Bob's Fishing Hole Paddle 11-30-10

Ten Tuesday Group/AT Club members seceded briefly from the Traditional Tuesday Group in order to take to the water and enjoy one last paddle in the unseasonably warm weather and cool waters of Bob's Fishing Hole in southern Chesapeake, VA. Nicknamed "Sandy and the Kayak Boys"**, this group of paddlers saved up to pay the $2.00 launch fee at Bob's and headed west below the aging bridges of route 168 and the 'Rusty Railroad'. We followed the main branch of the Northwest River into the swampy hinterlands. Following the sunshine and last few leaves of the lingering fall, we paddled through the winding river and followed the King Fishers who announced our presence to the wild things throughout the woods.**{The Group: Brian S., Sandy B, Bruce D., Sgt. Bruce J., Tom B., Bill Q., and Don R. (Our Leader?)}After rounding many bends, downed tree branches and lingering sounds of gun shots in the distance (the last day of hunting season), we gathered to make our decisions on going further into the wilderness or heading back toward solid lunch grounds at Bob's; (We had paid our $2 fees and felt entitled to the warped pik nik tables on the shore.) After promises of a dock around future curves ahead, our fearless leader unilaterally decided that we would continue for 20 minutes West and see if we could secure dry ground. In 18 minutes we came to a low built bridge which required limbo-like skills to shimmy below the wooden structure. We discovered a bronze sign designating the location as Lyzer's Landing donated to the Nature Conservancy. After all the adventurers scrambled ashore, we enjoyed our lunch in sunshine and creaking knees while Sandy B spent the lunch hour repairing her skirt.

After exploring the nearby woods for suitable trees of substantial girth, we also explored a new chimney and stone fireplace waiting for a new home on the river bank. Also behind the chimney were 4 sit on top kayaks waiting for the water to rise and two substantial deer stands with a green rectangular landing strip carved into the nearby woods. While exploring further, the Sage of the Group, aka Sgt. Bruce, spotted a pick up truck that had pulled up at the end of a very long road leading toward the fireplace and the 'Group of 8'. While no one had good enough vision to verify that a rifle was in the rack of the truck, we all voted quickly that it was time to retreat back up the river. (Luckily no further gun shots were heard on our paddle.)

After rounding several more bends in the river, we spotted a healthy buck crashing into the forest away from near silent approach. Young eyes Billy Q. then spotted the 8 point buck swimming the river ahead of us and heading deeper into the woods ahead. On returning to Bob's we learned that we had paddled nearly 9 miles and most agreed to reward ourselves with ice cream from Southland where we enjoyed some of the local flavor. (Two of our members, started their ice cream feasts with Carolina BBQ and fries and a milk shake for good order. It's a long drive back to Toano!.)

View Bruce' teeny pictures by visiting the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/crashneumann/BobSFishinHole113010?authkey=Gv1sRgCOC0qY3kh_vO8AE&feat=directlink