Little Arkansas River July 25, 2007 Evening Float
Night of the Flying Fish…
By: Libby Albers
The group stopped on the left bank at the 13th Street Bridge to “pose” for a picture. From left to right: Jackie Tabor, David Larsen, Mickie Wallace, Dennis Woodworth, Kay Drennen, Lia Keller, Libby Albers, Zack Myers, Michelle Myers, Laura Phillips, Dwan Green, and Anne Robben. Chris Collins (not pictured).
The July 26th Wichita Paddlers’ float started like most: vehicles arrived at the launch site filled with eager paddlers; gear slid off trailers and out of trucks; paddle shafts slipped, clicked, and snapped together; and boats made wakes in the grass as they were pulled down the bank.
Trip organizer Chris Collins gave the group a quick lesson on feathered versus flat blades and proper paddling techniques. Soon, six new paddlers would have their first kayak float while on the Little Arkansas River. All thirteen boaters would have an evening to remember.
Time on the water – 6:45 PM.
“Watch out for shopping carts under the 21st Street bridge,” hollered veteran paddler, Dwan Green. “They’ll snag your paddle blades.” Inching under the bridge, the paddlers stared at the water’s surface, looking for any shadow or glint of submerged debris. Although the carts lurked just below the surface, the metal monsters failed to grab any of their paddling prey.
Suddenly, the surface exploded – fish were flying out of the water into the eddy, the logjam strainer, and away from the bridge. Silvery shad jumped over boat bows and towards an excited Great Blue Heron.
This strange “flying fish” behavior would repeat itself throughout the float whenever the boats went through calm, sheltered reaches of the Little Ark.
New boaters, Mickie Wallace, Laura Phillips, and Anne Robben tried out “sit-on-top” kayaks while the rest of the group used traditional recreational boats. Dwan floated in his high-tech fiberglass downriver racing boat.
Around every bend in the river, the boaters marveled at riparian plants, signs of wildlife, and the abundance and diversity of herons. By the float’s end, the heron count was four Great Blues (or just one really annoyed one), one Little Blue, one Greenback, several Black-crowned Night Herons, a very calm Great Egret, one Snowy, and a handful of Cattle Egrets.
New paddler Lia Keller summed it up well: “Every now and then I have a moment when I feel at peace with the world. Life just felt ‘right.’ I got to go kayaking and there was a moment when the water was still, the wind was rustling through a nearby tree and dozens of tiny birds were circling overhead in the setting sun.”
As the sun went down, the paddlers floated by the old limestone walls of Riverside Park. The trip was almost over. Families could be heard playing in the park; geese honked their good-byes. One last lesson for the night – getting out of a kayak and onto the floating dock. Thirteen happy (and dry) paddlers left the river for the night, vowing to do it all again soon.
Time off the water – 9:30 PM. Miles: 4.55
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