Ballyhoo and Paddle Too

Hi Blog!

We only have two full days here in Gulf State Park, so we wanted to get out and about and explore as much as we could in order to decided whether it was worth another stop in the future.

On Saturday, March 7, 2020, we started our day with a bike ride to breakfast. We made a quick stop at Little Lake on our way to Southern Grind for a scrumptious breakfast.

After breakfast, we pedaled our way over to the Lake Shelby Picnic Area for the annual Ballyhoo Art Festival.

We strolled past all the vendor tents. We were tempted by some of the more unique items, but living in a 30 foot RV limits the amount of large art installations we can take home. However, we are always on the lookout for unique birthday and Christmas presents.

After lunch, we set out to kayak Middle Lake and Little Lake. We would have loved to explore the larger Shelby Lake, but the strong winds made it difficult to head out into such a large lake. On our way to Little Lake, we hugged the shoreline to avoid much of the wind.

We noticed our GPS said we were opposite our campsite, but we could not see the campground road from the lake. We did see the Middle Lake overlook we hiked to the other morning.

At the east end of Middle Lake, we followed the Middle River up to Little Lake. The Cross Park Trail crosses over the Middle River.

The Middle River is a narrow channel between Middle Lake and Little Lake. As we made our way up to Little Lake, we found ourselves just a few feet away from this Gator.

As we entered Little Lake, we saw this Bald Eagle land near its nest.

Just the other day, Dave had walked out this platform in order to take a few pictures of Little Lake.

As we entered Little Lake, we had seen an osprey fishing. We lost track of him while we photographed the dock above. However, just as we passed the dock, we noticed the osprey sitting in a tree.

Without the wind, Little Lake looked very reflective.

We noticed this Great Egret as we entered Little Lake. We were hoping that it would still be there as we paddled around the far end of the lake. Mr. or Ms. Egret were kind enough to stay long enough for us to snapped a couple photos.

As we approached the bald eagle nest, we noticed this juvenile poking his head out of the next.

After watching the bald eagle for several minutes, it was time to work our way back toward the boat launch. On the way back down the Middle River, we knew where we left the alligator, so we made sure not to get too close in order to snap another photo.

We were so preoccupied with the gator, we almost ran into this Great Blue Heron.

As we paddled under the Cross Park Trail, we noticed a couple of hikers. We stopped to chat with them. They were interested in seeing gators. However, without a kayak, the only place we saw gators along our bike ride was the Shelby Lake Overlook.

As we continued back along the Middle River, an osprey began circling us. We wondered whether our paddling stirred up some fish. The osprey made one dive just beyond our boats, but came up empty clawed. It continue to circle it's way back along the Middle River to Little Lake.

As soon as we entered back into Middle Lake, we noticed this pair of eagles. The male on the right is much easier to see than the female on the left.

Because of the strong winds, we didn't get a chance to paddle the Canal Trail into Shelby Lake. We will put that on the list for next time. Until then, keep smiling my friends.