Roses Bluff

As the St. Marys River approaches the mouth, it broadens out into a vast marsh estuary. Smaller rivers and creeks branch off the main river, winding through the open spaces of soft green spartina grass. These waterways include numerous unnamed paths that may or may not lead somewhere, and one back route river once used by eighteenth century smugglers to avoid the watchful eye of authorities. This river, the Bells River, passes by the areas largest bluffs towering over the rivers’ shoreline. Paddle under these bluffs listening to the forest songbirds while Herons and Egrets glide over the marsh on your other side.

The Roses Bluff guided kayak tour launches from the St. Marys waterfront and crosses over the river and into a narrow marsh cut to the Bells River. Once in the Bells River, we follow the river flow to the bluffs — gliding along and observing the sights as the tide sweeps us past. The route takes us up the river until it empties back into the St. Marys River, where the ebbing tide will carry us back to our starting point in the St. Marys Harbor.

This two-to-three-hour paddle is a wonderful trip that gives paddlers a good representative cross-section of the region and the nature that surrounds this coastal area. This trip takes you through the local salt marshes of the St. Marys River and past the high bluffs on the Bells River. Roses Bluff includes miles of steeply rising sediment bluffs towering over the river and the salt marsh. The bluffs, created from landslides many years ago, have broad flattened fronts that rise up to 50 feet in the air.

This is an easy trip suited for all experience-levels. Marshes are exposed to winds, which can affect the paddling conditions. The creek is tidally influenced, but this trip is planned so we are always paddling with the current.

2.5 to 3.5-Hours
$55/person