Tick-Fall Color PWC Tour

Billy Crews & Cody Reulet
Trip Report by Billy Crews

 Too many drop-dead, gorgeous Fall days had already passed me and I told myself not to let the next one slip by.  Keeping my word to myself, I was intent on visiting the Tickfaw River watershed on the last Sunday in October.  Joining me, yet again, was Cody Reulet, whom always seems ready for a little adventure.  Today would be no different as our goal was to take in the Fall colors while putting the bikes on water-ways neither of us had yet traveled.

Tin Lizzy's Landing

Launching out of the Tickfaw Marina, we idled around the corner from Tin Lizzy's Landing, under the Hwy 22 Bridge and made the first leg of the day's run up the Tickfaw for as far as we were comfortable.  Cody let me take the point while he fell in on the starboard wing-man position.  We put about eight miles between us and the bridge - a distance far enough upstream where the river is not much more than a small bayou with several hairpin curves.  I made up my mind that this was absolutely the best time of the year to make this run as the smallest amount of boat traffic could easily turn a good day bad in just one turn.

The Warsaw Marina

We doubled back and, upon reaching the bridge,  made a turn into the Blood River.  It wasn't far before we hit the NWZ near the Warsaw Marina.  The heart of the "marina" is nothing more than what at one time must have been a very large houseboat and is now being used as a floating bar/lounge.  Since it was past noon, Cody & I stopped for a beer only to find the Saints were down a couple of touchdowns to the Rams.

Moving on, we continued up the Blood to the first split and took the left fork which is Lizard Creek.  Navigating Lizard Creek is like being in two places at one time:  The left bank is a typical SoLA swamp scene with a majority of the timber being cypress and tupelo.  The right bank, however, is predominantly pine forest.  We made the Lizard Creek run for nearly two miles until we hit the Blood River Rd. Bridge.  Turning around, we back-tracked to the Blood River and then made the run for it's upper reaches.

Nearing the Carter Plantation property

Like the Tickfaw, the Blood River doesn't take long to narrow into a very curvy bayou.  Travel far enough, it gets smaller, resembling a deep slough.  Go further and your in not much more than a ditch.  We finally got "inside" the Carter Plantation development and ran the water-way as far as the 2nd crossing of the Blood River Rd.  Looking past the bridge,  we noticed the bayou was full of downed trees and no longer navigable.  Cody, turning around first, took the point back and as far as the Lizard Creek Branch.

Tickfaw BooPaLu's

Heading back down river, we stopped just past the Hwy 22 Bridge at a newly opened riverside establishment,  Tickfaw BooPaLu's.  Cody evened up the expenses by buying the next round and we soon discovered that the Rams had extended their lead by yet another touchdown.  Ouch!  Let's go ride...

   Cruising down the Tickfaw we were both on familiar territory:  Cody had ran this stretch back a summer or two ago, while I had my time here back during the Regain administration...  Seven miles later we finally reached L. Maurepas and both noted that it'd been a great day to be on the lake.  The sky was blue, the air was near 70 degrees, and the lake was mostly flat.  We had one more goal for the day though so back upriver we went to go check out the Natalbany River.

Just past the Prop Stop, we made a right turn into the Natalbany's confluence with the Tickfaw and cruised due north in search of Ponchatoula Creek.  Neither of us had been up here and I wanted to mark where the P. Creek hits the N. River.  We found Ponchatoula Creek just less than four miles later and we made plans to wait for warmer weather to investigate both it and the upper Natalbany near Springfield.

Making our final turn-around and double-back for the day, we blasted back up the Tickfaw.  I pegged the throttle for a quarter mile on the way back and found good numbers, both on the cluster and GPS. (66.9 @ 8160).  I guessed Cody was only at three-quarter throttle as I knew his bike was modded for speed.  He was a good sport though and never tried to overtake me.

We made the marina in no time and upon arrival we both commented how nice it was to have had the water to ourselves on such a fine day.  The bonus, of course, was having Mother Nature display her full compliment of colors.  Perfect though?  Hardly - the Saints lost to the Rams...