G
Guest
Guest
Magnus and Willie’s swamp paddling photos got me thinking about swamp paddling, and why I enjoy it so. Not only is there life in every nook and cranny, but there are often fewer people. Swamps don’t hold mass paddler appeal for some reason; too easy to get lost, or too twisty and turny, or too many spiders and snakes and creepy-crawly-slithery stuff, oh my.
I have my favorite swamp paddles in the mid-Atlantic region. For anyone passing through the mid-Atlantic region east of the I-95 corridor:
Delaware
Trap Pond State Park near Laurel Delaware, floating James Branch/Hitch Pond Branch, from below the dam at Trap Pond to the public take out at Records Pond on Rte 13. No question that is the best 5.2 miles of small swamp stream in Delaware, maybe in the mid-Atlantic. It is barely 3 feet wide in places, and special in other fairyland ways.
The swamp (northernmost bald cypress swamp in the US) at the inflow head of Trap Pond is delightful as well, and the (reservable) State Park “Island” site (2 sites, reserve them both, accessed via a short boardwalk) are the best State park sites on the east coast.
Maryland
Maryland, My (home State) Maryland. I do love singing Confederate propaganda as part of my State anthem; “avenging the patriotic gore that flecked the streets of Baltimore”, and belting out “huzza she spurs the Northern scum” always make my heart swell with pride.
http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/symbols/lyricsco.html
Why they now omit the line “The despot’s heel is on thy shore, his torch is at thy temple door” (a reference to Lincoln) is historically inaccurate. At least they left the “Sic simper”. Any question that Maryland is a “southern” State?
We may not have any lakes, but we got gobs of swamps (and marshes) on the eastern shore and DelMarVa peninsula.
Tuckahoe Creek. More of a hardwood swamp run, but intimately narrow and often with good current. Tuckahoe Creek State Park just above the dam put in, take out at a public landing in Hillsboro 5 miles downstream. Great day run with surprisingly clear water and a nice swimming spot half way down.
The Pocomoke River and tributaries. Base camp at the Milburn Landing area of the Pocomoke River SP and within a 30 minute drive from the Park four of Maryland’s best cypress swamp trips are at your doorstep:
#1 Upper Pocomoke River, Porter Crossing to Snow Hill, 5.1 miles. There is a shuttle outfitter in Snow Hill if needed, and he keeps that stretch relatively strainer free. The last mile hits the tidal Pocomoke, with a change of scenery.
#2 Nassawango Creek, Red House Rd down to the Pocomoke and up (get the tides right) and up to Snow Hill. A delightful 5.4 miles, much of it Nature Conservancy protected. Same Snow Hill outfitter shuttle if you need one.
#3 Dividing Creek. A no shuttle, poke up as far as you can or want daytrip. A mile north of the public landing at Winter’s Quarter Drive in Pocomoke City there is an insignificant looking opening in the cypress on river right (upstream left).
Dividing Creek may be the best of Maryland’s eastern shore swamp paddles. Progressively narrower and narrower twisty, and yet continually deep. A couple of houses at a rural bridge crossing two miles upstream, but after that the creek just goes and goes and goes. Do remember that you have to paddle back out the same distance you paddle up, but the lower couple miles are tidal, so with the right timing you get a free ride at the end.
#4 Pitts Creek/Little Mill Creek, tributaries on the lower Pocomoke. Multiple access points, but the swampish best of it is from Rte 707 on Pitts to a take out at Colona Rd on Little Mill Creek. Choose wisely, the confluence entrance to Little Mill Creek is not apparent.
Virginia
Virginia is sadly missing from my swamp repertoire. If I’m headed south I usually keep driving into NC.
North Carolina
So many different places. NC does a great job with “Paddler’s Parks” and “Wildlife Boating” access launches. Merchants Mill Pond SP (and Lassiter Swamp). Lumber River SP. Hammocks Beach SP. Others around the State. Kudos to NC.
Aside from NC’s State Park paddler facilities I am enamored of the Black River and South Rivers in North Carolina. The South offers 80 miles of cypress swamp goodness before the confluence with the Black, and the Black adds another 50 miles before becoming tidal.
Aside from the middle sections of the Black, from the Ivanhoe Wildlife Boating access launch downstream to Beattys Bridge (7.6 miles) of the 13 mile section below that through the Three Sisters to Hunts Bluff, you will rarely see another paddler along those rural swamp river miles. You might occasionally see some good ole boys in a jon boat checking their trot lines for catfish, but paddlers are rare.
The nearest State Park camping to that area of NC is Jone’s Lake SP, but that Park also gives you access to some peculiar protected and undeveloped Pocosin Ponds/Bay Lakes.
South Carolina
We’ve done a lot of the Edisto, the easiest sections of which can be a little busy for my taste, but we’ve never been into the Four Hole Swamp, and that remains on the to-do explore list.
Our one (winter) attempt at Sparkleberry in SC coincided with some Arctic Express phenomenon, and even Lake Marion was icey. Someday; hopefully with someone familiar, that place is notoriously confusing.
Lot’s missing there; Virginia, SC and elsewhere, both along the eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast States.
Let’s hear your favorite swamp day paddle venues. Especially if they have a convenient State Park camping spot nearby. I’ll be heading south this fall as usual, and west again eventually, and would like to swamp dawdle along the way.
I have my favorite swamp paddles in the mid-Atlantic region. For anyone passing through the mid-Atlantic region east of the I-95 corridor:
Delaware
Trap Pond State Park near Laurel Delaware, floating James Branch/Hitch Pond Branch, from below the dam at Trap Pond to the public take out at Records Pond on Rte 13. No question that is the best 5.2 miles of small swamp stream in Delaware, maybe in the mid-Atlantic. It is barely 3 feet wide in places, and special in other fairyland ways.
The swamp (northernmost bald cypress swamp in the US) at the inflow head of Trap Pond is delightful as well, and the (reservable) State Park “Island” site (2 sites, reserve them both, accessed via a short boardwalk) are the best State park sites on the east coast.
Maryland
Maryland, My (home State) Maryland. I do love singing Confederate propaganda as part of my State anthem; “avenging the patriotic gore that flecked the streets of Baltimore”, and belting out “huzza she spurs the Northern scum” always make my heart swell with pride.
http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/symbols/lyricsco.html
Why they now omit the line “The despot’s heel is on thy shore, his torch is at thy temple door” (a reference to Lincoln) is historically inaccurate. At least they left the “Sic simper”. Any question that Maryland is a “southern” State?
We may not have any lakes, but we got gobs of swamps (and marshes) on the eastern shore and DelMarVa peninsula.
Tuckahoe Creek. More of a hardwood swamp run, but intimately narrow and often with good current. Tuckahoe Creek State Park just above the dam put in, take out at a public landing in Hillsboro 5 miles downstream. Great day run with surprisingly clear water and a nice swimming spot half way down.
The Pocomoke River and tributaries. Base camp at the Milburn Landing area of the Pocomoke River SP and within a 30 minute drive from the Park four of Maryland’s best cypress swamp trips are at your doorstep:
#1 Upper Pocomoke River, Porter Crossing to Snow Hill, 5.1 miles. There is a shuttle outfitter in Snow Hill if needed, and he keeps that stretch relatively strainer free. The last mile hits the tidal Pocomoke, with a change of scenery.
#2 Nassawango Creek, Red House Rd down to the Pocomoke and up (get the tides right) and up to Snow Hill. A delightful 5.4 miles, much of it Nature Conservancy protected. Same Snow Hill outfitter shuttle if you need one.
#3 Dividing Creek. A no shuttle, poke up as far as you can or want daytrip. A mile north of the public landing at Winter’s Quarter Drive in Pocomoke City there is an insignificant looking opening in the cypress on river right (upstream left).
Dividing Creek may be the best of Maryland’s eastern shore swamp paddles. Progressively narrower and narrower twisty, and yet continually deep. A couple of houses at a rural bridge crossing two miles upstream, but after that the creek just goes and goes and goes. Do remember that you have to paddle back out the same distance you paddle up, but the lower couple miles are tidal, so with the right timing you get a free ride at the end.
#4 Pitts Creek/Little Mill Creek, tributaries on the lower Pocomoke. Multiple access points, but the swampish best of it is from Rte 707 on Pitts to a take out at Colona Rd on Little Mill Creek. Choose wisely, the confluence entrance to Little Mill Creek is not apparent.
Virginia
Virginia is sadly missing from my swamp repertoire. If I’m headed south I usually keep driving into NC.
North Carolina
So many different places. NC does a great job with “Paddler’s Parks” and “Wildlife Boating” access launches. Merchants Mill Pond SP (and Lassiter Swamp). Lumber River SP. Hammocks Beach SP. Others around the State. Kudos to NC.
Aside from NC’s State Park paddler facilities I am enamored of the Black River and South Rivers in North Carolina. The South offers 80 miles of cypress swamp goodness before the confluence with the Black, and the Black adds another 50 miles before becoming tidal.
Aside from the middle sections of the Black, from the Ivanhoe Wildlife Boating access launch downstream to Beattys Bridge (7.6 miles) of the 13 mile section below that through the Three Sisters to Hunts Bluff, you will rarely see another paddler along those rural swamp river miles. You might occasionally see some good ole boys in a jon boat checking their trot lines for catfish, but paddlers are rare.
The nearest State Park camping to that area of NC is Jone’s Lake SP, but that Park also gives you access to some peculiar protected and undeveloped Pocosin Ponds/Bay Lakes.
South Carolina
We’ve done a lot of the Edisto, the easiest sections of which can be a little busy for my taste, but we’ve never been into the Four Hole Swamp, and that remains on the to-do explore list.
Our one (winter) attempt at Sparkleberry in SC coincided with some Arctic Express phenomenon, and even Lake Marion was icey. Someday; hopefully with someone familiar, that place is notoriously confusing.
Lot’s missing there; Virginia, SC and elsewhere, both along the eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast States.
Let’s hear your favorite swamp day paddle venues. Especially if they have a convenient State Park camping spot nearby. I’ll be heading south this fall as usual, and west again eventually, and would like to swamp dawdle along the way.