Fakahatchee River

[Terry]

Vivian asked on 26 January "...is the Fakahatchee River open?", I take that as an

invitation to the next probe.   Faka Union River and East River shown here as

white lines are open excellent canoe routes.  The Fakahatchee River, the blue line, has

the best landing and would make another great addition to a loop trip connecting with

either Faka Union or East River.  The only little reconnaissance I have heard so far is

it's closed up.   Does anybody know anything about the Fakahatchee River from

Tamiami Trail down to Fakahatchee Bay?

[Dallas]

Where is his SPOT information found?

[Terry]

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glld=0ApzOcv...

[Swamp Hunter]

Is this it? http://www.findmespot.com/en/

[Jay]

Little bit of a late start from the East River put in. Met a nice couple from Michigan (Hi Kim and Lou!) out for their first trip down river to fish. Got to Daniel’s Point with a bit of time to spare so I decided to head up the Fakahatchee to take a look at the East Fork.  Got in a couple of hundred yards – did not see any show stopping obstacles – but also didn’t see any cuts  - so I concluded that this probably was not the way north.

Headed down to Fakahatchee Island against fresh breeze and  good chop - made it there @1800.  Camped on the high Oyster bluff just to the east of the cistern.  Intended to get an early start the next AM.  When I woke up, I reached out of the tent to fire up the Thermo-cell and my arm was instantly covered with no-see-ums.  When I pointed my light to the roof of the tent, there were billions and billions (maybe not that many) of the buggers.  Decided to wait a bit in the tent.  Eventually put the bug suit on and broke camp – eating on the water.

Back across Fakahatchee Bay.  Entered the West Fork with the goal being to get to the lakes, follow up the Black Line a bit and then diagonal over to get to where I turned around on Probe 1. If I could not get east to diagonal over, my plan was to try and continue north on the black line.

Got to the lakes in about 45 minutes.  Pretty clear.  The tide was quite low but I was able to clear all but two deadfall logs from in the canoe.  The water was only waist deep and the bottom was pretty solid with good footing. Lots of cuts – so I was certain I was on the right path….to somewhere.  Many Juvi Tarpon in that fork - guarantee cuttoffs with all of the snags  - if you are not cut off - they will probably throw your lure into the trees - but it is fun for a few seconds.

After the lake I headed north on the Black line.   I had to get out  and pull over snags a couple of times. Where I stopped there was a wall of Mangrove roots at N255511.91 W080292.51  They were all alive and there was no way to penetrate them. I got out of the canoe and got up to them to see what was on the other side. It looked pretty clear for the next 30m or so and then the trail bent  and I couldn’t see.  There was no way to clear that wall.   I was actually looking for a trail to diagonal east from this point – but that was not an option – blocked.  I did not see any cuts north of the lake.

I went back to the first lake and probed every opening – but nothing.  I spent some time noodling around the other lakes before heading back down river. Saw some nice Snook in the lake. Lots of wildlife on the West Fork.  Many birds, including this Barred Owl and a couple of raccoons out in the day.

I started up the Center Fork  The tide was flooding and I made pretty good time.  I came across quite a few blockages from live and dead fall…..but I was seeing old cuts the whole way.  The water in this fork is deeper than the West fork so getting out of the canoe was a bit sketchy (chest + deep).  As I was coming up to my time limit to turn back south the snags were getting more serious and getting over them was getting more dangerous so I called it quits and headed south.  When I made the turn, the river was getting thicker and looking more like what I saw in Probe 1.  Passable – but very slow.  Up to the point I made the turn, I was seeing old cuts. The turn point was N255447.14 W0802836.72.

Had to buck the tide and wind to get back to Daniel’s point @ 1520 and rode the flood  back up river – it’s nice to see 6 knots (briefly) on the GPS after a long day.  Ran into Lou and Kim out for another day of fishing and got to the ramp @1730.  No love notes from the Sherriff and my truck was in one piece after a night in the tunnel.

I think the Center fork is the way to go.  It is going to be tough going to make the connection, but there were cuts from the north and also from the south.  You have @1800m to make the connection if you try go that route – good luck!

[Amazon Bill]

Jay, You were really hustling out there with alot of determination. Did you see any cuts heading east in the very first fork along the red line in my photo. This red line was plotted based on high resolution labins photos and there is some topo maps that show a blue creek line along the red line path.

[Jay]

Thanks.

My track is depicted here with the pin as my turn around point.  I did not see any tributaries going east or west off the river along my track on the center fork.  The center fork is much deeper than the west fork.  At my turn point, the river was narrowing and becoming thicker with snags....but nothing close to what sections up north looks like.  You just have to hope there isn't a show stopper in there somewhere....like the west fork.  I think it took me @ 1 hour to get up there from the entrance - a bit less coming back down.

[vivian]

Jay, thanks for the report and all the effort you put into trying to find a way through.  It was fun following you on the SPOT.

[Flex Kayakfari.com]

Yeah thanks bunch for all the scouting Jay, looking forward to this run!!

(Was there a final word on the pre-camping at the Station ??)

[Jay]

Your welcome Vivian and Flex.  Have a great trip!

[Dallas]

Arrgh! I just found out that I have to work on Saturday. My thoughts will be with you all on this adventure. Best of luck to everyone!

[Jim Peele]

I'm here (Collier-Seminole) ready for a little Fakahatchee action tomorrow.  Paddled the Faka Union yesterday, down from Bridge 58.  The water was very skinny for the first few hundred yards around 11 a.m. but I didn't have to get out to push/pull.  Rode the still incoming tide back up and had slightly more water at about 4 pm.  Lots of birds of a wide variety of species yesterday.  And a gorgeous, long snake of undetermined heritage; perhaps one of you can tell me what it was tomorrow when I can show you, I think, a pretty good photo of it.  It was breezy yesterday, but as you know, it's wind-protected in there.  Looking forward to meeting y'all mañana; hope we don't run into a Teddy Roosevelt/River of Doubt scenario!  Cheers!

[yakmaster]

Track at

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0djHtvn...