Having the South Fork of the Red River flowing through our property offers fantastic beauty and additional recreation opportunities. We enjoy fishing for three seasons and swimming during the hot summer months. I also enjoy hearing our guests and their kids enjoy wading and exploring the Creek. We also enjoy an occasional polar bear plunge in the early spring.

Like any creek and floodplain, it tends to fill up after heavy rain. These videos and photos were taken a few weeks after completing the river deck. It was a great test to ensure that our newly-built structure would withstand the seasonal floods. Although the field will flood between six and ten times a year, the bottomland is expensive enough to manage the water without it reaching our cabins. On this day, I took the canoe out and paddled from our tiny log cabin in the upper field down across the torrent of water to our tobacco barn and farmhouse in the lower field. In this video, you can see where I decided to eddy out behind the river deck to get a perspective from the middle of the main flow of current. I got a kick out of my neighbors slowing down or stopping to watch me paddle field. I’m sure they think I’m crazy. They are partially correct.