Ferguson Bay Loop

[Terry]

On Saturday 4 February 2012 Esther, Flex, Amanda, Dan, Kara and I launched 2 canoes and 2

kayaks from the Gulf Coast Ranger Station at 07:30.  It's a good loop, very open and clear the

entire way, we got back to the ranger station at 15:00.

Paddlers like mangrove tunnels but you haven't seen them like this.  Barron Creek, barely

visible on Goggle Earth from 53.000'N and 23.134'W to 53.157'N and 23.284'W, is a

hidden-from-satellite airboat size tunnel!  There's a shallow lake just to the east of Ferguson Bay

but we were able to push/paddle the boats through the thick muddy water at low tide.  Most of

Ferguson River is a more natural, deep water, beautiful tunnel through a tall mangrove forest,

the river widens as it approaches Lane Cove.

There's airboat traffic on the east side of the Everglades National Park boundary line but it's no

different than being passed by power boaters.  Even though we could hear many in the distance

we were only passed twice by the same airboat.  The passages are very channelized so paddlers

are not hidden as they are in open grass areas.  These same tight twisting channels force the

airboats to go slow so paddlers only need to get to the side when they hear an airboat coming

their way.  The airboats seem to wake up at about 09:00 and by 10:00 they can be heard in

full force, so a smart approach is to get an early start and get past the canal that parallels the

old highway to Everglades City at 52.966'N and 23.046'W.

This connects the Big Cypress National Preserve canoe trail network with the canoe trails

of northwest Everglades National Park and Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve.  Using this

route paddlers can stay in the back country all the way from Turner River to West Pass Bay.

[vivian]

Excellent! Glad it worked out and the airboats let you cross through "their domain".  Did you notice any other places to launch along the road or is the ENP up the Barron with the tide the best solution? 

[Terry]

The situation, well defined creeks and channeled slots carved out by decades of airboats, makes

airboats and canoes compatible.  I imagine they zoom up and down that north/south canal along

the old dirt road but canoers aren't going to use that airboat interstate.  The canoers are going to

use the tight, twisting natural creeks where the airboats have to go slow anyway.    They are ridiculously

noisy providing plenty of warning time to get over to the side or in a small cove.

We found the airboat threat not to be a problem and it was a friendly greeting by the one

that passed us.   Frankly, I've witnessed worst interactions with power boaters in the creeks along the WW.

There's a little roadside park at the CR29 bridge on the north side of town at 52.309'N and 22.943'W

that looked like another good entry.   We started the loop where it made the most sense for the tides

during this day, we had low tide in the morning so if we started up at the bridge we would have been

fighting an ebb in the afternoon to get back up to the bridge.   For anyone doing this loop the best

combination would be to start at the bridge a high tide.   This way you'd start closest to the airboat

zone so you could get through and to the ENP boundary probably before the airboats start swarming.

Remember the further west you go the more you get away from the hive, also, it was dead quiet before

09:00 even up around 09:30 (I'm guessing their operations probably start at 09:00 but they don't get

underway until 09:30ish).   This way you would also have high tide to cross that one shallow lake,

ride the ebb out Ferguson River and by the time you'd get back to Barron River you could catch the

begining of flood back to the bridge.

Either starting site puts you right between the canoe networks to the east and to the west.

All in all, our group found this to be a fine canoe loop.  Paddling the length of Ferguson River is quiet

and beautiful making up for any inconvenience in the anything-goes-zone.

[Esther Luft]

Truly spectacular journey.  Watching the airboat suck in water ahead of its arrival was quite a sight.  I thought I had a good photo but, arg, water spots.  We stopped for a bit while we tried to become accustomed to the sounds.  In the end, the vibration on the hull was the best indicator the airboat was in range.  Within moments it became visible while seated.  The airboat Captain was a gentleman slowing his boat so as to minimize spray.  I think he even waved once.  See, we can play well together.  Plus, they help keep passages open so that we can make it through.  I love airboats.

As to that mud pit before Ferguson, it was pretty thick.  At one point I foolish attempted to pole off the bottom with my paddle.  It was inserted into the soup up to the throat of the top blade and still no bottom to be found.   The more we paddled the more viscous the mud, or so it seemed.  Stay closer to the mangroves, the water is deeper there, so I recommended before I headed straight through the mud pit.  Yes, there was more water near the trees but not under my boat.  It was awesome!

The scenery was beautiful and fishing seemed as it it would be spectacular.  I will be back, probably very soon.

The tides on Saturday where interesting.  We left at about 7:30 am but the tide was still ebbing as we paddled up the river.  We hit the mud pit at about 11:00 am/11:30 am.  High tide was reported at Barron for 1:22 pm so you would think it was flooding; however, when we entered Ferguson Bay we had a very nice ride out.  So what tide tables should we use for this trail?  Below are the reported tides for various stations.  What effect do they have in the backbays and what time deviations should we apply?  Thoughts, feedback?

Tides for Everglades City, Barron River starting with February 4, 2012.
Low  7:29 AM      - 0.2
High 1:22 PM      +2.0
Low  7:21 PM      +0.7

Tides for Indian Key starting with February 4, 2012.
Low  5:22 AM      -0.4
High 11:54 AM    +3.0
Low 5:14 PM       +1.3
High 10:45 PM    +4.0

Tides for Round Key starting with February 4, 2012.

Low 5:15 AM        -0.4
High 11:53 AM     +3.0
Low 5:07 PM        +1.3
High 10:44 PM     +4.0

Tides for Pumpkin Bay starting with February 4, 2012.
Low 7:10 AM       -0.2
High 1:38 PM      +1.8
Low 7:02 PM       +0.6

Thanks for enduring me Terry.  I love these trips.

[Esther Luft]

ENP up the Barron was quite nice, easy paddle.  We should plan a fishing trip up the river, through the creeks to Ferguson Bay and back.  There are a few areas I would love to explore.

[Connie Mier]

With all the exquisitely remote areas of the park, paddling with the noise and site of airboats appeals the least to me. Paddling the Barron river tops that off. Glad the tides worked for you to get into the ferguson bay.

[vivian]

Esther I believe that the freshwater levels as well as wind direction also affects water level in that area. A couple of years ago a motor boater I know went up there to fish and got stuck in the mud in one of those creeks had to have helicopter rescue save him after 3 days out there. It was late in the season and water levels had dropped significantly. So tides may not have much impact up in some of those areas.

This guy was quite experienced and has been fishing there for many years. Where he had always been able to get through bottomed out and broke his paddle trying to get unstuck.

[Esther Luft]

The noise was the downside but the scenery in the creeks was spectacular.  We usually get mangroves and more mangrove; here, we had peat stacked up quite high for the area with healthy marsh grasses growing in abundance.  Fish were evident.  There were several spots that looked good for a hike too.

[Esther Luft]

You're right about the influence of water level.  You could see where the water was a few feet higher at some point in time.  You could see the root bases of the marsh grasses had been submerged.  The area was boggy in a way.  We need to see what measuring stations are in the area.   

[Terry]

Connie, you're absolutely right there's a lot of nicer areas so doing this kind of trip is for the

one who as been to the nicer areas.  A kind of try it all type attitude and what we found was

there is uniqueness here as well.

But remember the objective of this probe, it was to find a paddleable route connecting

Barron River to Ferguson Bay.  This connection ties the canoe trail network of BICY with the

trails to the west, East River, Faka Union River, etc.  It also allows the Ferguson River,

a paddle as good as going down Turner River, to be used as a loop and not just an up to

the bay and back trip.   Sure we can paddle to Tiger Key by going through all the usual bays

between it and the ranger station but now an adventurer can start at the BICY Visitor Center

at Seagrape and paddle all backcountry to West Pass Bay on his way to Tiger Key.

Keeping the objective in mind, this probe was a total success.

[Flex Kayakfari.com]

This was a really nice paddle, seeing something new with Close Encounters of the Airboat Kind   ;)

You can hear the airboat operator it revving up & down as (he) winds his boat around the bends of the river.. from far far away. Sounds like some kind of monster chasing you, gaining on you, gonna getcha!!

But he was really courteous & the passengers had something else to look at.

The mangrove tunnel up Barron Creek is spectacular.. gotta go back there for sure. Also the "plains" area just before the peat bog was interesting! The bog was exactly like a bottomless pit or quicksand in the movies. It was like padding (or sliding?) on top of liquid chocolate, yet smelled quite different~  the kind of mud that just swallows something whole & doesn't want to let go. if you capsized here, idk . it would take a team or aerial support!! Good thing it was just a short stretch..

I'll have some cool pics up in a few days @ www.kayakfari.com

[Esther Luft]

I have some mediocre pics now :\  Eh, so so   So Flex, hurry up an get your photos ready.  You surely have at least one good one to share.

[Gary M]

Well, here is an alternative perspective -

From my experience and after confirming with my friend who lives in E. City, I would caution y'all about paddling west of CR29.  The airboat concession folks are not real happy about being excluded from the park area east of 29, and many of the areas to the west are private property, and posted.

Yes, legally, your attorney can argue the navigable waters law, but that does and will not change the reality of meeting up with these bitter folks back in the sticks.  My personal experience with the airboaters was not cordial.  They, in fact, gave me an earfull, and I expect they spread the word as I had further interaction with other boats that had no clients.  I got their message loud and clear... paddlers are the enemy.

If things have changed I'll be out there next week as the fishing near Fergusson Bay can be exceptional.

I'll let y'all be the test dummies though.  Seriously, be careful... get through the creeks east of Ferg Bay early and do the loop, don't return back east during tour hours.