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| Hillsborough River Gator |
Last Friday was my last official Friday off under my now past Flex Schedule. Lat night decided to take today off, since last Friday was a bust because the weather, and went to the Tampa area and kayaked at the Hillsborough River. It was an unusual day at the river, that was incredibly high due to all the rain that TS Debbie left.
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| Hillsborough River was really high after as the result of TS Debbie |
Put In / Take Out: Trout Creek Park. Fee is $2. Check one of our previous posts about the Hillsborough River for more details. We did go from Trout Creek Park to Morris Bridge Park, our usual route when we kayak here. No visit to Trout Creek this time.
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| Turtle |
First of all, let me apologize for updating this post later than I said first. It happened that something did bite me yesterday when we were taking a break at the Morris Bridge Park. A bug I never saw, but felt, gave me a kiss and my right hand is now swollen. It started to swell yesterday and my wife gave me something in any case of allergic reaction that put me to sleep. Woke up at 4:45AM today. That being said let us keep going with yesterday's trip.
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| Osprey |
To be fair, the high level of the waters made this trip less than stellar. Wading birds were scarce and the it was not easy to paddle up river. Thanks to somebody, I can only assume the guys from the outpost, marked the way with ribbons. Thanks to whoever did because it would have been really hard without that. The river has flooded everything and it was hard to recognize the main canal in the bends. At other areas just the common sense was enough but it was a great help to have the ribbons. The flooding also brought a mystic view to the paddle. At some areas the reflections made a special mirror effect.
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| Mirror mirror...which is the most beautiful river? |
Well, there is not too much to say about this trip other than it was less than stellar. Not too many people in the water. But one of the ones we saw was kayaking with a guacamayo, which we thought was odd. We made the trip to Morris Bridge in a little less than two hours and while the current was not a problem in low ground areas, it was challenging fast in the high ground areas where the main canal was better defined. A sluggish 13 foot kayak did not make it any easy. At Morris Bridge Park did go for a walk at the boardwalk and that is when the thing that has my right hand swollen now happened. On our way down river we saw a grand total of three gators, a record low for is at the Hillsborough.
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| Do not ask. I will not tell. |
Now let us go to the pics. This is taking too much effort with only two fingers available to write...
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| Ibis works as doorman at Trout Creek |
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| Osprey nest |
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| Little Blue Heron |
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| Osprey's lunch break |
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| Anhinga |
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| Little Blue Heron got lunch |
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| No such a thing as an easy meal |
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| Little Blue Heron |
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| Red Bellied Woodpecker at Morris Bridge Park |
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| Cardinal |
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| Squirrel |
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| Red Bellied Woodpecker |
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| Carolina Wren |
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| Turtles |
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| Great Egret |
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| Ibis |
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| Gator |
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| Red Shouldered Hawk |
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| Limpkin |
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| Working to id this one |
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| TBD |
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| Gator |
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| Gator |
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| Osprey |
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| Limpkin |
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| Ospreys |
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| Ospreys |
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| Water up to the observation deck at Trout Creek Park |
And a few scenic pics to close this one...
And that is it for this one. Not much variety in the wildlife pics and a harder than usual paddle. If you are planning to paddle here you may want to wait for the waters to recede a bit. Thanks for reading and hope you come back soon so we can share the Views From Our Kayak.
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| Scene at the Hillsborough River |
