Marathon

11-1-09

Before I put in at Walnut Grove, I looked at the Germantown entry.  The water in the creek was high enough, but the shoreline was choked with brush.

The temp is around 60 and sunny with a clear blue sky.  The water is still higher than normal due to the rains a couple of days ago.  The river had been higher as noted by a sediment line that is several feet higher than the water line.  The water is still muddy, and the two creeks on the right bank are flowing.  I went into the first lake canal but didn’t go past the concrete cataract.  I kept going upstream and entered the second lake canal. I floated easily into the lake.  I saw a pair of wood ducks and a pair of great blue herons. There were several trot lines that were being maintained.   The line looked new and there were weights and hooks on them, even the remnants of bait.  The fishermen used yellow caution tape to mark there lines. When I came back out to the river, I saw a flock of wood duck about ten.  There were also kingfishers on the river.  Both sandbars were under water today, so I didn’t get out of the boat.  Upon returning to the boat ramp, I saw a large red tailed hawk.  There was also a marathon on the trails.  Runners could pick between an eight mile or eighteen mile run.  The eighteen mile run went all the way to Gray’s creek.