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This is Page 1 of 4 of Pamlico Paddle Photos
( page 1 has the story )
Ninety paddlers took to the waters
off of Oriental Saturday, as the Pamlico Paddle returned after
a three-year hiatus.
The numbers may actually even be higher than the 90 registered
participants.
“We actually had more people coming in than went out!”
according to Marvin Bullock, who says organizers are usually
concerned that things may happen vice versa.
Anyone on or near the Oriental bridge around 9am Saturday would’ve
seen the flotilla spreading out in three directions from the
NC Wildlife Resources Ramp.
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A large group of several dozen intermediate paddlers
headed up Green’s Creek. After about an hour and a half
of paddling they stopped beside the wilds near the top of Green’s
Creek. Guide Turtle Midyette said that it was named for a man
named Green who met his fate one particular Sunday when he was
not in church; as the story goes, he was the only one in town
when the Tuscarora Indians came through.
Midyette explained this while standing in his
canoe in what he called, “Mbmbmmbmwuh Creek” which
may be onomotopaetic for Creek With No Name.
The group later headed back down Green’s Creek and up
Kershaw Creek, past the homes and marina up in to the area where
the beaver dam and mosquito ditches are.
Midyette says they a New Deal work project in
which trenches were dug to drain the swampy areas where mosquitoes
bred. The theory was that fish in the deeper trenches would
eat the mosquito larvae.
That was the theory..
There were no mosquitoes out Saturday. But the sun was in full
force as the intermediate paddlers who covered Green’s
Creek and Kershaw Creek beyond the beaver dam put about 11 miles
under their boats.
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The beginners group meanwhile, took to Smith’s Creek.
There was some excitement when one paddler “flipped out
of her kayak,” according to Captain Larry Walker who was
in charge of Safety and Rescue Operations. Larry retrieved the
kayaker, found her a more suitable sit-upon kayak and delivered
her back to the group, which had continued up Smith Creek. Larry,
whose orange inflatable rescue craft is a common sight around
town says it was the first rescue he ever had to do.
A small group of three guides and four advanced paddlers had
taken off under the bridge and made their way along the shores
of the Neuse to Dawson’s Creek. Lead guide John Hinners,
who founded the Pamlico Paddle in the mid-90’s said they
covered the 4-1/2 miles there in about one hour forty-five minutes.
“We had some great paddlers,” Hinners said.
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Pamlico
Paddle founder John Hinners
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After the paddling and all the kayaks and canoes
were accounted for (and then some) everyone gathered at Grace
Evans’ yard for "Tennessee" Ronnie’s pig
pickin'.
Marvin Bullock gave away prizes provided by local sponsors who,
along with the Pamlico Chamber of Commerce made the revival
of the Pamlico Paddle possible.
Bullock in particular hopes it can spark new interest in developing
eco-tourism in Pamlico County. Advocates of eco-tourism see
it as a way of bringing more tourists and income to the rural
county, while having a low impact effect on the environment.
One issue that does need to be addressed is how to get the eco-tourism
afloat. Literally.
In recent years, some at the NC Wildlife Resources Commission
have given motorized boats a priority over kayaks and sailboats
at the ramp in Oriental. Indeed, on Friday afternoon, one NCWRC
officer contacted Pamlico Paddle organizers to say that they
could not use the ramp Saturday morning, even though the organizers
had obtained that permission weeks earlier. It took much discussion
Friday evening to eventually get an agreement that the kayakers
could use the ramp Saturday to launch and then take out their
boats. A second ramp on Oriental town property may ease that
situation in the future ( click
here for a story on the latest on that issue.)
Following are several
pages of photos from the 2003 Pamlico Paddle - >> click
here >>
