Deer Creek paddling access points

[Andrew Sarcinello]

Hi,

Does anybody know if there is small craft access to Deer Creek around Grier Nursery Rd? Unfortunately there is no google street view there and I am not about to drive an hour and a half to scout it. I'm curious about that portion of the stream since it's a bit away from the crowded sections at Rocks and Susquehanna St Parks and am trying to determine what float options exist. 

Thanks for any intel!

-Andrew

[Ethan Miller]

There is a small parking area off of Grier Nursery right next to Deer Creek that in the past the landowner has allowed people to use for recreational access to the stream. The last time I was there was over ten years ago, but there was signage designating the parking area so it should be easy to verify (once you are there) if this is still the case.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/39%C2%B037'46.7%22N+76%C2%B022'31.1%22W/@39.6294192,-76.3757218,161m/

[Andrew Sarcinello]

Thanks for the info, I hope it's still true! A lot of access points in MD were lost last year due to excessive crowds and littering among other issues. 

Ever since the Google Group updated I can't see poster's full names or email addresses, so I don't know your name, but thank you.

I met up with some family members from southern PA and we floated Walters Mill Rd to the next road bridge. Both parking areas were packed to max capacity and then some. I can't imagine the landowners enjoy having those crowds around. We got underway just ahead of the first large group (they were taking their time trying to load all their booze into the floats and coolers) and paddled as fast as we could downstream to distance ourselves from the noise. Turned into a very quiet and enjoyable float - saw an osprey and two bald eagles, and I caught a variety of typical warmwater creek fish on ultralight spin gear. Maybe a dozen fish, without trying very hard. Best was an 11" smallmouth.

Next time I'll check out the Grier Nursery access point and try to float from there to Walter's Mill. If the lot is small it might limit how many people access that piece of water.

-Andrew