April 13, 2002

Shichinohe Creek

10.2 miles

MAP

Shichinohe Creek isn't the real name of this little stream, but I need to call it something.

Shichinohe Creek is on the toe of the boot of Lake Ogawara, so at around 6:00 am I headed off for the Japanese park on the western side of the lake. I was there by 6:30 and I began to unload the boat from the car. A man a little younger than me came over with his toddler son and surprised me when he said "Good Morning." I returned the greeting and he turned to his son to try and get him to say Good Morning, first in English, and then in Japanese. The little boy was shy and preferred to hide instead behind his father's leg.

There are people everywhere - not a crowd, but for 6:30 am - well, I still haven't gotten used to seeing this many people up early. In the states the only people out as early as I were fisherman, and even then it was rare to see them out this early when the weather was cold. People walking their dogs, bringing their children to the park (mainly small children), all things I'm surprised to see this early.

The lake is calm. The forecast is for building winds out of the SW-W later in the afternoon. As I boarded the yellow flower I notice a small contingent of the cloud of bugs I encountered last weekend. After launching they were gone.

I headed a mile north, past a smaller creek that last week was lined with fisherman. As I approach Shichinohe Creek, the water gets shallow. I don't remember it this way. I thought the entrance was deep, but I forget things a lot so I was probably wrong. Just outside the mouth of the creek is a sand bar with lots of birds standing on it.

Once in the mouth of the creek, near the first bridge, the water got deep again and my speed increased after getting off the shallow sand. For a moment I thought I detected a current - something I missed last week when the wind was blowing hard. Yes - there it is - faint, but a current. Tiny little swirls that I would have missed if there were even the slightest breeze.

As I pushed into the creek, I began to flush ducks from far away. Skittish wildlife. About the time I could see them further up the creek they would take flight. Obvious that they had heard the story of the great flower from the bugs.

I was paddling along not paying attention to anything in particular when I noticed something on my right. A slight movement and then a bigger one as a fisherman cast his line out from his cane pole. I had not noticed him until I was 30 feet away and even then it took his cast to draw my attention. Only one fisherman.

But as I rounded the next corner I find it isn't just one. The shores are lined with people, each with a pole or two in the water. I steer to the center of the creek as to stay out of the way of their lines and begin to count people as I paddle through. Five, ten, thirty five, fifty. When I reached the end of this short stretch I had counted at least seventy-five fishermen. Few were women and children, but most were older men. Needless to say I was their center of attention and I felt uncomfortable. All eyes were on me and it seemed my paddle was making a lot of noise. I stopped a moment, noticing there was a definite current now and my forward progress had slowed. I moved my drip rings further up my paddle shaft so my paddle would enter the water more silently and restarted my cadence.

At the western edge of this stretch is a railroad bridge. This marks the end of the crowd reviewing my progression, but I notice there appears to be rough water under the bridge. It has me puzzled but as I get near I can see it is shallow under the bridge. Rocks are causing strong turbulence. I don't want to turn around just yet, and spot a calmer route near shore. Calmer is a relative term and I had to paddle hard to get through the rushing current and into the calmer water past the bridge. I'm glad I'm using my wide blade paddle today since the bigger bite on the water is helping fight the current.

Still going west I began ferrying from side to side to take advantage of the slower water on inside bends of the creek. It's much shallower there, but in the main stream I can now see sand and small stones being carried along. I need to pee so I find an eddy on the left to pull in and (description of the virtues of a dry suit relief zipper deleted). Back in the boat I find the creek splits. The more rapid stream to my right wanders through the country side. But the current is strong and I would just as soon turn around here. The branch to the left appears calmer and a quick check of my map shows it passes through the town of Shichinohe (hence the name of this article). But a bigger town probably means more trash. I want to go further so I take the slower stream. I pass a few people up on a road operating a purple crane. Seems most cranes are pastel purple and pink.

In the distance I see flying some sort of heron, and a little bird shaped like a swift but a bright turquoise blue in color leads my way up the creek. The creek quickly narrows and increases in speed. Enough is enough and as I decide to turn around. At the last moment I tell myself `one more bend', and when I get there I tell myself `one more'. But this is a losing battle. My progress is almost nil, so I turn around.

I had guessed right about the trash. The water is crystal clear and the bottom has lots of cans, dishes, and other urban trash. The shore is spotted with plastic bottles, and up in the trees for 3-4 feet is plastic bags. 15-15-15 says one bag; fertilizer. At least now I'm moving so fast I'll be out of this section in no time.

Quickly back to where the streams join together I move out towards the stronger flow. I'm enjoying the push, and I paddle normally to increase my speed even more. The trip up the creek I had my rudder down to help keep my bow pointed into the current and to help ferry from side to side. Now I raised it and enjoyed the more maneuverable boat as I used bow & stern paddle rudder and hanging draws to put the boat where I wanted it.

At the railroad bridge I back paddle a bit. The edge along shore still has no fishing lines to fowl so I pass back the way I came. As soon as I pass under the bridge I pull hard to get me back to the center of the creek to stay away from fishing lines. With the current I breeze through the crowd, which is still growing in size.

Just past the crowd I see another branch to the creek I by-passed earlier. I cut hard out of the current and into this side creek, but I don't go far - maybe a quarter mile. It is too shallow so I turn around and head out. It doesn't take long to make it back out to the lake, and once there I settle into a rhythm to move me back towards the park. The wind has risen a bit, and the waves are beginning to kick up. I dropped the rudder to counter the need of my kayak to turn into the wind.

From shore a man is a small boat launches and swings wide around me. He isn't going fast, barely able to catch up to me as he turns behind me and follows me back closer to the beach. Did he think I was in trouble? Did he come out for a closer look? Was he just testing his boat? There didn't seem to be any work related reasons and he headed back to his dock as I got within shouting distance of the park.

The waves have built nicely and are 1-1.5 feet as they come up on the shallow swimming area. The shallow area is so large that the waves have died out by the time they reach shore. I land and haul a few things up to the car. Breaking out lunch I find a place out of the wind to hide. There are some of those bugs here in the wind shadow, but they flee when the yellow flower sits down.

After lunch I go back to the car and get the sea sock. I install it in the kayak and head out into the waves. I have to paddle out a little distance to get in water at least half of my paddle length deep. This is also where the waves are rising to their full height. Perfect. I scull over on my side close to the water a few times and hip-flick back upright. This isn't going to be easy. At least the water isn't as cold as it was up in the creek.

It's been a good six months since I've rolled a kayak. Self doubt has been creeping in all day and coupled with the overall difficulty of rolling this K1 I'm a bit concerned I'll be wet exiting on this first attempt. Set up for an extended paddle roll. and I'm upside down and back upright in seconds. It wasn't easy, and I'm concerned a regular screw roll will be tough. But I have to try it anyway. I make it, but I'm sculling like crazy to make it the last bit. I'll limit the number of rolls to 5-6 to keep from injuring a shoulder. I'm tired after the long paddle - still out of shape from no paddling.

As I head back in I feel a wave start to lift my stern and I pick up speed to catch it. To my surprise I ride it all the way to shore. I toss the K1 on my shoulder and carry it to my car. When I get there I notice my shoulder has bent my thigh brace. @#^%@#^%!!! But when I get home it is easy to bend it back straight. Note to self: always remove the thigh braces before carrying the boat.

Woody