The Inner Sanctum

I put in about a hour before a very high tide from the "under the highway" boat launch.  There is a peppy upriver flood current, but it is easy paddling down to the marsh.  Big currents that occur with very high tides create long sections of eddies and stagnant water along the east river bank. It is sunny and 75F with a fair wind out of the east.  There is a bit of motorboat traffic and some of them are using Nell's Channel with the water high enough that the motorboat drivers don't need to worry about the sand bars.  I'm planning on inner channel exploring, so they can have it.

I enter in the channel left of Nell's.  There is a nice inner channel that I found earlier in the year.  I couldn't find it on 3 out of 4 tries since then.  Today, after three attempts, I find the lower entrance, or at least I think I have.  I pay close attention as I head in, realizing why the channel is so hard to find.  There is nothing that stands out as a landmark. The channel is a series of narrows and wide spots, and at each wide spot, I have to look for the channel.  I flush only a few Mallards.

At the root ball.

I make it through and head over to the Nell's entrance to the Maze.   With the water level up, the paddling and route finding is easy.  I flush a dozen or more Night Herons, mostly Yellow Crowned or juveniles. At the root ball, there are two dozen Egrets, of which about a 1/3 are Greats, the others Snowy's.  There is a single and rather unconcerned Willet and a Great Blue Heron that flushes and heads east.About this time, I notice 2 kayakers behind me.  I don't know if they followed me in, or if they knew about the Maze beforehand, but I'd rather have this place to myself, and if they are exploring, they deserve to get to explore on their own, like I did.  So, I duck down a little and put the power on, and soon I am out of sight.

I cross the marsh to the east side.  I can see Egrets in the trees, and I would guess that some of the Night Herons are there as well.  I make my usual stop at the Central Phragmites Patch, where I see about 20 Black Crowned Night Herons.  From there, I head out and back upriver.