Well, I was pretty sure the low tide wasn’t going to be much lower than some high tides, but the forecast was for rain and cooler weather for the next week. Furthermore, a recent report found that my coast has had 5 inches (13 cm) of sea level rise in the past 15 years! That just confirms what I already suspected, and it means I will have to adapt my swamp adventures to be less about bottomless mud and more about exploring and just enjoying the swamp. There will still be low tides, but they may not be frequent enough to satisfy my urge to spend time in the swamp.
So, today could be the first of many trips where I don’t find a lot of mud, but I get wet and muddy while I’m enjoying my favorite places and staying in decent physical condition.
I launched from Long Point and I paddled to Hunters Creek with some stops along the way to explore places I hadn’t bothered to explore before. I paddled a little way up a tributary that had great promise, but I decided I wanted to study the satellite view before I spent too much time there. I’m not sure why I’d never bothered exploring it, before.
I arrived at my favorite spot for sinking on Hunters Creek just before the tide reached it’s lowest point. I spent a few minutes there before leaving the creek and heading for the narrow, muddy channel that runs along the edge of the woods, in search of mud above the water line. As is typical of any place that isn’t inundated by the tides, there was poison ivy everywhere, so I had to play Twister to avoid it. I didn’t take the camera with me while I was threading my way through the untouchable weeds. The tide was already coming in when I returned to the water.
As my last hurrah, I sank into some exposed mud on the edge of the creek. That is some really smooth and wonderful mud, but it is out in the open and fishing boats pass there on a fairly regular basis. I prefer to stay out of sight, but today I chanced it, because it was about the only mud I had available.
It was a nice day, and I had a pretty good time. Hopefully, I avoided the poison ivy and it seems I did not get sunburned. I might have a short video from this trip.