 straight riffles in rapid fire succesion that give you about a quarter mile of almost nonstop riffles. Great fun. This area has some nice rock bluffs, too. At the Oakland Mills Road bridge, the channel briefly divides, & I took the river-right channel, which proved too shallow. I didn't take the left channel because it was partially blocked by a root ball, & the current went directly into it. I could've probably manuevered around it, but root balls in current make me nervous- I've heard horror stories about them involving pinning & smashed boats.
In a few more miles I was at the takout. It had been a perfect fall day, & great to be back out on the water after a 3 week absence.
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A ship in a harbor is safe- but that's not what ships are for.