Fisheating Creek

[Keith W]

Date: June 2, 2010

 

Location: Fisheating Creek at Palmdale. USGS water gage is located near the bridge on U.S. Highway 27, 1 mile south of Palmdale.

 

Condition: Gage height is at 4.34 ft. as of 10:15 AM on 6/2/2010. Water levels have been rising steadily over the past week and are expected to remain higher than normal through the coming weekend. 

 

I've already booked a spot on the Saturday morning shuttle to Ingram Crossing for an overnight trip this weekend. I'll have a full report of conditions along the creek when I return.

 

UPDATE: The campground store at the Fisheating Creek outpost is under construction and they have a very limited stock of supplies. I recommend that you bring everything you might need for your trip. There are no convenience stores in the area.

[Jared E]

Sounds like fun Keith. Looking forward to your report. I may do an overnighter this month as well.

-Jared E.

[Miami101]

I'm also looking forward to Keith report. Jared we should put this on our to do list.

[Keith W]

Water levels are falling fast. When I arrived at the Fisheating Creek Outpost on Saturday morning water levels had already dropped several inches from the previous high of 4.34 ft. to about 3.8 ft. As of 7:15 AM on 6/7 the levels were down to 3.28 ft.

The upper half of the creek (west of Burnt Bridge) seems to drain faster than the lower half. The water at Ingram was already low enough to require dragging the boat through the shallows to reach the channel. East of Johnson Lake the channel is narrow and there were a few dragovers, especially along the last mile before Matthews Lake.

Once you get past Sand Lake the water levels seem to rise and there is no further problem with shallow water. I camped on a spot of high ground about .75 mile west of Burnt Bridge. Rain moved in about 7 PM on Saturday night and cooled things down, which was a welcome relief from the high of 93 degrees I recorded during the afternoon.

On Sunday morning I was awakened at dawn by a chorus of bellowing gators. I was back on the water by 8:30 AM and took my time heading back, letting the current pull the boat along. Water levels remained high for the rest of the trip and I reached the landing at Fisheating Creek Outpost at 4 PM.

Some observations:

It was HOT! Highs were in the mid-90s both days with high humidity and scant breezes. I brought 3 gallons of water and nearly drank it all. The rain helped bring the temperature down to the mid 70s at night which made for good sleeping weather. Having an O2 Cool battery-powered fan didn't hurt either!

The locals love nothing better than to race their jon boats and Gheenoes up and down the creek on a Sunday afternoon. Keep your ears open for approaching motors and get ready to pull off to the side when you hear them coming. They are generally considerate of paddlers, but the creek twists and turns such that it is hard to see any distance ahead, and they can be practically on top of you before they see you.

Despite the heat and the annoyance of dodging the occasional motor boat, it was a great trip and I never get tired of paddling down one of the most beautiful streams in Florida. I may do this again before the start of the fall semester in August.

The Fisheating Creek Outpost has a new website: check it out

[Miami101]

Good stuff1
Sounds like a great trip................

[Keith W]

The water gage at Palmdale is at +2.64 and rising steadily. I can see a FEC overnight trip in my very near future...

[Michael Palozzola]

I was just in Fisheating creek 2 days ago and the water is actually almost too high (wow I never thought I would say that). The water is currently sitting at 4.9ft ... as of 2 days ago it had spiked to 5.1ft while I was out there. Dry ground is sparse so there are very few camp sites available on the river and a previously un-contemplated issue. since the waters are so high not only are ppl looking for the highest elevations but ANTS are also heading to higher ground. BOTH days I was out on the river when I landed (day 1 south of the campgrounds and day 2 north) There were ants everywhere. Even paying attention to where I was placing my feet I still managed to walk away with 22bites that itch like all hell. So in addition to bringing mosquito repellant (The mosquito's were almost a non issue, yes they were present and without a thermocell I may be stating this different because I was able to see quite a few through my hammock screen in the night but I simply recommend bringing a thermocell and an extra cartridge or 2, i ran it from 6 or 7pm till i went to bed and suffered almost no bites at all) definitely bring some itch relief cause if your heading out while the waters are high it definitely seems to be not if u get bit but when and how many times.

[Keith W]

I consider the ideal water level to be between 3 and 4 feet on Fisheating Creek. When I did my overnight last month it was just under 4 and just about perfect. I camped on the high island that sits about a mile west of Burnt Bridge and it couldn't have been any better. No ants or skeeters. This summer it's been mostly higher than that and today it topped 5.25. I can't wait to see what happens when Isaac blows through and dumps a bunch of rain on C. FL. next week.

[Michael Palozzola]

3-4 is what I was thinking from my observations while I was there ... I'm keeping an eye on the water lvls and plan to be back up there the first weekend the lvls are below 4