Paddling Bucket List

[yakmaster]

I've been whittling down my bucket list...as I add items to it as well. What's on your Bucket List?

Here's what's happened to mine this week:

 

The paddling  bucket list continues to shrink!

 

MANY years ago, Tino & I went to paddle the turner & it was to low too paddle. The folks @ the Ivey House suggested the creek “at the end of seagrape drive” (halfway creek) & for a longer trip someday, “you should try the East River”. We opted for halfway, but after paddling the canal stretch we decided to go off trail & bushwacked what became the 1^st stretch of the alternate loop and the route over to the Barron that is now (finally) on the official park maps & referred to as the Bushpaddler route, because that’s where we almost killed the Superintendent showing him it could be done (Pedro hasn’t gone out with us since…but it is on the maps).

 

But the rivers west of 29 remained a mystery. This weekend 8 paddlers took off on a loop to come down the Faka Union & return, up the east.  It is important to note that no one in our group had paddled the Faka Union or knew anyone who had in recent times & it isn't even on the Fakahatchee Strand trail maps. Sue Cocking from the Herald had done the east about 10 years ago & informed us at the launch “oh yeah, it’s kind of hard to follow & easy to get lost & it took about 10 hours to get to the bay”. Considering that I had to be home for dinner, this did not bode well. It was even more worrying when none of the trip organizers would take credit for the idea of doing this loop. Terry said it was Sue’s Idea, Sue said Terry came up with the crazy plan.

 

Failure is an orphan, but success has many fathers!

 

And about halfway through the 15 mile paddle, Sue said “well thinking about it, it must have been 10 hours round trip”; by the end of a GLORIOUS paddle, everyone said that THEY were the ones that said this was a good idea!

 

But that isn’t even the oldest or most grandiose bucket list item scheduled to fall this month…

 

Nearly 30 years ago a small band of law students from THE University of Florida were too broke to take the turnpike home. So taking US27 (which back then had 1 traffic light between Leesburg and Hialeah) they drove down through the middle of the state and as they passed the Lake, they saw the beginning of the Miami Canal. Being theoretical wilderness paddlers (theoretical because none of them had ever paddled more than 5 miles or slept unsupported in the wilderness) one of them said, next year we should put a canoe in here & paddle down to Hialeah…

 

On further discussion with people that had actually paddled more than 5 miles and had actually slept in the backcountry, they were told that this was an ugly trip (always in the canal) and besides, the South Florida Water Management thugs will catch you & drag your ass out. These “knowing paddlers” said “if you want a nice trip, try the wilderness waterway”! Two years later, the WW trip became a reality and, arguably, the Bushpaddlers were born.

At the end of that 1^st trip a ranger said, ”if you can do the waterway  in just over 5 days, you should try paddling across the bay to the keys and then you can try to paddle down the shark; a couple of rangers tried that last year, but they had to be flown out”…

 

Over the years I did the cross bay trip and researching the shark river led me to Tony Pernas & his various exploits and more than a few record setting trips…some of which I was along for the ride…or the drag & I’ve paddled & hiked more miles with Terry & Keith than some may feel is healthy…

 

But the original trip, down from the lake, that started it all, remained undone. It had been relegated to the deep dark bottom of a forgotten corner of the bucket list. And even though I’ve done several sick trips and have seen the passage from grass to creek on the shark…I haven't paddled the trip.

 

Fast forward to the present…

 

Next Wednesday I take off from just south of the lake…ok not on the Miami canal and we may not paddle the Miami Canal till day 4…but I will paddle it for a bit if only to get to the L-67 on my way down to 41 by the res instead of ending up in Hialeah…but the concept is the same and I don’t have to worry about the South Florida Water Management thugs…they’re coming along for the ride!

 

And if I behave, next year they’ll let me paddle the Shark with them all the way from 41 to Florida Bay!

 

The trip is organized by the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation the non-profit affiliate of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee NWR. They started a couple of years ago up in the Kissimmee. Year one, they paddled down the Kissimmee, year two across the lake…& here we are for the next leg!

 

If you want to see the adventurers off, we’ll be leaving from the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge on the 18^th @ 8AM. We’ll be sleeping along the levees. On the night of the 20^th we’ll be sleeping by Sawgrass  Recreation Park in Weston and on the 23^rd we’ll be by the Valujet Memorial on the L-67 off of US-41!

 

Festivities are planned on 41 on the morning of the  24^th where we will meet with Kaptain Tony’s daughter and her Miccosukee students and  Carlton Ward who is walking from Flamingo to Georgia…& you thought we were nuts… COME ON OUT!

 

Technology permitting, you’ll be able to follow the trip at: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0djHtvn...  .

We will also be transmitting daily webcasts to local schools.

 

If you want to get on the feed, the webcasts will be available to anyone with an internet connection.

http://breeze.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/riverofgrass2012/  login as a guest!

 

 

 

See you on the Water

Charlie

 

For more information regarding the Bush Paddlers and/or South Florida Paddling please remember to go to our website at:

http://www.bushpaddlers.org/

 

 

 

[Terry]

Is the Tamiami Trail to Canepatch leg of the trip next year?

That would be about the right number of years for me to do

the slough again.   Maybe even use this year to find a

closer L-67 breakout over to Airboat Trail Hammock.

Or, better yet, start at the airboat ramp down near

Shark Valley Tower.  Use the remainder of this season to

survey the best route off Main Street over to Pa-hay-okee

so one-day paddlers could go from Shark Tower to

Pa-hay-okee Tower.   Could the 2012 Invitational be

combined in this group trip?

[Keith W]

Charlie, I'm envious! This will be a great trip. I wish I could be there for the finish. Good luck!

[Terry]

Don't tell me a Faka Union River / Ferguson Bay

paddle into Everglades City by west coast paddlers

isn't done regularly.  This is screaming for canoes.

If the blue line isn't being done, do the Everglades City lovers need a Bill Ashley Jungles

explorer to come over to show you how it's done?

[vivian]

I've had that on my list of routes to explore Terry, maybe we should plan a day to go in there with a nice incoming tide up the Fergussen. By the time we get out of the maze the water will be falling.

The only worry I have is not knowing  after you get out of the maze into the upper part of the Barron River, how much of a problem it would be with all the airboats operating up in there.

Charlie, can't wait to see you trip report and pics. Be safe and have a great time!

[yakmaster]

don't worry Rick Poston is keeping me in line...

[Terry]

This is interesting and would be an easy route to survey which could reveal

a great one day trip using either East River or Faka Union River.

All the exploring is easy, just the segment from Barron River over to Ferguson Bay.

Launch on the Barron River and you're immediately exploring, once you make it

to Ferguson Bay it's game over since Ferguson River is showing depth soundings

on the nautical chart.   That means that's easily passable.   Since we did

Faka Union River last Saturday we know all that's open.

It starts smack dab in the middle of honky-tonk but the route makes so

much sense it might even make me wear Bermuda shorts, wing-tips with socks

and hang a camera around my neck for a day.

Vivian keep this high on the to-do list, let me study this some more and maybe

we can organize something.   It looks so inviting I can't believe people aren't

already paddling it if it can be done.   Then again while I was preparing for the

Faka Union / East River trip I couldn't even find many people who have paddled

down the Faka Union, an open, beautiful, ready to put on the brochure as is

route.

[toofaraway]

The Dismal River in Nebraska was a surprisingly fun paddle trip.  If you happen to find yourself in NW Nebraska it's worth a visit:)

[yakmaster]

We did it!

The crew is spending the night on the L-67C before wrapping it up & going back north. I opted to get a shower & a soft bed before joining them for tomorrow's wrap up.

But it's done! The first few days were along the eastern rim ditch, it was kind of boring becuase you were practically in the city...but while on one side you had the homes of Boca, Delray & Coral Springs...you had endless miles of grassland on the other side of your viewscape. At Pompano we headed west into no-man's land & portaged over US-27, passed under I-75 & made our way over to the Miami Canal at the L-67A. From there over to the L-67C...& two days of straight paddling, but very nice because the L-67C is much narrower than most of the canals we paddled and was really where the sawgrass started. Most of the northern grasses were cattails & maidencane.

Got out into the grass a few times on the last leg & really enjoyed it!

Special Thanks to the folks at the South Florida Water Management District for granting us a special permit to camp on the levees along the route.

Keep an eye on Radio Green Earth http://radiogreenearth.org/blog/ because Jim Jackson was along for the ride & will be covering it in upcoming episodes.

So here's the track:

 

[yakmaster]

The last remaining item on the bucket list is done!

 

This weekend with Terry's help we found the way out of the L-67 and into the grass. After we bid Terry ado, we continued all the way down.

 

I bailed out at Oyster bay (thanks Rainer & Noel!!!) but the rest of the folks paddled all the way to Flamingo!

 

Flex will surely have a better trip report than I can do, so I will leave it to him!

 

In the meantime, here's some videro of the trip on drpbox:  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kf1qsjf0ay7hjj7/MWBfq_bqtg

(you can subscribe to drpbox for free at: http://db.tt/VarLZhpF     )

 

I've also attached the google earth file. It's all paddle strokes until Oyster, after that the pace picks up a bit!

 

Now I'm looking forward to something new to add to the paddling bucket list, any ideas?

 

Did somebody say  "Shingle Creek"?

 

    

[Terry]

We really need to find a reasonable route to connect Pahayokee with Main Street.

That connection would open the door to many possiblities - One day runs down

Shark Slough, loops from Pahayokee to Rookery Branch to wherever, how about

starting/ending the WW at Pahayokee, not to mention an excellent parking lot and

canoe landing area.    It's just too good, Pahayokee has got to be connected to

the canoe trail network.

[Miami101]

Sounds great you always have some good trips in the works.

[Miami101]

This looks like a great trip did you completed?  How long do you think it would take to completed it?