Bone Daddy Posted March 16, 2019 Share Posted March 16, 2019 This winter has been very wet and opportunities to hunt the rivers have been limited. All of them have been running high ever since that major rain even back in December of 2018. Yesterday the USGS Zolfo gauge had dropped down to 6.1 feet, which is the lowest it's been in a long time. So, off we went to try our luck. We put in at Payne's Creek State Park and paddled upstream past the bridge and outside the park boundaries. We then paddled up to the area around the so-called "waterfall". The river was a bit higher and faster than we had anticipated, and some huffing was required to get through the shallow runs where the current really picks up. The last time I had seen this stretch of river was back in November of last year before two separate flood-stage events followed afterwards. There were some trees down, but nothing that required portaging.... until we reached the first major outcrop. It was not fully exposed due to the high water, so it made a single "speed bump" rapid that is split around an ad-hoc island, with a creek running off to one side. There is no way to paddled over/through this rapid against the current, so the best course of action is to paddle to the right and go up a narrow channel between the island and creek. One can easily paddle in, push up on the rock slab, and get out to drag one's kayak or canoe past this section of rapids - there is clear easy paddling on the other side for a good distance until the next set of rapids which is often referred to by locals as "the waterfall". Note, when the water is this high, the waterfall is not exposed and it's just a tricky section of the river that requires portaging. When the water is about a foot lower, it makes a nice waterfall effect, but that effect was not present yesterday. We spent a few hours having a picnic and hunting this area. There was some decent gravel trapped in the limestone depressions and that yielded small teeth and other oddballs. I did find one nice tapir tooth with root, but it must have fallen out of my bag back into the river - I was disappointed to find it missing when we got back home. Overall, the day was not a complete bust for fossils, but we didn't find any meg teeth, mammoth, or anything else sexy or interesting. We just found the usual suspects - scutes, small teeth, dugong ribs, antler bits, etc. The weather was beautiful - sunny with a nice gentle breeze and the temperature was perfect for paddling. We saw a lot of birds, but not many gators - just a couple of babies sunning themselves with mama nowhere to be seen. I'm glad we went before more rains come and make it too high and fast for casual paddling. More rain is in the forecast, so this might have been our last chance for a few weeks. (*fingers crossed that the rain gods are kind to us*) I shot a brief video of the spot. Note, if this spot is familiar to you, take note of the big jumble of fallen trees at the top of the frame when I pan through the rapids (far side) - that side of the rapids used to be clear and deeper - boats could bypass the rapids on that side. Not any longer. Two large palm trees must have fallen during the last flood and now there is a big gatory mass of trees and driftwood blocking the channel. Until another flood washes that obstruction away, larger boats won't be able to pass here (canoes and kayaks only) - as recently as November 2018, bass boats could pass through here. Video link - 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted March 16, 2019 Share Posted March 16, 2019 Glad you at least made it out this season. The river is still at least a foot or two higher than it needs to be for me to get into any of my usual spots. The deeper one really needs about 24" less water and a much lower flow rate to be accessible. Just did a quick check of the USGS river gauges and it looks like some additional rain upstream has reversed the painfully slow descent of the river level which has now turned and is slowly heading back the wrong direction. I'm hoping to take a group of teenagers (and their parents and chaperones) out to the Peace in two weeks but it may end up being more of a canoe trip rather than a fossil hunting trip. Ugh! BTW: I've always been leery of accessing the Peace from Payne's Creek State Park as it is not legal to hunt the section of the Peace adjoining the park and I never wanted to invite any issues. Have you ever been questioned about your fossil hunting when using Payne's as an access point? Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bone Daddy Posted March 16, 2019 Author Share Posted March 16, 2019 1 hour ago, digit said: Glad you at least made it out this season. The river is still at least a foot or two higher than it needs to be for me to get into any of my usual spots. The deeper one really needs about 24" less water and a much lower flow rate to be accessible. Just did a quick check of the USGS river gauges and it looks like some additional rain upstream has reversed the painfully slow descent of the river level which has now turned and is slowly heading back the wrong direction. I'm hoping to take a group of teenagers (and their parents and chaperones) out to the Peace in two weeks but it may end up being more of a canoe trip rather than a fossil hunting trip. Ugh! BTW: I've always been leery of accessing the Peace from Payne's Creek State Park as it is not legal to hunt the section of the Peace adjoining the park and I never wanted to invite any issues. Have you ever been questioned about your fossil hunting when using Payne's as an access point? Cheers. -Ken If you go about another half-mile to mile past the park boundaries, you are outside of state-protected land. I wouldn't hunt inside the park or right outside of it, that would be asking for trouble. I've been never been hassled or questioned, but Josh told me that the rangers asked him some questions once. There are some maps available online that show exactly where the protected areas are, so I just avoid those and go a little ways up or downstream from them. Yeah, this rain is unforgiving. I have my fingers crossed that we make it through the weekend without any more of it. It was finally getting down to huntable levels and sure enough, just like you said, it's trending in the wrong direction again.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JarrodB Posted March 16, 2019 Share Posted March 16, 2019 Still looks like a fun adventure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bone Daddy Posted March 16, 2019 Author Share Posted March 16, 2019 2 hours ago, JarrodB said: Still looks like a fun adventure. It was, and I am glad we went. There is a saying I like to use : "A failed day of fossil hunting is better than a successful day of doing most other things." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcbshark Posted March 17, 2019 Share Posted March 17, 2019 Glad you could at least get out.... been pretty wet this year for sure Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bone Daddy Posted March 17, 2019 Author Share Posted March 17, 2019 20 hours ago, jcbshark said: Glad you could at least get out.... been pretty wet this year for sure Agreed. This year has been awful. The windows to hunt are so short. It has yet to drop below 6 feet - it gets tantalizingly close and then shoots right back up again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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