Paddling on the Pearl

On my weekend off we ended up not going camping out at Roosevelt State Park. I really wanted to go, but it was in the 80s - crappy camping weather. I still want to check it out at some point.

Sunday, October 24, we headed to the Pearl River for some paddling. It was a beautiful day, about 11 AM when we finally got on the water. The temperature was already close to 80F, but with the breezes off the water, it felt good. The weather reports said a storm was rolling in that afternoon, so we decided that we'd stay on the water no more than two hours. Putting kayaks up on top of Chip's FJ Cruiser in the rain wasn't something we wanted to try.

Chip getting ready at the put-in

Lisa on the Pearl at LeFleur's Bluff State Park

We put in at LeFleur's Bluff State park and paddled about 1.5 miles up river. After about 1 mile, we were under the Lakeland Drive bridge. The sky was gorgeous that day. Clouds were rolling in. You can see how dry everything is in these photos. The river was really low and the banks were crisp from lack of rain.

Chip paddling toward the Lakeland Drive bridge

We paddled another half a mile and saw this huge alligator. From head to tail, I would say he was about 8 feel long. My camera is way zoomed in. We weren't really this close to him.


After we saw this gator we were a little freaked out and decided to head back. We knew going in that we would probably see some gators on the river - it is the Pearl after all - but that really didn't prepare me for seeing a live 8-foot gator 30 yards from my little boat. He didn't seem to move an inch as we turned around and headed back to LeFleur's Bluff.

On the way back, we were paddling down river but the wind was at our faces, and it was really picking up. While paddling up river, we were both pretty relaxed, taking in the landscape. While we were returning, our two pairs of eyes were glued to the bank, scanning for more gators. And we did see one more. This guy was tiny compared to the other gator. Maybe 3 or 4 feet long.




In that last photo, my camera is fully zoomed out, so you can see how far away these alligators truly are. Isn't the tail on this one impressive?

We were excited to get out on the water in the middle of the city of Jackson! I'm really not sure if we would do this paddle again, though. The water was fairly gross (trash on the banks), the landscape is a bit monotonous, and the alligators were just too much. I'm not sure what we are going to try next!

Chip paddling down river

Lisa on the river