Awhile back, my friend and I decided to go on a short paddle, so we set out for the Mandeville harbor. The harbor gives nice access to the lake and the little bayous that hold marinas protected by the trees that line their banks. It's not much of a nature trail, though the east bank of the main bayou is the beginning of Fontainebleau State Park. Its a nice place to spend a few hours on a Saturday.
Mandeville Harbor
Awhile back, my friend and I decided to go on a short paddle, so we set out for the Mandeville harbor. The harbor gives nice access to the lake and the little bayous that hold marinas protected by the trees that line their banks. It's not much of a nature trail, though the east bank of the main bayou is the beginning of Fontainebleau State Park. Its a nice place to spend a few hours on a Saturday.
Bogue Falaya Park
Shortly after I bought my Scupper, I decided to take my maiden voyage in my new kayak at Bogue Falaya Park. I chose this put-in place partly because I knew it fairly well and partly because I didn't know any place closer. I had gotten to know this part of the Bogue Falaya a few years ago when I spent the summer on it with a friend wandering around in his flat-bottomed boat the year before he went off to war.The river in this area is comfortably clear and wide with houses occasionally nestled on its wooded banks. It widens out a bit more downstream as other streams and rivers join it on its way to the Pontchartrain. Generally it moves at a comfortable pace, but it has been known to have rough currents and undertows after a bad rainy spell. The cypress trees are lovely and often play host to egrets and herons.
Bogue Falaya Park is a small park in the old resadential part of Old Covington. I think the park is open 7am to 7pm. There is a small public garden/park upstream at the end of Coloumbia and the Old Landing downstream. The park is a great place for picknicking, with a paved parking area and restrooms. Unfortunatly, the parking lot is a bit of a walk from the river, so you have to cart your kayak a bit.
All in all, I enjoied paddling there and am planning to do so again as soon as the weather and my scedule permits.
Love at First Sight
This last fall I bought my first kayak. I was inspired to make this purchase by my good friend. She invited me to go kayaking with a group of her friends up at Black Creek over in Mississippi. It was the first time I had been kayaking since I was a kid growing up in the islands.
Now, I was practically raised on boats, and for some reason my dad seems to feel that if a boat cannot move without a motor its not a real boat. He always has preferred sailboats, though he owned fleets of canoes and kayaks when he was younger. For some crazy reason he sold them off when I was born. Anyway, I grew up on boats, but they were almost all sailboats, and it wasn't until we moved to the islands that I got to go kayaking for the first time.
Well, it had been a long time since I last felt the trade winds playing in my hair and since I last held a paddle in both hands when my friend asked me to go kayaking with her. She decided to pick an easy trip since she was the only one who was an experienced kayaker, so we set out on a 3hr trip. The skys above us were gray and brooding as a tropical approached the coast. Despite the ominous skys, it was the most fun I had in a long time, and before we reached the landing I had reached the conclusion that I had to have a kayak of my own. It took a few months for me to find my kayak - though in truth I thought it would take much longer.
The ad was for a sit-on-top kayak for $250, and I skipped lunch and part of a class to go see it. I wasn't expecting much, so I was surprised when we walked around the garage and saw it lying there. The guy hadn't lied on the phone - it was ugly.....but it was beautiful too - a sixteen-foot Scupper Pro TW from Ocean Kayak. For some crazy reason someone had painted it. A good portion of the paint had worn off, and now it was a motley barn-red with patches of faded orange plastic showing through.
I had been expecting a slightly dinky, plastic sit-on-top - the kind they rent out at beaches. Instead, it was obvious from first glance that this wasn't just a plaything - it was a boat! For one thing, it had storage, lots of storage with a tank-well in behind and a large hatch in front. It was love at first-sight! We hurried to the gay bar on the corner to use the ATM, ran back, tied the thing to the roof of my car, and drove back to campus as fast as I could to slip into the class I was missing. I couldn't stop smiling!
Now, I was practically raised on boats, and for some reason my dad seems to feel that if a boat cannot move without a motor its not a real boat. He always has preferred sailboats, though he owned fleets of canoes and kayaks when he was younger. For some crazy reason he sold them off when I was born. Anyway, I grew up on boats, but they were almost all sailboats, and it wasn't until we moved to the islands that I got to go kayaking for the first time.
Well, it had been a long time since I last felt the trade winds playing in my hair and since I last held a paddle in both hands when my friend asked me to go kayaking with her. She decided to pick an easy trip since she was the only one who was an experienced kayaker, so we set out on a 3hr trip. The skys above us were gray and brooding as a tropical approached the coast. Despite the ominous skys, it was the most fun I had in a long time, and before we reached the landing I had reached the conclusion that I had to have a kayak of my own. It took a few months for me to find my kayak - though in truth I thought it would take much longer.
The ad was for a sit-on-top kayak for $250, and I skipped lunch and part of a class to go see it. I wasn't expecting much, so I was surprised when we walked around the garage and saw it lying there. The guy hadn't lied on the phone - it was ugly.....but it was beautiful too - a sixteen-foot Scupper Pro TW from Ocean Kayak. For some crazy reason someone had painted it. A good portion of the paint had worn off, and now it was a motley barn-red with patches of faded orange plastic showing through.
I had been expecting a slightly dinky, plastic sit-on-top - the kind they rent out at beaches. Instead, it was obvious from first glance that this wasn't just a plaything - it was a boat! For one thing, it had storage, lots of storage with a tank-well in behind and a large hatch in front. It was love at first-sight! We hurried to the gay bar on the corner to use the ATM, ran back, tied the thing to the roof of my car, and drove back to campus as fast as I could to slip into the class I was missing. I couldn't stop smiling!
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