[Journal Entry for May 7, 2011; Mullica River] My friend Lee Reiser organized this day trip through the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Twelve of us – Lee, Boyd, Bruce, Derick, Elaine, Jerry, Margaret, Margie, Mo, Phil, Steve , and myself - put in on the Mullica River at 11 AM from a point just below the dam on Atsion Lake, off of Route 206, in Wharton State Park. Most of us used short plastic kayaks, such as the Otter that I borrowed from Bruce. The launch site is interesting in that is has the ruins of the Atsion Raleigh Cotton Mill. Only the very large brick chimney, a concrete floor and a low wall remain. The Atsion Historic Residence, an intact log cabin, is also nearby.

At this point, the Mullica is a narrow stream, just ten to fifteen feet wide. Its surface was swirling with foam churned up from the dam that Bruce thought to be mostly natural in origin. The launch is a flat, open space along the side of the river, which is otherwise surrounded by trees and bushes. The stream was flowing fairly sluggishly for spring. I had no trouble paddling upstream while the other members of our party launched. The water temperature was 59 degrees Fahrenheit, and the day was sunny and warm – in the low seventies. We leisurely paddled downstream. We had already ferried several vehicles down to the take-out point on Pleasant Mills Road, about twelve miles downriver.

The going was fairly slow, because of logs that partially blocked the river at numerous points, concentrated where the narrower section of the river that we encountered during our first four or five miles. None of these completely block our passage. We were able to navigate over, under or around all of them. But each had to be examined and then negotiated boat by boat, so each slowed us down a little. We were fairly successful in dealing with each; only twice did a boat capsize, though once I had to get out of my own boat and work to pull the others through a tight and shallow passage.

Many of the river banks are hills of a fine quality white sand that rise several yards above the river level. We stopped at one, perhaps a mile or so downstream of the launch site, for a water break. A couple of hikers and their dog were having lunch there and the dog was enjoying frolicking in the water. Margaret found several Lady Slippers in various stages of bloom. These orchids each have a single, beautiful pink flower. We pushed on after about fifteen minutes.

In places, the river leaves the woods and flows through wide open savannas, which were beautifully lit by the afternoon sun. Wildlife was plentiful: we sighted several enormous turtles, a small snake in a bush, Canada geese, crows, mourning doves and red-wing blackbirds. I was surprised to see the red-wing blackbirds hovering a few inches above the water to catch insects. I did not know that they could do that. In addition to the grass, water lilies, Spatterdock (with button-shaped yellow flowers) and Golden Club (with yellow flowers like stalks or candelabras) were common. Beaver, though we saw none, must also be common in the savanna. We passed several lodges and negotiated two beaver dams.

We stopped at the Mullica River Wilderness Campsite for lunch. It is on a high sandy area adjoining the river, with sparse but tall pine trees. The afternoon had grown rather late. It was about 3:30 PM and we had only completed half of our planned trip. Fortunately, the river had grown wide and the current somewhat faster, so that we judged that we would reach our terminus well before dusk.

We passed beneath three bridges during our trip; a railway bridge near the start of our trip and two roadway bridges towards the end. We reached the take-out point at about 6PM. The late afternoon has grown rather cloudy and a light drizzle began while we were packing up our gear. It lasted but a few minutes, and the evening, though mostly overcast, was pleasant. I spent the night in my tent at the Cedar Creek Campground in Bayville, NJ (which is not particularly close by).

Total time on the water was about seven hours.