Saturday was a gorgeous day for kayaking. Mostly overcast with big puffy clouds, moderate temps, and the water surface an almost perfect mirror of the sky. We put in at the Hickory Hill Boating Access Area not far from I-85 off of Redwood Rd. For years we’ve used the Eno River Boat Launch near Treyburn but that ramp is temporarily closed for renovations. The Hickory Hill ramp is nice. There’s a dedicated ramp for hand-carry boats and the two times we’ve been there (both weekend days with good weather) there were very few motor boats probably due to low lake levels and very unpredictable water depths. Perfect for kayaks, though.
This particular trip we’d planned on paddling under I-85 and the railroad trestle to find the mouth of the Eno but shortly before getting to the Eno itself we ran into very shallow water. (The water level at the Roxboro Rd gauge was less than 1 foot that day!) Tried walking the kayaks for a ways but it just didn’t look like it was going to get deeper any time soon so we turned back and just explored that area of the lake. In all our kayaking adventures we’ve never seen so many birds on one trip. Many osprey (some carrying fish1), herons, egrets, cormorants, some ducks. It was very peaceful and still and most of the time we were the only boaters in sight. We did see one small motor boat get grounded and they had to get out and drag the boat to deeper water.
On our two trips out there we’ve explored across the lake from the ramp and this recent trip “upstream”. Looking forward to checking out some of the downstream areas and coves.
