August Exploration of Sweetwater Slough Southwest from Loop Road?

[shawn beightol]

Discussion forming of a 3-4 day kayak paddle/drag SW from loop road (bend) of Sweetwater Slough/Creek.

Yes, I've heard it "peters out" SW of loop road.  Maps and aerials pre 1940 show sweetwater creek/river ran up to and beyond Loop Road.  I wonder if we set out and did some portaging, how far we could get?

Thoughts?

[Chris Meyers]

RE: Saturday, Aug 2nd trip

Hello Shawn - sadly my plans to come south got pushed to next weekend and I cannot join y'all on the "Walker Airboat Trail, Hunt Camp, Sweetwater Strand Exploration".  The only saving grace is that I should now be able to make the Aug 7-9 trip.

RE: Thursday, Aug 7 to Saturday, Aug 9

1) Zig-zagging my way back and forth across the Strand to gather GPS data on altitude vs lat/long (see image below that shows likely path of sweetwater flow/creek bed)

2) Dragging a kayak on the airboat Trail (Chris' RLS south, my "plan A") and then a little west to explore the old trail heading into the strand that I describe above....or....

3) a kayak trip to Sweetwater chickee Thursday, August 7 (16.5 miles), an exploratory push UP Sweetwater River/Creek from the chickee on Friday August 8, then return August 9 to Chokoloskee.

I am up for this trip and most likely would choose option 3 (see my post below) BUT I would definitely consider option 2 also. I just picked up a very light 10' yak for my 9yo and it would be an easy boat to pull along and/or carry when needed. I'm not following your comment "then a little west to explore the old trail heading into the strand that I describe above". Did I miss something above? I'm trying to figure out which strand you're referring to?

Thanks,

Chris

[Chris Meyers]

RE: Sig Walker airboat trail vs Robert Lakes Strand

I have to apologize for adding confusion to parts of Shawn's discussion on exploring Sweetwater slough.

I now realize that the airboat trails to the south of Roberts Lake Strand (west side of Loop Rd.) are indeed the Sig Walker airboat trails.  Because I "knew" (famous last words) that the Sig Walker trails were over next to Sig Walker Strand to the east of Sweetwater slough and just a little south of the Loop, I just assumed Shawn's "PLAN A" trail was un-named and so proceeded to name 'em myself... Roberts Lake Strand trail North (RLS-North) and RLS-South.

 I swear I've got maps around here that show the Sig Walker trail way to the south. Oh well, won't be the last time I make a mapping mistake.

I guess at this point the PLAN - A and PLAN - C trails should be Sig Walker Airboat Trail - South (SWAT - South) and Sig Walker Airboat Trail - North (or maybe West?)... SWAT - North.  LOL.

Anyway, apologies for the confusion.

PS. This does beg the question... what is the name of the other trail to the east of Sweetwater slough?

[shawn beightol]

lets do the kayak trip to sweetwater chickee, spend friday looking for the route ne that might have had a structure on ir?  Pavel? Chris Harris?  wanna join?

btw, option 3 was to explore "investigate an old trail fork that leads south into the strand at 25.77879, -81.12961 ( I can trace this path down to here 25.77042, -81.13874"

im game for anything...my aummers last hurrah!

[shawn beightol]

Megan:

we're going tomorrow.  7 miles.  Meeting at Gator Hook Trail head 8 AM then arranging the cars at the Sig Walker Airboat trail and the Sweetwater Slough culvert on loop road for shuttling.

Let me know if you are interested.

Shawn

Megan said:

I would be available to join you the weekend of July 26th!  I do not have any preferences as to B or C.

[shawn beightol]

You can see the old airboat trails in this old topo map overlay for GE for tomorrow's hike. These trails are likely still hike-able and are closed to mechanized traffic now. We found July 26 that the old Sig Walker trail was like a highway. We'll be returning tomorrow to see the old hunting camp on it and then return through the Sweetwater Slough (slog).

[Swamp Hunter]

I wont be able to go with. Im getting ready to move to Bear Island for the season. But I want to mention if you all happen to get hot, sweaty, tired and bug bitten, there is a nice culvert with clean flowing water to refresh yourself before you drive home nearby. Bring your biodegradable soap. My little secret culvert bathing hole is north of Sig Walker/Sweetwater Trail begin but south of Gator Hook. Look for a small culvert on the west side as you drive back to the Gator Hook trailhead.

I bathed there for several months when I lived at Monroe Station because I prefered it over my small camper shower. The fast running clean water of the Loop Unit is so great, so relaxing and soooooo refreshing!.  If you dont like that idea, dont forget there is a water hose at Monroe Station, next to the fence, behind the large brown hunting board.  

[shawn beightol]

August 2 2014 Sig Walker Airboat Trail Loop Hike - 8.2 Miles

FTA's Leah, Albert and Shawn set out August 2 2014 to explore the temporarily (I hope) decommissioned Sig Walker Airboat Trail; an abandoned homestead/hunt camp (seen from Google Earth); an initial probe south of the southern leg of the Sig Walker Airboat trail to investigate an even older, abandoned airboat trail as a possible pathway into the lower Sweetwater/Sig Walker Strands and river; and finally, a more southerly transect across the 3 branches of the Sweetwater Slough. 

By the time we had exited the homestead/hunt camp, I was beginning to feel the heat and fatigue of wading through calf deep water and knee deep sawgrass for 3 hours.


We discussed whether we should trade off the probe south into the abandoned airboat trail versus the transect of the Sweetwater Strand (a strenuous bushwhacking leg of the hike). We decided to go forward with the probe south to find the abandoned airboat trail and make the decision about the transect later, perhaps as late as the actual turn-off point to make the transect.

We pushed south, then SSE, then SE and then E to loop into the abandoned airboat trail. At times we sensed the remnants of a trail (a deepening of the water where buggies may have left their ruts, a vague sense of a cleared line of older cypress - the trail had been abandoned long enough that Cypress were growing everywhere, but sometimes there was a hint of even younger cypress along a line) . So faint was the abandoned trail that we hiked East past it and had to double back. Leah had a particularly good instinct for seeing/feeling the clues - the deepening water, the greener vegetation, the change from sawgrass to sedges, the younger cypress.

Nevertheless, I conclude that this older trail offers no discernible advantage for travel (pulling a kayak over the rut deep water) than the open cypress prairie. Though the water was deeper, the challenge of staying on the trail and the weaving between the new growth cypress negate any advantage for travel, in my opinion.

Eventually we found our way back to Sig Walker "South" and stripped our gear off, plopped into the deeper water, and had a submerged style lunch. This break was amazingly refreshing, allowed a replenishment of nutrients, muscle rest, and a chance to both re-hydrate and filter additional water.

After our aquatic break/lunch, we continued to make our way counter-clockwise (East, NE, NNE) round the trail until we reached the jump off point for the transect.

The debate here, as temperature and fatigue had continued to build, was whether 2 miles through unblazed jungle would be more strenuous than 3.5 miles more of the open, easily visible airboat trail that still provided much in the way of resistance due to calf deep water and constant resistance from the saw and sedge grasses.

We chose to go with the known challenge of the airboat trail (Albert, Tom Gantt, and I had hiked this way south July 23rd so we knew what to expect).

After another hour of this exertion, we decided to take another aquatic break (submerging seemed to accelerate the heat exchange, cooling our bodies and heads more efficiently than simply "air-cooling"). We filtered more water, mixed gatorade and electrolyte drinks to give the muscles back some of their nutrients lost via sweat, then pushed on.

As we neared the terminal end of the Sig Walker South trail (where it meets loop road), we discovered why we had missed this trail head July 23rd - it had completely overgrown and was lost in a jungle of trees and high sawgrasses.

We deviated north to the Sig Walker North trail and exited out onto Loop Road, 8 hours after starting, exactly what we had budgeted time-wise for the hike.

Of course, mosquitoes descended on us immediately and nets and DEET were invoked. When we got back to gatorhook trailhead, a cloud of dragonflies descended on our "airspace" and cleared the mosquitoes out for us.

A cold beer and stories swapped of this and other adventures closed out another golden day in the glades. 

Great visuals, great experiences, great company, and great memories.

Thanks guys!

Post by Shawn Beightol.

[Albert Hook]

Shawn, thanks again for organizing this memorable but exhausting trip, and for your indulgence along the way.  I hope that you will continue to pursue this route as well as others that we spoke of briefly.  I also look forward to joining you again at some time in the future if circumstances permit.  This was a great outing with you and Leah.

 

[shawn beightol]

Step 2 this Thursday-Saturday. Work from Sweetwater Bay Chickee (red balloon marker) Northeast up the mangrove creeks to try to reach Sig Walker Airboat Trail. From Chickee to loop road (green balloon marker) is 10.1 miles. The lat/long marker on the trail is how far Leah Harman , Albert Hook and I made it Saturday, Aug 2.

[shawn beightol]

Ok, Looking for a few fellow paddlers (Chris, Pavel?).  Leaving Outdoor Resorts 7 AM, Chokoloskee for Sweetwater Bay Chickee this Thursday August 7, 15.7 miles one way.  Leaving on an incoming tide that will hopefully aid the paddle up Lopez River.  Pavel, I'm leaving the canoe and taking the small kayak (Get'r done).  Upon establishing camp at the chickee (cleared for 3 days/2 nights), I plan on pushing up Sweetwater Bay and testing the creeks that run north-ish (the 3 on the left).  I don't think they will pan out, hence the optimism to explore them all after a 16 mile paddle.

Friday, August 8, I plan on exploring the creeks out of Jungle Bay and off Deer Island Creek.

Saturday, haul it in and get the heck outa dodge.

I'm currently having doubts about Kings account of seeing a Fort on Sweetwater.  His 1917 survey map which would have been the one used to describe his venture in the Forest and Stream stories related earlier has an error - it completely misses Barnes and New Rivers.  My impression is he mistook New River for Sweetwater River, thus, the fort he saw was the one on New River.

IE, there is probably NOT a 2nd undiscovered fort on Sweetwater.

Anyone up for a 3 day paddle adventure?

[shawn beightol]

Trip Report from the August 7-9 Exploratory Paddle(s) Up Tributaries of Sweetwater Bay, Jungle Bay, and Deer Island Creek*

(*Actually, the river just east of and accessible either from Deer Island Creek or directly from Chevelier Bay, which I believe is the original Sweetwater River)

Chris Meyers and I coordinated via EEN and met in Everglades City 630 AM to depart from Outdoor Resorts (which charges $10/day for "protected" parking and ramp usage).  I had been told 8/4/14 that the Sweetwater Bay Chickee was available by a ranger who answered the phone.  An experienced backcountry paddler who saw my advertisement on Happy Hoofers Florida Trail FB page alerted me to the possibility that it was closed for repairs.  I called back 8/6/14 to ensure it had uprights for hammocks and was told by a different ranger that it was indeed closed to campers until reconstruction was completed.  He identified the ranger who gave out the wrong information (as Chris was already enroute from North Florida for this trip) and took corrective action.  We altered our plans to stay at Watsons.

We paddled from 830 AM 8/7/14 until ~130 PM when we reached "Nauti-buoy" private residence at the West entrance of Houston Bay.  Resting, we had lunch then finished the paddle up Sweetwater Bay.  The modified plan was to explore up Sweetwater Bay creeks and then head down to Watsons to return to Jungle Bay and Deer Island Creek in the morning.

The official report on this is that we explored up river the "Sweetwater West," "Sweetwater Central," and "Sweetwater East" until we were exhausted and the sun was beginning to near the horizon when horrific thunderstorms and lightning made water travel unsafe.  We declared an emergency and landed at the unfinished Sweetwater Bay Chickee.  We arrived at Watsons after dark (nearly a full moon) and departed in the "dark thirty hours" of the morning for Jungle Bay.  This is the "official" story and I'm sticking to it... ; )

As you can see indicated on the kml tracks above, I  believe the most promising connection between the 10000 Islands/Wilderness Waterway on this route  is the Sweetwater West tributary (in this area...other "best routes" include Shark Valley to Rookery, Broad River, Cocoanut Hammock to Willy Willy - TBA, New River, and Turner River).  The Sweetwater West mangrove tunnel "petered out" into a sawgrass/mangrove lowlands that seemed to be "drag-able" for the kayaks.  The prairie through which the Sig Walker airboat trail August 2 is less than a mile NE from this point:

I would imagine these creeks all were one time maintained by Native Americans - probably burned to keep their canoe trails open and later by gladesmen who cut - there was plenty of evidence of very old sawed limbs:

The maintained canoe, buggy and airboat trails play an important role in allowing wildlife to move (yes, I realize they don't need our trails, but they use them and in their absence create their own gator drags and game trails rival some of our trails) - I even ran across a 10-12 ft manatee and her calf 10 miles inland up a fishermen maintained mangrove tunnel 4 ft wide and deep - the Sweetwater East tunnel:

During the Sweetwater creeks exploration, I did manage to land a 3 ft tarpon on 8 lb test line.  As I reeled him, he literally jumped and landed in my kayak then back out before I had a chance to react.

The next day we traveled up to Jungle Bay and crossed it to the NE side (2 o'clock position?) where there is a creek/river feeding into the bay.  This source of Jungle Bay's freshwater status was cold and clear, producing a delta of SAND (source unknown other than upriver).  You can see the shallows produced by the constant dumping of sand and carving of channels due to the current on satellite images:

Note: due to "operator error," gps track was off during the jungle bay excursion (status change pending Chris' data).

The water was so clear (of detritus as well as carnivores ; ), we decided to cool our bodies down and enjoyed a rare Wilderness Waterway cool, refreshing freshwater bath/dip:

If you study this creek we ventured into, you may wonder why we stopped.  I do too now!  We encountered a wall of mangrove roots blocking the passage, but had I studied the GE images closer on my US Topo Maps app, I would have seen it was a short blockage and that after this, the route is wide open for quite a way further out onto what appears to be a traversable sawgrass prairie.  We will need to return to investigate this.

Leaving Jungle Bay, we turned NE onto Deer Island Creek and followed it around Deer Island and into a small bay, beyond which we could see Chevelier Bay: 

I believe this is the small bay that King shows in his 1917 survey map as the mouth of Sweetwater.  It certainly doesn't match the topography of today's sweetwater bay.  It also shows similarity to Sunday Bay's islands at the mouth of the New River.  Recall from my earlier post that his 1917 map omits both Barnes and New River and that he claims in the Forest and Stream article to have seen Fort Harrell on this Sweetwater.  I believe he surveyed these bays on his way westward from Miami, then on his return eastward from Chokoloskee with his son on their fishing trip/plume poacher investigation to have reached Sunday Bay and using the chart in the post above to have mistakenly thought he was at Sweetwater.  I believe his indian guide would have called New River by its indian name (Alcotofia or whichever English transliteration at the moment) and King would have assumed it to be Sweetwater (again, today's Sweetwater bay bears NO resemblance to what he drew here and what he drew here is similar both to the little bay at the head of Deer Island Creek and Sunday Bay):

I think the conclusive evidence that this unnamed river/creek that empties into this unnamed bay is the original Sweetwater River depicted on King's 1917 survey map he produced while moving westward (and confused New River for when moving eastward from chokoloskee) is the fact that it is fed from the North by the Sweetwater Strand.

We followed this unnamed river NE until we hit a narrow entrance that shows as continuing on GE as a creek, but whose entrance was blocked by mangrove roots.  Again, we did not know how far these mangrove roots extended so did not attempt to "bust a move" through them.  I believe this creek, with some clearing is the 2nd most likely route in this area that will allow passage through to/from the airboat trail.

Upon returning to the Sweetwater Bay area to further investigate the Sweetwater East route to see if it punched through to Jungle Bay, a dramatic and frightening lightning storm blew in and we were forced again to make haven at the chickee where we were trapped so long that we had to make camp there.

In the morning we were visited by Park Service rangers who naturally wanted to know why we were camped at a closed site.  Checking our ID's they saw our paperwork was in order at HQ and knowing the severity and duration of the storm, chose not to pursue the matter with us.  Rather, we shared a pleasant time discussing the exploration of through trails with them.

On our return to Chokoloskee, we were able to make the acquaintance of Steve Brown, who told us he was the owner of "Nauti-Buoy."  Having chatted, we were fortunate to have following winds and seas and made good time back to Crooked Creek where we were planning to have a late lunch and wait for the tides to change around 2 PM.  Our time was so good, we ended up at Crooked Creek at 1130 AM and chose to fight the tides and winds and get back to Choko rather than wait 3 hours.

Tough going, but these last 5 miles averaged out with our first easy 10 miles.

Conclusions based on observations:

1) A passage through might be possible from "Sweetwater West" and from the unnamed river/mangrove tunnel by Deer Island Creek/Bay that is probably the historic Sweetwater River.

2) During summers it is possible to obtain fresh water by filtering so that one doesn't have to carry all with him/her.  WARNING:  due to DRASTIC and DEADLY possibilities caused by rainfall variables, one should NOT make this assumption without access and clear knowledge of water level and salinity data.  The summer heat combined with too little hydration will kill the careless paddler. Furthermore, it is unknown what flow of freshwater there is during the fall-spring, but doubtful that it is sufficient.  It is believed that saltwater will push up these creeks as evidenced by the oyster shells visible on mangrove roots far up into the creeks.

3) Manatees and dolphins utilize these freshwater backcountry creeks to feed and enjoy freshwater with their young.

4) A shark was observed in Sweetwater Bay with its snout out of the water probing into the mangroves for some reason.

5) I am now convinced that King confused the map/ID of Sweetwater for New River, having surveyed coming from the east and traveling up the river to see Fort Harrell from the West.  His map does not show either Barnes nor New River but shows 2 rivers that resemble topographically Barnes and New River, the one resembling New River is labeled Sweet Water.  With this map, he would have had no choice but to assume New River was Sweetwater.  His indian guide would have been no help with the name other than confirming that the fort was on this river (Alcotofia River in its Native language).

"Best of Trip Pix":

Chris, checking for damage after the storm.

Coming into Jungle Bay

Another shot of our refreshing dip, this one showing the source creek at the NE corner of Jungle Bay.

A glorious day awaits 2 explorers after a hellacious night of lightning strikes and 40 mph gusts making travel back to Watsons impossible.

Setting course for home, having learned the lesson of an earlier backcountry trip where the GPS crashed, the paper chart and compass are used first with GPS simply backing up the paper.

Experiencing a wee bit of jeep envy over Chris' outfitted jeep (nice winch and snorkel!).

[Swamp Hunter]

You continue to prove that enjoying the Glades is not seasonal.

Did you happen to get the names or a pic of the rangers that visited?