Santa Fe and Suwannee Rivers - Veterans Day Weekend

Cast of Characters

Stan

 Bill

The other Bill

Jeff

Toby

And me, but there are no pictures.

We were six Kruger paddlers off for an adventure on a Fall weekend in North Florida, and the rivers did not disappoint.  In spite of very, very low water all over the northern third of Florida, the spring-fed Santa Fe had enough water to float our canoes.

We put in at the highway 27 bridge near High Springs.  This is several miles downstream of where the Santa Fe emerges above ground after passing through a limestone ridge.  The Canoe Outpost ran our shuttle and gave a lot of good advice about camping, river levels, etc.

We put in around 11 AM and paddled about 12.5 miles to find a camping spot.  The river was clear with a tea colored tint, and we passed a spring around almost every corner on the upper section.  It was a cool day, so the famous "Naked Ed" at Lily Springs was dressed and sitting beside a fire.

Toby turning around in Lily Springs

We expected to see a lot of traffic on this three day weekend with no rain in the forecast, but the cold must have frightened most folks off.  There were a lot of college-aged folks at Giny Springs, but all of the other commercial and state-owned springs were deserted.  We had lunch at Rum Springs:

We had a camping permit for the conservation areas, and found a place to camp away from houses and people.  That night we huddled around our campfire and turned in early.  In the morning, Toby's thermometer read 28 degrees.  But the cold brought a beautiful mist to the river:

Afterwards, it warmed up nicely to around 70.  We passed the entrance to the Ichetucknee, but it was too shallow to paddle up.  We came to the junction of the Suwannee mid afternoon.  We had planned to camp on the beach on Suwannee River right, but the land was posted.  We gained permission to camp on private land on a point between the two rivers (please respect posted land and get permission before paddling into posted springs and river banks!).

Along the way we saw many birds, and every log seemed to have turtles sunning themselves.  We saw  herons, egrets, bald eagles, curlews, ibis, and many, many vultures.  There were no alligators, but several of us did see a big manatee on the Suwannee.

A tree full of black and turkey vultures.  There were many of these.

Toby checks out the ibis

Bill checks his chart at the junction with the Suwannee.

Toby relaxing and waiting for the shuttle.

Interesting signs:

I'll add our Google maps GPS track later

Paddling in Wisconsin with Loons

Paddling with loons

Paddling out of Spring Creek Lake into the Cisco chain of lakes in northern Wisconsin.

 Spring Creek

Loons

Catching Up

I've been bad about posting for several months.  Just too busy.  I've been paddling a lot of whitewater with my job at Camp Merrie Woode.  But I have been doing some flatwater distance paddling, too, including an exploratory trip on the St. Marys River in Florida while it was running at 1/10 of its normal volume for the time of the year.  Pictures below:

The Banks of the St. Marys

Sometimes the clear, but tea-colored water was so shallow we had to walk our boats, and we could smell the smoke from the Everglades and Okeefenokee fires.

Lake Fairfield at 3,300 feet where I paddle.  I purchased an Epic 18X Sport at the East Coast Canoe and Kayak Festival, and I plan to paddle in the WaterTribe North Carolina Challenge (100 miles) at the end of September.

 My dog, Moki, riding with me on the Tuck Gorge

 Double Trouble on the Ocoee

Another Double Trouble shot

2011 WaterTribe Ultra marathon route map

SPOT map of my Ultramarathon route

Low water on Tims Ford

Tims Ford Reservoir near Winchester, Tennessee is where I do much of my exercise paddling.  They lower the lake in the winter in order to catch the winter rains.  The islands look like they have Marine haircuts!  The lake is full of loons and grebes and ducks this time of year, and I saw a bald eagle the other day.

The island at the left looks like it has a Marine haircut.

Tracks of the Wilderness Waterway from Google Earth

John Benson, Will Watson, Eric Keen, and I paddled the Wilderness Waterway through Everglades National Park in early December

Click on images for a larger view

Day 1 from Chokoloskee Island to Sweetwater Chickee

It was dead low spring tide at 7:30 AM, so we took it easy, eating breakfast at the Cuban restaurant in town, then launching from the Parkway Motel and Marina at about 9:30.  We lowered the boats into the water at the marina, then paddled around to the Smallwood Store museum to load equipment.  The wind was in our faces, but the tide was in our favor, and we only had 16 miles to go to Sweetwater Chickee.

John in the Kruger Sea Wind

Eric in the open canoe

The welcoming committee (=resident alligator) at Sweetwater

arrival at Sweetwater Chickee

Day 2 - Sweetwater Chickee to Rogers River Bay Chickee

This was the longest day, and the wind seemed to conspire to be against us no matter which way we went.  We got to Rogers River Bay Chickee just at nightfall.

Dead manatee at the NW entrance to Alligator Creek

John and Will at a rest stop with me in the background

Lunch at Plate Creek Chickee

John meets an alligator

Another rest stop.  Maybe that's why it took so long!

John says hello to another alligator.

Nightfall at Rogers River Bay Chickee

Day 3 - Rogers River Bay Chickee through the Nightmare and Broad Creek to the Harney Chickee

Broad River Bay and Broad River presented us with more contrary wind and tide.  We had lunch at the Broad River campsite (where we met some Dutch folks on winter break), then escaped into the Nightmare.  The only plus to this wide open river was our only encounter with crocodiles.

The Nightmare was the most beautiful park of the trip.  Protected from the wind, we were suddenly warm.  The mangroves and their roots supported many birds.  Navigation was straight forward, though many of the turns were tight.  Only in Broad Creek did we encounter a single place where we had to pull our boats across a snag with our hands.

A crock (!) along Broad River

John in the Nightmare

More Nightmare

Nightmare

Nightmare

Nightmare

Nightmare

Eric and Will in the Nightmare

more Will and Eric

Broad Creek

Broad Creek

Sunset at Harney River Chickee

Harney Chickee to Oyster Bay Chickee

We had light rain overnight, and the temperature dropped considerably.  The spring high tide woke us up as the open canoe and the kayak got caught under the dock and filled with water.  By the time this happened, the front had passed, the sky was brilliantly clear, the wind was brisk, and the temperature dipped into the thirties.

Another long slog, against tide and strengthening wind.  We learned first hand the complex relationships between the interior tidal flows and the tides at the mouths of the rivers.  Inside it can be rising while it is falling at the mouth, and vice versa.  The relationship is not linear.  By the time we hit the upper reaches of Whitewater Bay and Oyster Bay, the winds were 20+ with breaking waves.  We took sheltered routes behind islands to make the last few miles.

Sunrise at Harney River Chickee

Day 5 - Oyster Bay Chickee to Flamingo

We hade high winds early at the Oyster Bay Chickee, but the winds dropped to below 15 by morning.  An early breakfast and a cold start under brilliant skies marked the beginning of another long day.  We had tides with us much of the time, though the wind did not cooperate very much.  We had a break at the Joe River Chickee and a late lunch at the South Joe Chickee.  At South Joe we met a Swiss father and two sons on a leisurely fishing trip.  They weren't quite ready for the cold.

Coots on Coot Bay

We arrived at Flamingo in time for a shower, ice cream, and microwave sandwiches at the little store (open 7-7).  We stayed at the campground at Flamingo that night and left for home the next morning with a temperature reading of 38 degrees.

Paddling Tims Ford - Pictures

I have decided to paddle the whole Everglades Challenge in a sea kayak this year.  When I originally began to train for the 2002 Challenge, I was going to paddle the whole 300 miles until pneumonia intervened.  Now, nine years later, I am training again to paddle the Challenge.

Sometimes, early in the morning when the air is cool, I am admitted into a beautiful world.  Last Sunday, for instance, I started paddling on Lake Fairfield under the stars and got to see the day awaken.

Here are some pictures from early, chilly mornings on Tims Ford.