We had our normal downpour last night and it was raining again this morning. The pattern has been for it to be raining in the morning, for it to clear up by noon and more storms in the evening. I'm pulling out of here Sunday so today, Saturday, is my last chance at Flannigan Reservoir so I went out anyway. I was greeted by gray, overcast skies when I got to the Flannigan Marina put in. The sun did look like it might break through though.
The south end of the John W. Flannigan Reservoir has two skinny legs, one a couple of miles long and one several miles long. I just knew this southern end of the reservoir had to be cleaner than the crud I had paddled up by the dam on the northern end.
Paddling out of the Flannigan Marina I passed large sandstone cliffs 40-50 feet high. On the left I passed a bridge over what I assumed to be the short leg. On the right I assumed was the branch to lead to the northern end of the lake. That left straight ahead for the longer, skinny leg.
A street sign said this was actually the Pound River so I guessed it would go on a ways. The river was somewhat cleaner than the terrible filth I had encountered up by the dam but still way to much. Most of it had blown up against the shore.
The river at this point is about 150 feet wide and the normal green color for these mountains. Steep slopes run down to the water. The are interspersed with sandstone outcrops 40-50 feet wide and 20-50 feet high.
The trash became worse for a while. It was like two recycling trucks had collided and dumped their cargo of bottles and cans into the reservoir, there was that much of it. I was beginning to wonder if maybe the rains hadn't washed out a landfill somewhere and carried a lot of the trash into the river.
One mile up the river I came to another street sign indicating Mill Creek branched off to the right. I went left. Things seemed much cleaner on this stretch of the river. A lot of outcrops lined one shore or the other here making for some really pretty sights. The sun seemed to be winning its battle with the clouds and that added to the view although it was starting to warm up with the sun out.
Another half mile or so brought me to the Tanbark Branch moving off to the right. I'm glad I had decided to stick to the Pound River. Trying to keep track of all these creeks and branches can get confusing.
Unfortunately, soon the cliffs and outcrops gave way to more trash. I passed under the CR 619 bridge and passed Cane Creek. Here, a large field of Kudzu was dominating everything. Kudzu is a vine imported from Japan some years ago. I presume the reason was to use it to prevent erosion and to prevent trees from growing in fire breaks, under power line towers, etc. This may have seemed like a good idea at the time but the results have been something else. Kudzu is very aggressive and grows everywhere, climbing tress and choking them to death.
I had seen a fair number of fishermen but not too many zooming around and no jet skis, at least not on the water. On the way back only a couple of fishermen were still out. For some reason, the trash didn't seem quite as bad on the way back. The return trip also gave a completely different view of all the outcrops and cliffs.