Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.

~Winnie the Pooh

Well, if you didn’t know it before, you will know it now…swamps are Melissa’s (and my) favorite places to camp in North Carolina. And one swamp in particular, the “Amazon of North Carolina”, the massive swamps along the Roanoke River. So, a few days after paddling in Lassiter Swamp at Merchants Millpond State Park, we were off again to paddle a new stretch (to us) of the Roanoke swamplands – the Middle River. Our route over three days would take us down the Cashie River from the iconic Sans Souci ferry to Bear Run, a platform we had never camped on. Then downriver and up Conaby Creek to the Royal Fern platform. We had camped there before and loved it, but had a few concerns because the platform was obviously frequented by some bears which seem to like the taste of treated wood. All of the platforms have been recently renovated so we were anxious to check it out.

After getting a shuttle for our truck from our local friend, Heber Coltrain, (he has helped us, mainly Melissa, with workshops over the years), we headed out on a windy afternoon on the Cashie. We tend to paddle slowly and without much conversation as we look for wildlife and soak in the surroundings…a beaver lodge here and there, the greening of the trees along river, and many birds.

After passing through the so-called Thoroughfare, we eventually entered the Roanoke River, crossed it and docked at the Bear Run platform for the night.

The river is wide here and we sat out on the dock watching fish jump, turtle heads appearing seemingly everywhere, and the occasional bird flying downriver for their evening roost.

The next morning we were up early and in the canoe as we had a long day ahead with a paddle distance of about 13 miles. We were just upriver from the Plymouth Mill, a major paper mill that has been a huge employer in the region since it began in 1937. It is now operated by the Domtar Paper Company and employs about 350 people. It seems as though the plant runs 24 hours per day based on the sounds we heard through the night. It produces softwood fluff used to manufacture diapers and absorbent hygienic products sold around the world.

We soon turned into the Middle River which has been on Melissa’s bucket list for some time. It is wider than many of the creeks we have paddled in the past and some sections looked like they may have been clear-cut in the not-to-distant past. One thing stood out among the trees – great quantities of Mistletoe. This semi-parasitic plant garners water and nutrients from its host tree by sending root-like structures into the tree’s vascular system. It can also photosynthesize some of its own nutrients.

Melissa loves to explore side channels on any of our paddles so off we went on one along the Middle River. She suddenly exclaimed “Oh my God, look at that snake!”

We paddled closer and we couldn’t believe the size of this Cottonmouth. Definitely the largest one both in girth and length either of us had seen – we estimate it was about 4 1/2 inches thick and a little over 4 feet long.

We spent a few minutes photographing and admiring this behemoth…what a beauty. As we departed, Melissa spotted another snake (btw, this is a skill she usually does not have, but she really owned it on this trip). A rat snake was clinging to the side of a tree trunk above the water. As we drifted by, it slowly worked its way very carefully to a knot hole and disappeared.

Moving along Conaby Creek, we pulled into a small opening in the forest’s edge (Melissa calls these places “swamp rooms”). She spotted a Green Treefrog clinging to a stem. They have such a great pose.

While sitting out on the dock at Royal Fern, we saw a Barred Owl fly to a large tree branch and pick at something. It was tough to see in the fading light but we could tell it was something a few inches long and hung from the owl’s beak in a curved fashion. The owl flew to another tree and picked at the object. It kept flying around, carrying it, picking at it, and looking at us. We guessed everything from scat to crayfish claw to an amphiuma, but never really could tell.

We were hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the beavers that had constructed the dams above and below our platform, so we sat out on the dock for a long time waiting. A nice Painted Turtle crawled up on the one closest to us and posed for a few seconds before one of us moved and it quickly slid back into the water.

Melissa finally spotted something in the water down beyond the beaver dam we had crossed. She whispered “mammal” to me, and we could then tell it was an otter cruising our way.

The next morning, we headed up Conaby Creek into a brisk wind. And it does seem that no matter what direction you go, you will always have to paddle into the wind. The sun broke free of the clouds and we enjoyed some great birds along the way. The Osprey were putting on quite a show with their sharp piercing calls and some great maneuvers as they either chased each other, avoided the harassment of Bald Eagles, or were hoping to catch a fish. We had one fly by us very quickly (the wind at its back) carrying a fish.

One osprey kept circling above us, so we stopped and drifted, hoping it had spied a fish and we might get to see its dive up close.

They often hesitate or hover before starting their dive and as we watched, this one kept turning back to the same general area. Suddenly, it folded its wings and dropped. It isn’t easy to follow a rapidly diving bird while drifting in a canoe, but I managed to fire a burst of images and got one nice one as the Osprey was plummeting toward the water. My next couple of shots showed a calm water surface but no bird. Melissa saw it pull up just above the surface and veer off…the fish lives another day.

One of the things we loved the most about the paddle along Conaby Creek was the abundance of large Bald Cypress trees.There were stretches with many big old trees along the shoreline including some that had unusual growth forms.

Conaby Creek gradually narrows and becomes a typical winding blackwater creek. We passed a few houses along the creek and knew we were getting close to our take-out spot – a recently opened canoe/kayak launch in Plymouth called Bear Track Landing. It had been an adventure with lots of wildlife, some windy paddling conditions, a few cases of human-derived noises penetrating our environment, but mostly just the sounds of a relaxing paddle in one of our favorite North Carolina habitats — a swamp.