Flamingo to East Cape

[vivian]

I have not been on this route for a few years.  Is it possible to stay very close to the shoreline at high tide phase all the way there?  Next weeks weather looks a bit windy and I wanted to see if we can hug the shoreline to East Cape.

[vivian]

The last time I camped on clubhouse beach was in 2007 it was our first stop on a coastal trip to everglades city. This was not my favorite beach site. However, I do not remember having any footwear sucking mud flats to deal with on the lower tide phase. These coastal areas are always changing, this is why I was asking for current conditions. I will heed your warning Kim.

Looks like wind has now dropped to 15-20 which should be no problem if hugging the shoreline and snapping the deck on my canoe. Keeping fingers crossed.

[Kim Gass]

I think there is a total lack of oyster bars that makes other beaches flats tolerable to portage over.  in 2012 we camped on the NW edge of East Cape past the first pocket beach and dead mangroves. It was very nice..but there was an off shore mud flat that was submerged not quite enough for boaters. We watched  a boatful of teenagers hit it at high speed..  They had to call for a tow.....

Might not be the best beach for NW winds.

[Jay]

Vivian - Here is the definitive answer on the Homestead Canal west of the Bear Lake breakout.  I went out there today and surveyed the area as part of another probe that I will detail elsewhere.

Pre-trip, I identified what appeared to be weaknesses in the northern shore of Bear Lake.  I saw 11 potential probe locations.  The idea was to probe in and look to see if one could break through to the canal should it be blocked near the beginning of the western portion -  to bypass the blockage.

On my way outbound, when I got the the opening to Bear Lake, I probed straight ahead into the canal.  I found what I expected - a dead-fall blockage about 70 meters in.  I could see other blockages ahead.  I exited the canal and entered Bear Lake and proceeded to the point I call 64M (different story).  After that probe, I went back to check on the 11 potential sites.  The one I was really hoping would work was the one right were the canal breaks away and goes directly westward as the Bear Lake shoreline goes southwestward.  Anyway that north shoreline is a graveyard of barnacle encrusted deadfall.  Of the 11 potential weaknesses only one of them would be open enough to PORTAGE over to the canal.   There was one other that you could see water (pond) but it is unclear whether you could then cross over to the canal.

The bottom line is that there is nowhere on the north shore of Bear Lake that you can break through to the canal in your boat.  There are one or two locations that you could probably portage over - but given the current condition of the canal (which I will outline next), it probably isn't worth it.

So I returned to the entrance of the canal and headed west.  There is deadfall - lots of it.  In the first .25 miles (which took me an hour) about every 50-60 meters, there was a significant canal-crossing log which required getting out of the boat and pulling over.  I pulled over 7.  Good news-bad news.  The bad news is that they are significant, the bottom is unsupportable (knee to waste deep water that you will sink in over your head the muck.)  I was able to maneuver to exit directly on the log on some of the pull-overs, on others I went swimming.  The good news is that with the exception of those logs, the trail was pretty clear - I was expecting a tangled mess, but just got these major show stoppers.  More good news was that the logs were not surprisingly NOT barnacle encrusted and made for relatively easy pull overs and my  boat bottom appreciated it.

So I stopped after .25 miles and 7 pull-overs .  I was hoping that things would open up, but they didn't and I could see at least 3 more blockages ahead of me.  7 out and 7 back was plenty for me.

It does not appear that there has been any trail clearing on this section in a long time.  I could see cuts, but it has been years.

Jay

vivian said:

I thought that trail was not open all the way through to the East Cape Canal?  How difficult would it be to portage all the gear across that new dam?  We have 10 days worth of gear/food/water

Kim thanks, I kinda figured it would be as you described.

[vivian]

Jay, I would love to see your track of the trip. That is just amazing you were able to get so much intel for us, thank you! I spoke to a friend of mine who had gone over to the dam on east cape and he said it was very difficult to try and portage around it especially from the freshwater side. He could not get his 17' boat sideways and it was very deep water. Did you manage to get to the dam?

[Jay]

Nowhere close to the dam Vivian.  I could only get about .25 miles west from the Canal to Bear Lake opening.  Here is the overall track of the Bear Lake part of my day.  BLP 12 was where I was hoping to be able to probe through to the canal - but no way.

In this closeup, BLP 5 was about a 20meter portage to get into those ponds.  It could absolutely be done - not sure if it is worth it.  On the track going west in the canal, each one of those flags was an "out of boat" experience.  One of those pins represents two logs that were too far apart to make it with one pull.

GPX File attached.

[Jay]

Nowhere close to the dam Vivian.  I could only get about @.20 miles west from the Canal to Bear Lake opening.  Here is the overall track of the Bear Lake part of my day.  BLP 12 was where I was hoping to be able to probe through to the canal - but no way.

In this closeup, BLP 5 was about a 20meter portage to get into those ponds.  It could absolutely be done - not sure if it is worth it.  On the track going west in the canal, each one of those flags was an "out of boat" experience.  One of those pins represents two logs that were too far apart to make it with one pull.

[Miami101]

Good details so are you saying the canal is block into Bear Lake. I have the done the inside a few times, Gator, No man land, and the old Indian canal deep on the inside. Also entered other to opening near Lake Ingram. I have not done the Canal for some time. I do know you can get in on a hide tide on right side near the poles.  

[Miami101]

IM or Email let do a trip I will share a little hidden Gem with you, but mum the word dear! lol

Also Look on Lake Ingram have you done there are 3 access points I use to get in. Each one you may need to base camp.

[Jay]

The Canal is blocked going westbound from just beyond the opening into Bear Lake until at least 50 meters past where I turned around.  Beyond that - I do not know.

Jay

Miami101 said:

Good details so are you saying the canal is block into Bear Lake.

[Jay]

Sorry about the double post.  I tried to publish the GPX file but it got rejected as being too large.  I did not realize the system posted the rest of the report.