New River Prairie/New River Strand Out to Sunday Bay

[shawn beightol]

I just posted pictures from the epic kayak pull from Highway 41 south to New River Strand to New River.

My 2 friends Leanne and Scott and I did this trip in early 2000.

We pulled 2 days and on the 3rd day reached the New River Strand where the water was sufficient to support the kayaks.  Eventually we were able to get in the kayaks and begin paddling.

In one of the isolate lakes that New River opened wide as, we observed what looked like archaeologic remains of an indian village - posts rotted off at the surface of the lake that looked as though they had once supported houses/huts out over the lake/river.

This was an amazing trip.

[Swamp Hunter]

There are a few environmental groups that continue to sue using taxpayer money to close down ORV use and buggy trails. The claim that airboats and wheel buggys cause permanent damage is just not true. If they took the time to walk out into the swamp they would realize how quickly the swamp comes back. Duriing our earlier hike, we could hardly follow a trail for very long as they just disappeared.

They are wasting government time and taxpayer money because they are misinformed.. Wildlife is now on the decline.. I really hate seeing these historic trails disappear and its very hard to hike anywhere without them. The trails in the Addition Lands will certainly follow suit and the environmentalists will apparently only be satisfied when hikers and hunters cannot access the interior.

shawn beightol said:

 Just SW of this in line with the creek there is a large marsh that is surrounded now by willow that are tough to break through and thwarted Dale, Chris and I last week. However, if you view this clearing in google earth and set the imagery to 1994, you will see jeep/buggy tracks that cross it through the center and probably lead to a boat/airboat launch on the marsh. 

[shawn beightol]

I plan to go this saturday (May 24th) on a 11 mile round trip mountain bike ride down Monroe South trail this Saturday on the ORV trail to the end in order to see how usable it will be as a "jump-off" point for further forays into gatorhook strand or over to New River (its only 2 more miles on foot via an old buggy trail...but that will be for a winter day/weekend campout). 11 miles on mountain bike on the resurfaced ORV trails is like a 4 mile hike. pretty easy stuff.

I usually can get 20 miles on my bike before I feel like dying (that's equivalent to 12 miles hiking on the prairie).

So, this will feel like half-dying ; )

[Swamp Hunter]

Isnt the trail/road a 14 mile round trip? A few years back, I walked the 7 miles to the end and I kept walking. It was pretty much all hard rock or gravel. Some of it was loose rock that they dumped to fill the ruts.  It was in November. It was pretty easy walking but the large loose gravel sections can hurt your feet and may be hard to ride on.   After the road ended, I followed an old ATC trail that may or may not be still visible. It led me to a beautiful dry area in the Pines to camp. It had nice short green grass, some shade and plenty of firewood. The trail eventually faded out and I never reached New River but I was close.

There is a problem on these trails with washouts. Another problem developing is Brazilian Peppers along with Cocoplum are growing on the road banks. Someday in the future it will look like Loop Road, driving down a tunnel with thick vegetation on each side and the NPS will realize they made a mistake building these trail roads.. This is the result of the lawsuits.

[shawn beightol]

Dale, the track I provided above shows 5.5 miles one way.

maybe due to tracing the trail with the distance tool cuts some corners and doesn't follow the trail exactly, maybe you hiked further.

[Swamp Hunter]

The NPS now says its officially 5.82 miles one way but I could have sworn it was 7 a few years ago. Its very possible that it has been shortened because most of the secondary trails have been closed. I remember following a secondary trail at the end.

. I hiked way over 14 miles that day,... easily 20 and I carried my heavy rifle all the way..  

I agree use the trail road for whatever you can get out of it. http://www.nps.gov/bicy/planyourvisit/stair-steps-unit-designated-t...

ADDED: I now see that there is a .35 mile secondary trail and an official Pine Island camp. I dont know if its the same camp I discovered. My camp was not on any designated trail. 5.82 plus .35 and you are over 6 miles.

http://www.nps.gov/bicy/planyourvisit/upload/20130604-SSU-Trail-Det...

shawn beightol said:

Dale, the track I provided above shows 5.5 miles one way.

maybe due to tracing the trail with the distance tool cuts some corners and doesn't follow the trail exactly, maybe you hiked further.

[Chris Meyers]

RE: New River Strand via Monroe South ORV trail

 

Hello Dale & Shawn,

Not sure if Shawn already tried the Monroe South trek or not. For what it’s worth…

 

I've ORV'd & camped Monroe South a number of times over the years. Can't tell y'all the exact distance to the end, but I can say this...

- Echoing Dale above, the road is loose gravel. You'll need wide spongy tires Shawn.

- The end of the main road stops dead in the middle of a pine island and it’s tight. Had a heck of a time twisting the buggy around. From what I recall there's a lot of capstone, you will certainly have to walk your bike through there. Also seem to recall a footpath leading off to the south.

- Shawn shows start/end on his google.map above. I believe the secondary trail Dale refers to is actually a mile BEFORE the end of the trail. It runs south-southeast off the main trail.

 BiCy - Monroe South ORV Trail - Secondary Rd start

 

Hope that helps out some. If you have time I’m sure we’d all appreciate an update on your trip.

Chris

Dale said:

The NPS now says its officially 5.82 miles one way but I could have sworn it was 7 a few years ago. Its very possible that it has been shortened because most of the secondary trails have been closed. I remember following a secondary trail at the end.

[shawn beightol]

Chris and all:

3 of us left Monroe Station on Saturday, May 24 at 830 AM on the Monroe South ORV trail - myself, a member of the Florida Trail Association's Happy Hoofers (Broward chapter) and a colleague from FIU who has done some other hiking and biking with me.  Here's the track: http://goo.gl/maps/FTYIa 

As you know, the ORV trails have been lined/"stabilized" with limestone rock.  The rock is not optimized for standard mountain bike tires (I have 26X1.95" kevlar off road tires and self sealing tubes - I haven't had a flat since putting these on over 1.5 years ago after 240 miles on the ORV trails ).  I did not find the trail to be difficult and do not think anyone with experience mountain biking would find it difficult.  However, the FTA person fell back over the first 2 miles and then called me saying he had a flat tire.  We had spares but he declined a repair and walked back out.

We rode on to the pine island hammock you described at the end of Monroe South, 5.8 miles in total, arriving at 1030 AM.

 My traveling companion had become flushed from the heat and hard going.  We rested a few times.

Once we reached the end of the ORV trail in the hammock (denoted by Park Service signs), we pushed on via an old buggy trail that I had seen on GE images.  There were rough solution holes initially and a "wipeout" in one of them led us to walk the bikes another half mile until we re-emerged on the northwest side of the hammock on a prairie.

The mosquitoes are back and the push through the hammock was nearly intolerable.  The prairie was clear but bright/sunny hot. 

The distance from this prairie trail point to New River is about 2.5 miles and promises to be an easy jump off point for explorations to both New River and south into the Gatorhook strand.

I have a bicycle trailer that I plan to load with gear and supplies this winter to set up a base camp for a week's exploration either before or after Christmas.  I hope some of you will venture down and join me.

View Larger Map

[shawn beightol]

The URL that shows Fort Harrell at the head of the Atco-to-paka river is wrong.

The correct URL is:  http://scholar.library.miami.edu/floridamaps/view_image.php?image_n...

shawn beightol said:

Chris H, Dale and I (all met on Everglades Exploration Network after posting about Fort Harrell) hiked Saturday, May 10, 2014 from 730 AM until 6 PM for a total of 13.5 miles. We ran out of trail miles at a time and had to bushwack on the way home several times.

We noted/passed the most northern extent that Smallwood's recollection of where the fort MIGHT be 5-6 miles up the New River (this is in George's Strand 1/2 mile NE of the terminus of the New River...but the strand is big there and we did not search it as we had been hiking 2 hours and were already feeling the pain of high stepping the sawgrass. A thorough search of this strand/river really needs a base camp approach.

.

We then went on to a hexagonal clearing I had identified from satellite images going back to 1994 and found that it was a hexagonally shaped...pond. It had dried out to seccession. A search of it revealed no suggestions that it contained any evidence of having been a fort.

We then went on to the location where Copeland's 1947 map has the label "Ft Harrell" and found a large hollow or depression with old trees surrounding a gatorhole that had been there a long time. as we sat resting in the shade, we noticed what appeared to be the straight line/edge of a wall/concrete sill. Closer inspection revealed that it was a hand hewn cypress log that had been squared with tools, but not completed. It appeared to have a lip carved into it for overlapping like "tongue and groove." We uncovered what we could and realized that it was only worked for 2/3s its length. We agreed that it was not in a strategic or sensible location for a fort since it was in what was likely a large pond during wet season and the ground even now was spongy and moist. We thought it had either been felled there and had begun to have been shaped for placement in a structure then abandoned or that it had floated there during high water on some stormy day then buried. I believe it certainly should be carbon-dated to see if it dates back 180 years. If so, then I believe Copeland's sense of the location of Ft Harrell was very close to fact. Further testing and searching of this area is necessary, as the following paragraph will further support.

Next, we trekked the half mile north to the extreme north headwaters of the Modern New River. As we entered the brush and foliage that grows dense around such waterways (there were no mangroves here), we encountered dense and ancient (as evidenced by size and girth of trunks) groves of Brazilian Pepper, which seem to grow best where land has been disturbed. We worked a VERY short distance due to the extreme density and hard going of the southern bank of what would have been a sizable creek with sufficient water available (summer rains and/or higher sheet flow from the north prior to the completion of tamiami canal, alligator alley, and the side roads that bisected strands and sources of water draining south into these creeks and rivers. We noted that in several locations the Brazilian Peppers grew there might have been a place to build a camp or a fort with access to the creek, which was lower and below a very visible rock ledge that ran the length of the creek bed. A recent camp did not seem likely do to the absence of rusting sheet metal, box springs and other metallic debris often left at abandoned hunt camps. Having exhausted ourselves hacking through Pepper underbrush, we headed back to the gatorhole and hewn log for lunch before skirting the gatorhole to look for other evidence then headed south to see Blarcom's hypothesized Ft Harrell site and where he estimated Copelands Marker to be.

Blarcom's lat and long for both his estimate on the fort and copelands marker are in the middle of a young cypress prairie (their size suggests young, though their bases were bulbous and made me wonder if they weren't just dwarf/bonzai due to a limestone shelf just below the marl). There was NOTHING to suggest a fort or a marker in that vicinity. No mounds, no high grounds with hardwoods growing. Nothing but an old ORV/buggy trail heading NE which I had ID'd from google earth as a possible exit.

We began our 6 mile trek NE back toward Tamiami on this buggy trail and I have to say it was one of the best trails I have walked ANYWHERE. We followed its meandering course through the cypress prairie SE of the New River Strand and almost skipped our way out it was so smooth and solid. Unfortunately, it made a turn East after 1.5 miles from the Blarcom Fort Estimate and we had to say goodbye to "easy street." On further inspection of this trail, it turns east and eventually connects with the Monroe South ORV trail and extends SW past Blarcom's estimated fort location down and then west to cross New River at the Airboat trail. For these 2 reasons I believe the ORVAC should continue the Monroe South ORV trail down to New River and across to connect with the proposed Skillet South ORV trail: 1) Ft Harrell is reputed to be in that location and that alone is a worthy, cultural/historical destination of interest to many different types of people, especially if Blarcom's estimates are used (as wrong as they are....) 2) New River is an EXCELLENT destination for a primary trail for purposes of canoe/kayak launches like Turner River and the ability to access this by connecting with Skillet South make this a very interesting route either from the water north to either skillet or Monroe (both have parking) or from Monroe to Skillet/vice versa.

Due to the difficulty of hiking the distances necessary to reach the New River headwaters, the next step will be to either hike down on a Friday afternoon (it can be reached in 2-3 hours), explore the upper clearings of interest on Saturday, then hike back up on Sunday. Alternatively...or after the rains begin, it would be easier perhaps to paddle up from Chokoloskee to the 2-3 clearings of interest on this main part of the New River. However, in light of the information that the fort is likely in the Cypress where there is a rocky hammock at the headwaters of New River and the fact that prior to the building of the Tamiami Canal there would have been even more water available in the New River, my inclination is to continue searching the southern shore of the uppermost headwaters.

Such a venture would likely happen in late May or early June and last Friday - Sunday.

I want to thank Chris and Dale for the enjoyable company on a trying but beautiful hike and exploration.

Resources:

http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/galleries/State/1840-1859/index.php - see the option of opening the old maps as overlays in google earth!
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/map_sites/states_sites.html#florida
http://www.mapofus.org/florida/

Copeland's 1947 map - http://i.colliergov.net/museum/albums/Maps/1947%20Collier%20County%...

Colliergov.net: "Fort Harrell Site: This early U.S. fort was established during the Second Seminole War and was abandoned in 1842. It was located at the head of the New River, in the southern Big Cypress Region. In 1986, the site could not be located. However, it is believed to be located approximately 3.5 miles south of U.S. 41, within the Georges
Strand area of the Big Cypress. The current condition of the site is unknown. " http://www.colliergov.net/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=777

Blarcom's "Seminole War Artifacts "http://www.amazon.com/Seminole-Artifacts-History-Forts-Florida/dp/1...

reference in Florida's Vanishing Trail to Jaudon and his indian guide resting at Fort Harrell on couches when surveying the route for 41 or for his platting of his lands at pinecrest: see page 179 of http://books.google.com/books?id=HV80mOj8p0AC&pg=PA176#v=onepag...

Here's one that shows Fort Harrall apparently west of Sunday river (or some waterway that runs north nearly to lake O):
http://scholar.library.miami.edu/floridamaps/view_image.php?image_n...
and another: http://scholar.library.miami.edu/floridamaps/view_image.php?image_n...

this one shows it at the head of Cypress Bark Cr (with an indian name I can't read), about where sunday bay/new river should be (notice the angle from Pavillion Key):
http://scholar.library.miami.edu/floridamaps/view_image.php?image_n...

Here's an 1848 map that shows it as Fort Hawell in the general vicinity of the missing New River:http://scholar.library.miami.edu/floridamaps/view_image.php?image_n...

This 1847 shows fort Harrell at the head of Atco-to-paka river:

http://scholar.library.miami.edu/floridamaps/view_image.php?image_n...

Another who apparently traveled by Fort Harrold/Harrell was Burke, as mentioned in this book, "The origin, progress, and conclusions of the Florida war" from 1847-8 (and it's free from google play or to download):
http://books.google.com/books?id=-HAFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1
Here it has been digitized to text: http://archive.org/stream/originprogressa03spragoog/originprogressa...
On page 355 of this book, you will read Belknap's original words theorizing that the OK slough is the source of the New River upon which Fort Harroll is located.

On page 357 he mentions that he is sending rough sketches of his routes, but that he will send better versions. These would be about the time for which we are interested and may lead us to such archived images as the location of Fort Harrell/Harroll as would be needed by military visiting it (particularly for any trying to find it the first time).

There are several messages of Wright's mission, and on page 437, a formal citation is made to Wright's report of his mission dated January 1842 re: his missions Dec 31 1841 through Jan 6 1842

On pages 334-335, an officer Burke details how they made it from Chekika Island to the lower landing (prophets?) then pushed back down through Shark Valley to what would be the wilderness waterway ?? then on up to what sounds like New River (Fort Harrold is mentioned), including the proximity of the pine lands. The point 30 miles NE of Fort Harrold would be about the area of the boundary between big cypress and the everglades then (the landings - prophets, Ft Shackleford, Waxy Hodjos). Page 5 of this pdf, http://journals.fcla.edu/browardlegacy/article/view/78204/75624 , (p ) interprets Burke's words (I think there is room for license)

Regarding the existence of better information on the location of Forts,
this Tequesta article, http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/tequesta/files/2002/02_1_03.pdf , summarizes some military correspondence obtained from the National Archives and, as the newspaper on the rediscovery of Fort Henry mentioned, presents the path to obtaining better information than just what lays scattered around the internet.

Notice on page 8 the 1854 letter from Lieutenant and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General Thomas J. Haines to Washington DC, Haines requests sketches from the Topographic Bureau.
- something we can check into

on page 27 of this pdf (p94 of the journal) it briefly mentions' Pratt's mission to Pavillion

on page 29 (p96 of journal), it mentions the provision of a sketch of south Florida from command to officers (for navigation?). Undoubtedly it would contain authoritative locations of forts.

Not directly related but interesting, Here's an article from 1950 how Hwy 29 was converted from a military trail that was originally an indian "moccasin" trail:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=02A0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=rOsFAAAA...

Beightol's Alternate Theory that today's "New River" is mistakenly labeled New River and was Barnes River in the past (a copying error in updating maps from year to year):

Here is a 1920 biologist's report on a swamp rat that he finds 8 miles east of Chockoloskee on Barnes RIVER. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1373747?seq=2 (see page 80)

Barnes Creek is 5 miles east of Chockoloskee...but today's New River is 7.5-8 miles east depending on if you go up turner river or up lopez river.

If this mix up has occurred, then that would make the next reasonable river/creek that might have been Cypress Bark Creek starting here 25.76349, -81.22581 (mouth) and ending somewhere around here 25.77599, -81.20579 .

Or another creek/river further east.

Biologist Hardisty puts New River 12 miles east of Chockoloskee, right in the strand of the alternate I propose below:
http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID:nmnhvz_441...

More from the swamp rat story:
"In a small, brackish marsh at the head of Barnes River, about 8 miles east of Chokoloskee, I found a small colony of these water-rats and trapped a single specimen. This is the first record from the west coast of Florida, but residents stated that the animals are abundant in similar situations near the head of Turner's River and doubtless all the way down to the coast to Cape Sable."  http://archive.org/stream/journalofmammalo1191920amer/journalofmamm...

Blarcom's text "records states what Copeland said “entering the unnamed bay, in which “Barnes River” has its source, from the last is a small CK to Cypress.” “This is today’s New River on which Old Fort Harrell was located and the site of which was marked and monumented by me in 1941”."

I interpret this way: The unnamed bay is Sunday Bay, from which "Barnes River" opens. From Barnes River is a small creek that leads into the Cypress Hammock NE of the New River.

Blarcom states that Barnes River is today's "New River"

I have to say I am more confused than ever about the relationship between Barnes River and New River.

On the one hand it is said to be NW and run parallel to New River on which Ft Harrell is (However, it was Ales Hrdlicka who said this and he seems to make other mistakes, maybe he is wrong about the 2 names being 2 different rivers?)

I do not doubt that today's New River is this Barnes River. This agrees with the

However, Copeland is quoted by Blarcom: "this is today's New River."

[yakmaster]

Do you think the "old Brazilian Pepper Forest" is a 1800's location? When was Pepper first imported? I know it loves disturbed ground, but would it colonize a place that had been disturbed 50 years before? Not sure? What do the botanists/exotics specialists in the group say. (Tony?)

Also, instead of hoofing it to the site and/or camping, why not swamp buggy/ATV to the end of the "good trail" & walk from there?

Once again KICK ASS BOYS!

 

[Swamp Hunter]

Pepper trees would not have been able to colonize ground that was disturbed 50 years prior but the Brazilian Pepper was introduced to Florida in 1840 as I stated in my earlier post..

My plan was to ATV/buggy to the end but I wasnt able to repair mine and I dont have a bicycle..  You would think the NPS will be using ORVs for future trips now that the site has been discovered..

yakmaster said:

Do you think the "old Brazilian Pepper Forest" is a 1800's location? When was Pepper first imported? I know it loves disturbed ground, but would it colonize a place that had been disturbed 50 years before? Not sure? What do the botanists/exotics specialists in the group say. (Tony?)

Also, instead of hoofing it to the site and/or camping, why not swamp buggy/ATV to the end of the "good trail" & walk from there?

Once again KICK ASS BOYS!

 

[yakmaster]

Who the heck was planting decorative foliage in south Florida in 1840?!?!!?

Dale, I thought you were nuts, but have heard you say enough weird things that were true that I fact checked...But darn if you may not be right!

According to Wikipedia:

"Florida Holly" was introduced to Florida by at latest 1891, probably earlier (Gogue et al. 1974), where it has spread rapidly since about 1940 (Ewel 1986), replacing native plants, like mangroves, with thousands of acres occupied. It is especially adept at colonizing disturbed sites and can grow in both wet and dry conditions. Its growth habit allows it to climb over understory trees and invade mature canopies, forming thickets that choke out most other plants.

According to UF (which I consider much more reliable than the Wik:

Introduction to Florida: 1840s (ornamental) 2

and

HISTORY

Brazilian pepper-tree is a native of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. It is thought to have been introduced into Florida around 1842-1849 as a cultivated ornamental plant

But the most detailed discussion from the Journal of Florida Studies:

Records indicate that Brazilian peppertree was imported into Miami in 1898 and 1899 (Morton 1978), and later into Punta Gorda by Dr. George Stone around 1926 (Nehrling 1944). Recent molecular studies support the historical record. Two genetic types of Brazilian peppertree have been identified in Florida (referred to as A and B), and since their arrival, they have extensively hybridized (Williams et al. 2005; 2007). The western A haplotype was introduced into Punta Gorda from southeastern Brazil, and the eastern B haplotype was introduced into Miami from northern Brazil near Salvador, Bahia (Williams et al. 2005; Mukherjee et al. 2012). These two source populations of Florida's hybrid trees are separated by approximately 800 km in Brazil, and thus, have not had the opportunity to hybridize in the native range. Florida's hybrid trees are therefore genetically distinct from trees that occur in the native range. According to Geiger et al. (2011), Florida hybrids have higher survival, growth rates, and produce more biomass than the parental plants when grown together in a common garden.

There was a long lag period, perhaps 50-60 years, between the time that Brazilian peppertree was first introduced into Florida, and the time it was recognized as invading natural ecosystems (Morton 1978). Lag times may be caused by slow population growth during initial stages of introduction followed by an exponential growth phase, or be a reflection of the time required for the selection of genotypes adapted to novel environments encountered in an introduced range (Mack et al. 2000; Sakai et al. 2001; Crooks 2005). Mukherjee et al. (2012) speculated that the lag period was due in part to genetic adaptations and evolution that followed hybridization of the two genetic types that invaded Florida. Ecological niche modeling suggests that one trait which may have evolved since the introduction of Brazilian peppertree, is cold tolerance. This trait may be responsible for recent northward spread of Brazilian peppertree in Florida and into southern Alabama (EDDmapS 2012; Mukherjee et al. 2012).

Old Lady Smallwood may have had a little holly grove in the back yard!

[Swamp Hunter]

Good information yak. Florida Holly/ Christmas Holly, not to be confused with native Holly. Hogs would certainly be rooting the river banks...and pooping berries. Bears gorge themselves on these berries and poop them out in huge piles. You can easily find these red berry piles in Bear Island in season. Raccoons also and some birds too help spread this exotic pesk. Could the Brazilian Pepper tree site be from 1840?  Its hard to say.   Probably not because many old homesteads have these trees but its possible I think to be from that era as the trees are large. Some areas on the river bank have nothing but these trees. It just means that the site  was at one time completely cleared and/or cultivated. By Indians, early settlers or soldiers, we dont yet know.  We know the soldiers were issued hoes as these have been found at other Seminole War sites. I find these same types of Brazilian Pepper tree forests on Turner River.