Camping by the Beaver Dam

This is the second time I kayaked to the beaver dam and spent the night near the Weetock on the west side of the beaver lake.

It was Feb 15, 2024. Before paddling up into the beaver lake, I put in at Long Point and paddled down the White Oak and up Hunters Creek. I had to paddle against the incoming tide and a brisk wind on the river. That part of the trip was pretty harsh. I paddled a long way up Hunters Creek; well past the sawdust pile. The tide was very high, so I could venture off on what would normally be tiny tributaries to explore. The water was so high, I could almost paddle through the woods.

After I turned around on Hunters Creek to find my campsite, I had the current in my favor because the tide had started going out, but the sun was close to the horizon and it was reflecting off the water in such a way that I couldn’t see anything when I was heading west, give or take 30 degrees. The brim of my hat could shield me from the sun in the sky, but if I tilted my head down enough to block the reflection in the water, I couldn’t see anything beyond my own feet.

In spite of all that, I got to the stream that leads to the beaver dam just as the sun was setting and I arrived at my campsite before it got dark. I set up my tent and rolled out my sleeping gear before I made my evening meal and got into dry clothes. Once I was dry and had eaten, I fell asleep in my sleeping bag. I was pretty worn out from the paddle. Apparently, my paddling muscles haven’t been exercised recently. I’ll be paddling more as the weather warms up.

Since bugs were nearly non-existent, I decided to try something different with my tent. The tent has the option of being set up without the bug screen, which gives you more space, since the vestibules are much easier to access without having to unzip and zip a screen to reach into them. It turned out that there were a few mosquitoes that were still buzzing around, even at 50 degrees Fahrenheit. That was only marginally annoying, and they did stop coming around when it got a little colder.

The spot I selected to make my camp is a beautiful area right on the Weetock trail with enough space to set up a half dozen tents and hammocks. The exact spot where I set up my tent was not level. It was getting dark when I was scouting, and I really wanted to stay close to my boat, so I went with the gentle slope. As it turned out, it was enough of a slope that I had to pull myself back up onto my sleeping pad a couple of times. If I had gone 10 yards further away from my kayak parking spot, I would have had a level spot.

I paddled out around 11:30 the next morning (Feb 16) so I could catch the incoming tide on the White Oak River to make my trip back to Long Point a little easier. I made a couple stops and arrived at Long Point at 13:38. I hung out there for a while and eventually decided to go home, rather than spend another night in the forest, like I had tentatively planned to do.