Contentnea Creek - Day 1 of 6 - Blockages Blockages Blockages

[@RobertaEdwards1]

What an adventure. Spoke with Keith when he had watched….both of us agree; you are a sportsman!!! Those were some mighty big trees to get over. Thanks for all the paddles I enjoy from the comfort,of my lounger. This is a beautiful area I knew nothing about.

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

@@RobertaEdwards1 Teaser - I think the Day 6 area is a NC treasurer.

[@jonbyard2662]

Man what a workout. Those shoulders must be feeling good. Interesting family history that's really great. Glad to see the drone operating again. Thanks for sharing another beautiful paddle.

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

Jon, Thanks for the view and the comment. You are certainly a person that would appreciating the history (heritage) with the Grist Mill in the Edwards Family. Webb's Mill was built in 1880's, relocated and enlarged in 1900's, bought by four partners (including my Great Grandfather), and then the other partners were bought out by my Great in 1920's. Will was operated in Edwards family until early 1980's. The company the bought the mill (bought out competitor) ran the mill only a few additional years. Current owner has renovated to make the mill into an Event location - webbsmillevents.com The Lewis Sawmill was in the country between Bethel and Tarboro, NC. I recall it running as well. It ran until maybe early 1970's. Then, with some political ties, it was relocated to the NC State Fairgrounds, and refurbished. Best video I have found of this is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nl7Jq3WflKqfetk

[@huntleyedwards1142]

Wow! That green tunnel right at the beginning was beautiful! You were not kidding about blockages. Interesting to learn some of my own family history too.

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

Definitely sooo many blockages. Yelp - proud of our family heritage.

[@ASTHECROWFLIESHIKING]

Nice adventure. Lots of blow downs and blockages. New follower here. Crow✌️

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

Crow, Thanks for the view(s) and especially for the comment. Great to, "Share the quiet adventure..." I will say - I did not see you as an added Subscriber. Hope you enjoy the videos.

[@sgtz113ang]

being a senior also and paddler i am inspired by your trips ! big fan. good on you sir

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

Okay have to laugh being called a "senior." Coming up on my 65th. I will saw I definitely felt my age with the many many blockage over the first couple of days of the paddle this year.

[@k2jschultz]

Great Doug! Can’t wait to see the remainder of the series. Pretty prominent product placement for the new canoe. You should get a commission. Interesting to learn the family history- thanks!

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

@@k2jschultz Hard to get history lessons down to only a couple of short sentences. Work with Novo Craft is ongoing but they are stepping up. I’ll tell stories later.

[@stephenhawkins7375]

Love the danger buoy at 3 min mark, pretty obvious there was danger with the tree across the creek. I was surprised with the number of blockages. We both have a lot of family history in the area, mine is mostly along the creek at Black Creek and Toisnot Swamp. Glad you had a good paddle. Looking forward to the remainder of the trip.

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

@@stephenhawkins7375 Great to hear from you. I was definitely spent after the long day of blockages. Teaser - contributed to Day 2 story. I have to look into Black Creek & Toisnot Swamp.

[@wfoybealiii4668]

Good to see you on the water again. Looks like a new "ride"? Haven't looked back at any of the older videos, just looks different than I recall. It'd be interesting to know if you have any plans for floating Fishing Creek or the Meherrin River. I'd imagine Fishing Creek would be "strainer Hades", and maybe the Meherrin, also.

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

It has definitely been quite some time since I posted a padding video. I will challenge you to watch some previous videos and advise you favorite - and least favorite. You are correct - it is a new ride. LOL as I am guessing you had notice how beat up my previous ride was - suggest Tar River Video, about minute 5:52. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZuudaitmbKjjacsi=QDsipJnfFoAvJsec Teaser - still adjusting to new ride. Stay tuned for Contentnea Day 2 video. Fishing Creek: I have paddled Fishing Creek but many years ago - before having a GPS, I would track my location with maps and a compass. Using maps and compass took some focus. On my major outing on FC, there were so many blockages that I could not focus on my map reading and I stayed lost the whole day. I know I killed 2 nice bucks also so I also had that extra weight in the canoe to pull over the many blockages. Got off water right at dark - was getting worried as I did not know where I was on my map. Paddle was from Draughn Rd (between Scotland Neck and Enfield) to Hwy 97 (north of Rocky Mount). Meherrin: I have not paddled.

[@wfoybealiii4668]

@@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures Yessir, I was thinking about the ingeniously "reverse engineered" Mohawk, having in fact watched many if not all of the full length paddle videos. I'd commented on my own ill-planned day trip down the Tar from US 1 to Ferrells Bridge Rd in mid August in the late 80s/early 90s. Water so low we spent more time out of the canoe than in it, leading to referring to it as the "Great River Walk". Temps and humidity in the mid 90s that day also. Your trips remind me to plan better before setting out.

[@wfoybealiii4668]

@@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures I am reminded of the "Annual Fishing Creek Paddle" on or about the first Saturday in June. It's a short trip from Bellamy Mill to US 301 at Enfield, but I've read the organizers do some obstruction removal in the weeks prior to. What interests many is it's about the only opportunity to get a close look at Bellamy Mill. A reception is hosted there following the take-out so participants run back up to the mill in their shuttled vehicles. Looks like a nice day trip with a minimum of surprises.

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

@@wfoybealiii4668 Thanks for alerting me to this event. This was new to me. I’ve added this to my calendar in case I can participate next year. Googling I see that it did occur on 2024.

[@francoisxavierdusablon1892]

Absolutely love your videos! I live at the headwaters of Buckhorn Lake above where you put in and have been working on making that exact same float in the near future. Truly inspiring and thank you for sharing with us!

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

@@francoisxavierdusablon1892 I will share that I have found videos of various sections posted of other rivers very helpful and I had great responses from folks paddling the Roanoke and Lumber River. There certainly were not many videos about Contentnea. For blockages, no more after Hwy 58. Hope you enjoy the balance of the videos. Plans are to post a video each Sunday morning.

[@soloflyfishing]

Heck of a job navigating those blockages.

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

@@soloflyfishing Workouts made dinner and hammock feel great every evenings.

[@KittySilver]

Looking forward to more of your videos! Thank you for sharing.

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

Kitty, Thanks for the view AND ESPECIALLY for the comment. To share, my plans/goal is to publish a video (of each day of the paddle) - one a week on Saturday mornings. Great to "share the quiet adventure."

[@TerranceWoodyard]

This one seemed to be much more climbing/carrying the boat over obstacles than usual. And you really owe the missus. Mine would have let me continue on in wet underwear!

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

Yes, definitely owe my misses. Could not make video with underwear hung out on the boat to dry. Total, she made four (4) trips supporting me on this paddle - last one being 3+ hours round trip.

[@michaelscarboro4826]

Great video!

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

@@michaelscarboro4826 Mike - Check-out comment from k2jschultz. Novo Craft Canoe got noticed. No, I’m not after commission. Teaser - Prospector 14 will be key story element in Day 2 video.

[@jkrut]

I've wanted to do this for a while as well. I'm based in Wayne County. I'm looking forward to seeing the progress. How did you navigate camping along the way?

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

@@jkrut How to navigate camping is a great question. On the Contentnea, there were no organized campground options so - Picked a good spot. There were a reasonable number of good options along the way. - Did NOT trespass if there was Posted signs (or the NC method of Purple paint on trees) - Be respectful of landowner / Leave No Trace. Specifically, I never build a fire as this can identify your presence, takes effort that is not needed (lazy after long day of paddling), and will typical have some trace even if you throw all partially burnt logs & sticks in the river. - I have stayed at NC Boat Ramps as I figured I could explain and beg an officer if needed. You stated you are in Wayne County - so the Neuse is the nearby River. With the population along the Neuse, I probably would look for few organized campgrounds and let the NC Wildlife Officers know your plans. If there was an issue, having been transparent before the trip with the authorities might help. On Yadkin and Lumber, I had gotten permission and alerted NC Wildlife and Park Rangers. For Contentnea, I knew the campsites would be remote, in-and-out. Classic paddle in eastern NC is the Roanoke River - check out my videos on the Roanoke. On the Roanoke, there are platforms - for camping- along the full length of the river. Go to roanokeriverpartners.org/

[@MichaelScarboro]

That’s a lot of blockages to negotiate. Gorgeous view.

[@bcbenjam]

Nice video!

[@EdwardsOutdoorAdventures]

Thanks for the view and especially for the comment.