Lake Ingraham area

[Terry]

Has anybody canoed from the Homestead Canal where it comes into
the middle of Lake Ingraham northwest to the canal at the north
end of Lake Ingraham?
We've all canoed Homestead Canal to the middle of Lake Ingraham
and another common route is Little Sable Creek up to the northern
side of Northwest Cape but has anybody canoed north out of
Homestead Canal just before it empties into the lake, across all
that open water northwest to the canal that comes into Little
Sable Creek? Lake Ingraham is big and can be nasty it's also
got motorboaters so avoiding it would be a provide a pleasant
change. Last January I canoed from the lake north in
Little Sable Creek to the canal and took the canal east but
ran out of time and could not explore the open water to the
southeast. It was very canoeable to that point and looked
inviting toward the southeast. This would provide an inside
protected route all the way from Bear Lake to Northwest Cape,
without even going into Lake Ingraham.

Here's another in this area: In recent years the creek
that parallels East Cape Canal looks more and more open. I have
canoed in House Ditch, across all that open water south
of Homestead Canal and east in Homestead Canal to come out at
Bear Lake. This was very canoeable. That creek east of
East Cape Canal would provide a natural vista and at the same
time cut the corner off of Homestead Canal by intersecting up near
the bend north. Has anyone canoed the creek east of East Cape
Canal to get into the backcountry?

Let's go for something really wild, I have canoed south from
Phantom Bay ( South Joe River Chickee) to Phantom Lake looking
for a connection to Gator Lakes further to the south. It was
pretty locked up but I did not try very hard.
If that connection could be made, it would be possible to go
from Northwest Cape all the way to South Joe River Chickee in
the backcountry by never going into open water. It's
waiting for somebody to do. Or, take the longer but
established route: Cape Sable to South Joe River or Hells Bay
via Mud Lake avoiding all the modernization of Flamingo,
more good stuff to do.

[Gary M]

Terry,

The area you are talking about NW of the central plug in Ingraham has gotten a lot of traffic in the last few years. Its become a hotspot for fishermen with micorskiffs. I've known that area as the Cattail lakes area. I know of one guy who has poled from the midway plug and came out at the western plug. So... canoeing it should be doable, probably easier than poling a microskiff. Water levels are critical, of course.

That creek you mention that intersects, then parallels East Cape canal, can be followed north to enter the Raulearson's Marsh area below the Homestead Canal... at least it was open the last time I tried. Again, I've found that water levels are the main problem to the north.

I used to paddle the back route, the Homestead Canal (from Bear Lake, through Gator lake, to East Cape canal) all the time. I have not been able to get through that route for years. When was the last time you went through?

I have checked the eastern end a few times over the last couple years and abandoned the thought of trying to recover/improve the route.

I too, would love to see a protected route from Flamingo to Ingraham again.

As an aside... what are the legal ramifications of getting caught, shall we say... improving the current conditions???

Gary M

[Terry]

Let's think about this....hmmm...the last time I camped by canoe on Cape Sable I took
Homestead Canal, I've never taken the outside route by canoe to camp, although I have
canoed in Slagle Ditch to the plug and House Ditch over the plug to Homestead Canal.
I've also walked around on Slagle's development island inside his ditch, trips to vary the
East Cape Canal route. Back to when .... it was before my son was born and he's 20!

Homestead Canal can't be given up, it's too important. According to the desk at Flamingo,
there's two volunteers out from Homestead that have been working on
Homestead Canal/Bear Lake Trail. Volunteers do a lot of the canoe trail maintenance.
It's easy to volunteer for the NPS, a one page form and you're covered by Workmans Comp
while you're (we're) doing it. Volunteers must be certified the same as NPS employees,
basically as a NPS volunteer you're an employee that doesn't get paid or benefits, however,
most of the work to maintain these trails does not take special equipment. In another words, it's get
organized with the existing volunteer canoe trail workers, fill out the form and have to it.
Homestead Canal is an important one, probably THE important one, at least right now with the
condition it's in. This could be a very good community service link with gladesgodeep and
the NPS. Others on our website have offered as well. I'll be contacting the volunteer coordinator,
I'll keep gladesgodeep posted.

[Chekika]

I hacked my way through the Homestead Canal west of Bear Lake a year ago and just remember telling myself that if someone else doesn`t clear it soon it will not be passable. I had to saw and portage through all of the downfalls that started not too long after entering it where it parallels Bear Lake. I have also tried to enter the marsh from Bear Lake with no success due to low water levels and too much silt.As for clearing the canal , thats one thing but when you try to paddle through with the silt you might as well be paddling through pea soup. I have tried to enter the marsh to the north through the house ditch as well with no luck also because of the water levels as well. That being said something inside me makes me want to try it again.

[vivian]

There is a volunteer effort organized by Tom Rahill to clear the Homestead Canal so that one can go from Bear Lake to East Cape. Contact Tom for information.:

[e-mail]

[Terry]

I spent Saturday 28 February volunteering with the NPS Bear Lake Canoe Trail
cleaning team:

Everglades National Park volunteers Tom Rahill and Jim Brack have taken on the project
of cleaning the Bear Lake Canoe Trail to Bear Lake and beyond. It is a Herculean task
and knowing this, the park is very supportive of their efforts. The trail was not
throughly cleaned or maintained after the '92 storm then the 2005 storms took it almost
to extinction. On the positive side, the canal is still there with water (in some places
thick water) even in these drier months, however, the blockage from both snags and
downed trees is daunting. There are full size trees (up to a foot in diameter) lying 20-30
feet across the canal, stacked on top of each other and at intervals of every few feet.
If that's not enough, all the smaller branches are broken off and down in the canal
making it so a boat is almost always on a snag. Their method consists of a minimum
team of two: a cutter and a swamper. The swamper crawls, swims, climbs or boats
out to a point that looks haul-able and attaches a line on the limb. Just moving about
is a major task, since the canal was dug the bottom is deep. Standing in the canal
you are about chest deep where your hips down are in mud. It is impossible to move
without having a branch or the side of the boat to help lift and pull on. The cutter crawls,
swims, climbs or boats out to a point and cuts the trunk. Their john boat performs well
as a stable work platform. Then both members of the team come back to the high
elevation road side and pull the cut off end up on the embankment. Then another
section is cut off and this is repeated until the entire tree is removed. It's common
to have multiple trees, the sawyer term "jack straws", across the canal. After the trees
are removed a pike and hook (like sailors, sawyers have jargon too) is used to drag the
canal to remove the small snags. All the debris is "bucked" (yup, another sawyer term
I learned) on the road side embankment to be carried over to the other side of the road at
a later date. Alternate Spring Breakers work well for this. There is one shallow spot
between the mound and the lake that they have not investigated but I'd be willing to bet
that steadily passing canoes through that one spot would break up the slurry.
We touched up some areas on the way out to the area that has not been cleaned and
then cleaned about 150 feet.

They take immense pride in their work, they should, the volunteering effort they are
investing in the park is second to none and their work will be appreciated. Bear Lake
Trail and the Homestead Canal to East Cape are very important protected-water
canoe routes. Even with the canal unpassable and work in progress we had 2
separate groups of canoers paddling in the canal. With the increase in hand-powered
craft utilizing the park the canal will see heavy traffic when it is open.

[Terry]

The NPS Canoe Trail Clearing Team is getting close to Bear Lake. They will be there soon and
they're clearing it wide and dragging the canal for snags, in short, an excellent job.
The plan is to continue to Gator Lakes. I canoed Homestead Canal many times but the
last time was a least 25 years ago so
all my data are old, however, I remembered that the tight creek stopped at the first
hard left turn (to the south) at Gator Lakes. From Gator Lakes south, then west, it was
clear but it had shallow spots. I also canoed from House Ditch over to the key that
Slagle had his development on then northeast to the Big Bend in Homestead Canal
again this was clear and we actually had more water than staying in the canal.

Some surveys need to be done of the whole area west of Bear Lake, to find the best
route west across Raulersons Prairie to the East Cape outlets, including the west
side of Bear Lake. Looking at the aerials, there's open areas west of
Bear Lake but south of the Homestead Canal. Is there enough water in there to
route the trail in a more southwest direction, through Bear Lake, through that little
cut and across those ponds, to intersect closer to the Big Bend? Should they
stay on Homestead Canal?
Some serious explorations to get up-to-date information would be very helpful.
If anybody probes into that area, post it, with clear documented findings.

At the rate the crew is going they will be clearing west of Bear Lake by next season.
Reconnaissance ahead of them would be very useful and the gladesgodeep group
with those GPS downloads to Goggle would be perfect. Ideas? Information? Results
from probes. Post it!

[Chekika]

I have attempted numerous times to get from the western areas of Bear Lake through to the prairie and have never been able to do it due to low water and too much silt. there is a water level meter or something in the lake after coming out of western Bear Lake and I havent even been able to paddle to that. As for making it through the Homestead Canal west to at least the sharp bend by Gator Lake I want to know if anyone has tried it recently.Last time I tried it I thought it wouldnt be much longer before impassable. Also the Homestead Canal to the west just as you can cut south into the prairie around Gator Lake was way to silty to attempt and I turned back there as well.

[Keith W]

What time of year were you attempting this?

[Chekika]

I believe it was December. And I know thats not the best time but whatever time of year it is if you go you want to know its passable.

[Miami101]

Hi
Guys
Any updates about this area. Also do you know if the park is going to create some camp sites in this area.
It would be nice to have a location to rest, and camp in this area.

[Keith W]

No campsites planned for this area as part of the GMP. If Bear lake Trail is opened and a navigable route between Bear Lake and the East Cape Canal can be established, a case could be made for a chickee back in there. For skeeter lovers only :-) I checked out the trail clearing crew's progress at the start of the Bear Lake Trail last Sunday and it looks very good, at least what I could see of it through the clouds of swamp angels!

[yakmaster]

Keith

At the plug portage meeting (see my news entry) there was quite a bit of discussion about re-opening up the homestead canal & adding a chickee (that last part mostly by me...). Some of the folks at the meeting had tried to run it, but the problem seems to be silting more than overgrowth. I don't know if the sealing of east cape will help or make the silting even worse. The park folks were not adverse to reopening it, but they didnt't have it on their radar either...