Thalia Creek 6/25/24

Thirteen paddlers had a great day on Thalia Creek and the Western Branch of the Lynnhaven River in Virginia Beach. It was a new route for many in the group. We all managed to successfully launch off a low profile floating dock. We paddled past beautiful homes on calm waters and came within sight of the Lesner Bridge over Lynnhaven Inlet and we could see the Chesapeake Bay in the far distance. Retuning to the dock we covered a total of 5+ miles in 2.5 hours. The lead group had some extra mileage after a scenic detour took them into a side cove after missing a 90 degree turn in the main channel. 

We had a shady picnic lunch (courtesy of a picnic table at behind the office of Sherry’s veterinarian which was right beside the launch area).After lunch five brave souls paddled upstream on a high tide and experienced an urban nature experience combined with interesting views of the underside of highway, water pipeline and railroad infrastructure. We crossed under the Virginia Beach Boulevard bridge, though the Bonney Road culvert, under the Norfolk Southern railway trestle (soon to be the new bike route from the oceanfront to Norfolk), and through the culverts under Interstate 264 and Southern Boulevard, ending with a surreal view of Mount Trashmore and a massive flood control structure pump station. Surprisingly, between all of the concrete there were glimpses of a beautiful undisturbed tidal wetland. To leave the creek a little cleaner,  each paddler filled trash bags to the brim (see photo) with bottles, cans, drink cups , styrofoam and some large items including a chair, a paint bucket and a trash can lid.

Steve

Thanks to Steve for leading a paddle on a new creek. Lots of wildlife with wings on the creek. After lunch some of us paddled under Interstate 264 to Mt. Trashmore Park.

Bill

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Dr7Mfi1TtAEuefrm7

Steve Lantz led us down Thalia Creek on the Western Branch of the Lynnhaven River past Witch Duck Point where we could see across Lynnhaven Bay to the Lesner Bridge. We had lunch back at the dock, and after lunch five of us went up Thalia Creek to Mount Trashmore. We went under Virginia Beach Blvd, a pipeline, railroad tracks, and Bonney Road.Bill and I went under the Virginia Beach Expressway (264) just to say we did,and we ended up just behind Mount Trashmore. Steve provided trash bags for both legs of the paddle, and quite a bit of trash was collected. The shores downstream were significantly less littered than the upstream shores. We found a massive brush, a Home Depot bucket, and a chair! The chair gave Steve the edge as winner of the weirdest trash item. A close runner up: Steve found one Crock and Sherri later found another. But they were two right feet, so not a pair. Bird sightings included king fishers, osprey, great blue heron, great egrets, double-crowned night heron, and more. Catherine, Debbie, and a few others spotted some sort of large ray swimming near our boats.The only regrettable moment on this fine trip was that Bill lost his skeg.  Sherri

View Sherri's photos:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/XVn7BHuF6iqa5P3U8