I took my 12ft canoe up Holsten Creek, against a rather strong current, with my camping gear and the current issue of The Atlantic. I arrived in time to set up my campsite before dark. Fred joined me well after dark, but he hiked in on our makeshift trail.
There were mosquitoes, but they were manageable. After spending about 18 hours out there, while exercising reasonable precautions, I probably go a couple bites and I didn’t swallow a single one.
It was a pleasant night with a pretty constant symphony of forest sounds and mild temperatures. I took a 60 degree sleeping bag and I was very cozy in my Haven hammock. I probably wasn’t tired enough to sleep through the night, but I slept pretty well. It was cloudy with occasional light rain in the morning, so I didn’t bother to abandon my warm bed until about 08:00.
It was a lazy morning. I didn’t get in my canoe to head downstream until about noon. The paddle back to the highway went pretty fast, as you might expect. The challenge was to keep the boat in the channel on a very curvy, fast moving creek and avoid obstacles like cypress knees and fallen trees. It took me about 45 minutes to get back, with several stops to take pictures and bypass logs that blocked the stream.
Normally, I drag my boat over logs, but here is a tip if you ever do this in floodwater … the ants occupy every surface that is above water and they are *angry*. Not only that, but their bite feels like a bee string (the ones I encountered were black ants, but the bite was more painful than fire ants, so be warned). Instead of interacting with a fallen tree, it’s better to paddle around it in the floodwater if you can, or just get out and walk your boat around it; preferably walking in the water and avoiding other things that could have ants. You only need to get bitten a couple of times before you decide it’s worth detouring.
I’ve paddled up Holsten creek several times, now. It’s not a bad little paddle. It just takes some effort to launch from the HW58 bridge. I’ve decided the east side of the bridge (parking on the south side of the creek) is easier and I have a little trail that goes down into a ravine that connects to the creek. If the water is high, the ravine will have enough water to walk the boat for some of the distance. Otherwise, you’ll have to carry it or drag it over cypress knees. Once you are on the creek, you have to expect lots of twists and turns and obstructions, but the creek is generally shallow with a gravel bottom, so getting out to navigate over or around an obstruction isn’t that bad. You can’t go far, but it’s a fun way to see the creek, and it’s all fresh water above the highway so it’s pretty refreshing on a hot summer day.
