Kayak Virginia Beach

Snuck it in... Ashville Bridge Creek - Hells Creek - North Bay

I woke up this morning, with different plans, since the weather today was not really supposed to be conducive to kayaking. The forecast last night, was rain in the morning turning to snow around midday with 15+ MPH winds. When I got up and looked out the window, I knew the forecast had changed, the impending storm was still several hours off the temperature was in the mid 40s with very little wind. Having not been able to put the kayak in the water for 6 weeks, I became highly motivated and loaded up the kayak and gear and headed to Ashville Bridge Creek. The water was a little lower then I like, but it was doable, and there was enough clearance to get under the bridge and do the loop. Wading out to get the kayak in deep enough water was fun, as the water was cold.

So heading North was a little bit of a slow go, because I usually don't go this way and finding the channel to keep the kayak off the bottom was hit or miss, as well as navigating around a few freshly fallen trees... Hells Creek has yet to impress me, as it is nothing more then a wide ditch, but is nice and deep and good to get a good workout. Exiting the creek I was planning on doing a loop around North Bay, but my luck started to run out, the breeze freshened up a bit and seemed colder and the clouds had snow written all over them, and knowing I was about an hour out I abbreviated the loop and headed over to Horn Point to check it out.

In past kayak trips, I have wondered what the park like facility next to the Horn Point launch was and why it wasn't in use. Today I got some answers and now new questions. All around it are now National Wildlife Refuge signs, that somewhat answered the what and who question. The new question is what are they doing to the facility, because there were several pieces of construction equipment apparently doing some kind of work. cruised around the old dock structure, and took some pictures, for some reason when I kayak in the winter months I do notice more old docks and piers and they seem to look different and more photogenic when the weather is grey.

So looking upwards, and seeing the clouds looking a bit more ominous, I turned the kayak to the mouth of Ashville Bridge Creek to head for home. On the way up the creek, there were a lot more herons then I normally see, and that was about it for spotting any wildlife, except for some geese overhead, and the lone egret in the bay.

I guess my timing was right today, because as I was unloading the kayak, the first snow started to fall.