Lost Portage
Open up NOAA Chart 11432 and it's hard for a Wilderness Waterway
canoer not stare at the north reaches of Tarpon Bay and the
south reaches of Broad River. It's tantalizing close, only
about a mile, making the trip from Canepatch to Camp Lonesome
a half day paddle in protected water instead
of two days. As if to taunt serious backcountry explorers there
is even the printed statement on the chart: "No water passage
exists between the Broad and Shark Rivers at this point. Passage
must be made via the Gulf of Mexico."
Don't get me wrong, every Wilderness Waterway traveler should go
through the Nightmare, negotiate the tides of the Harney and Broad
Rivers and enjoy traversing a freshwater to saltwater to freshwater
environment, but for those who have already taken the long way
around the Lost Portage may be for you.
I remember the evening at Camp Lonesome in 1975 thinking, there
has to be a way. A canoe can go almost anywhere, there must be
a yet to be discovered damp passage or at least a short portage.
That was my first trip on the Wilderness Waterway and I was not
prepared for exploring. There was also the first experience with
the Nightmare waiting for me the next day so exploring the
Connection would have to be a future expedition. There are also
complications with exploring that area, it takes two days just
to get to the point to explore and usually when you're halfway
between Flamingo and Everglades City it's while you're traveling
the whole Wilderness Waterway. The Lost Portage exploration
became one of those "something I wanta do someday" items.
Thirty-three years later, armed with the modern tools aerial photos
and GPS, I anchored my small cabin motorboat in the northern
reaches of Tarpon Bay on 28 November 2008.
The plan was simple: Using the motorboat as a base camp,
probe every inlet, creek, path, etc. by canoe to determine if
a passable connection could be used on Wilderness Waterway
trips.
The aerials show trails that in other parts of the glades are
airboat trails but I don't ever recall airboats operating in this
area. Sure enough, venturing up the northern most creek there's
an obvious canoe wide trail (Old Trail) heading northwest.
It's only got a few inches of water but it gets deeper as you head
northwest toward Broad River. I abandoned the canoe and walked.
There's another trail (New Trail) roughly paralleling it to
the west and they intersect about halfway between the gap. This
trail is more intriguing since it appears on Goggle but not on
Terraserver suggesting New Trail is newer. Odd. Even on
the ground they appear as airboat trails but they terminate in deep
creeks that are overgrown by decades of mangroves, down to a point
where a canoe has to push through. These are significantly established
trails apparently maintained by traffic, yet I have only come across
one other person who has, or admits to, exploring that area.
For me it's not suitable to use these trails as a Wilderness Waterway
route, at least what I've seen so far, but I have not come across
another area that begs so much for more exploration.
canoer not stare at the north reaches of Tarpon Bay and the
south reaches of Broad River. It's tantalizing close, only
about a mile, making the trip from Canepatch to Camp Lonesome
a half day paddle in protected water instead
of two days. As if to taunt serious backcountry explorers there
is even the printed statement on the chart: "No water passage
exists between the Broad and Shark Rivers at this point. Passage
must be made via the Gulf of Mexico."
Don't get me wrong, every Wilderness Waterway traveler should go
through the Nightmare, negotiate the tides of the Harney and Broad
Rivers and enjoy traversing a freshwater to saltwater to freshwater
environment, but for those who have already taken the long way
around the Lost Portage may be for you.
I remember the evening at Camp Lonesome in 1975 thinking, there
has to be a way. A canoe can go almost anywhere, there must be
a yet to be discovered damp passage or at least a short portage.
That was my first trip on the Wilderness Waterway and I was not
prepared for exploring. There was also the first experience with
the Nightmare waiting for me the next day so exploring the
Connection would have to be a future expedition. There are also
complications with exploring that area, it takes two days just
to get to the point to explore and usually when you're halfway
between Flamingo and Everglades City it's while you're traveling
the whole Wilderness Waterway. The Lost Portage exploration
became one of those "something I wanta do someday" items.
Thirty-three years later, armed with the modern tools aerial photos
and GPS, I anchored my small cabin motorboat in the northern
reaches of Tarpon Bay on 28 November 2008.
The plan was simple: Using the motorboat as a base camp,
probe every inlet, creek, path, etc. by canoe to determine if
a passable connection could be used on Wilderness Waterway
trips.
The aerials show trails that in other parts of the glades are
airboat trails but I don't ever recall airboats operating in this
area. Sure enough, venturing up the northern most creek there's
an obvious canoe wide trail (Old Trail) heading northwest.
It's only got a few inches of water but it gets deeper as you head
northwest toward Broad River. I abandoned the canoe and walked.
There's another trail (New Trail) roughly paralleling it to
the west and they intersect about halfway between the gap. This
trail is more intriguing since it appears on Goggle but not on
Terraserver suggesting New Trail is newer. Odd. Even on
the ground they appear as airboat trails but they terminate in deep
creeks that are overgrown by decades of mangroves, down to a point
where a canoe has to push through. These are significantly established
trails apparently maintained by traffic, yet I have only come across
one other person who has, or admits to, exploring that area.
For me it's not suitable to use these trails as a Wilderness Waterway
route, at least what I've seen so far, but I have not come across
another area that begs so much for more exploration.
Views: 524
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by yakmaster on
-
I thought Keith was talking Nov 27-29. I can do Dec. 4,5,6, but can't do Thanksgiving weekend.
Let me know if I misunderstood Keith's initial proposal, if so, save me a seat & a machete.
-
Permalink Reply by Keith W on
-
I was talking about Thanksgiving weekend Nov. 27-29, but it looks like I'm outvoted. No way I can do Thursday ahead of the Dec 4-6 weekend, maybe somebody else can get down there on Thursday morning to do the reservation, or we can take our chances on Friday. The season is just getting cranked up then and we shouldn't have a lot of competition, especially it it's warm.
Terry, when I talked to Tom Rahill he mentioned a May '10 finish date for the BLTC project, unless they're going to formally re-open the Bear lake Trail ahead of that.
-
-
Before we set any date in stone, let me get in touch with Alan Coulter to see when he'll be down this season. He's done this before and would be a good person to have along, and I can't see him passing it up if his schedule allows it.
-
Permalink Reply by Terry on
-
Sorry I misunderstood the Keith's first email, it doesn't matter we
just need to find a weekend. I can go either 27-29 November or
4-6 December. Actually, I rearranged my office hours so I can take
any Friday off.
I think permits always start on the Friday before Thanksgiving but
since the Flamingo office opens at 07:30 I can pick up a permit on any
Thursday morning.
I have been talking to Jim about a Bear Lake Trail ribbon cutting
ceremony and I just talked to both him and Tom last night at
the volunteer film premier at the visitor center. Bear Lake
trail, like all the canoe trails, is never finished but over the summer
they've opened it up so that the Flamingo office will be able to send
visitors on it this season. They do plan an opening ceremony early
this season but don't have a date yet. I told them last night we were
planning a exploration/survey party for 4-6 December and probably
folks would want to be able to participate in both but since they don't
have a date yet we just need to keep in contact with them.
I'll send an email to Tony this morning - are you ready Yak? As you
well know nothing stops the Slough King and he has shown
interest in the Lost Portage, he has probably done more impossible
missions than any of us and he would be the force to take the 'Lost'
away from the Lost Portage.
Work on Alan, he's another good one, however, remember our
objective, it may be a little different from Alan's past trips.
We are out to survey and document not just to plow through to say
we've done it. We want to record the necessary data so that if
someone wants to traverse the Lost Portage they can go to
gladesgodeep and get the documentation they need to
follow the best route.
Yak, have you got a powerboat?
-
-
Last year I printed the highest magnification shots possible from
Terraserver, taped them together which came out to be about a
2 x 2 foot chart of the area between the north and south reaches.
With new images on line we're gonna need the best print possible
on the best magnification, to study while we are out there.
I'm already seeing things that I want to examine on the ground.
I can see where I got stopped and it wasn't right, it didn't feel
right when I was there last year. I bet I should have gone more to
the north before getting stopped, then swing back to a northwest
track. I was in too much of a hurry and I started skipping the proven
method of take a step forward, examine to the left and right, take
another step forward only when you are sure you're on the best path,
etc. On this latest Goggle image I can picture where I was and
with these new shots I feel I can follow around pods of mangroves
in the image.
I'll leave it to you guys to produce a top quality chart from the
websites.
These charts will be examined very closely.
-
-
LOST PORTAGE 2009
Friday - Sunday, 4 - 6 December 2009
Mark your calendar.
-
-
Got this digi-topo of the area in question...It's even mo'btter than terraserver....
CRANK UP THE ZOOM BOYS & GIRLS!
It looks TOUGH!
BTW...HOW BOUT THEM GATORS! - Attachments:
-
-
FL_Tarpon_Bay_20090928_OM_geo.pdf, 13.9 MB
-
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next ›
About
Welcome to
Everglades Exploration Network
© 2024 Created by Keith W.
Powered by
