Bucket List 2013/14

[Amazon Bill]

Looks like another Fall and Winter season has come to an end.  

      What trips do you hope to do this coming season?

This was my 2nd season with EEN, added a couple of minor events to the bucket list went to Mud Lake and volunteered one day. Best trip was camping with my son and inviting old friends to Mud Lake and introducing them to the Backcountry. Biggest lesson learned, double check the meet up site before the last day!

• Goals this year
• Get down Taylor Slough
• Help find a Mahagony to Shark short cut to set up future one day Shark Slough runs
• Family holiday trip
• Find back route to East Cape via Bear Lake Canoe Trail
• Volunteer again

 

[Gary M]

Jay

If you want company let me know when you are going and I may join you.

It appears on GE that you might not have to portage over the plug at EC Canal any more. I don't remember that small creek off the east side of ECC going through, but it sure looks that way now. It appears that when the plugs were breached there was quite a bit of current or tidal flow that changed a few things since I stopped going out there. I've been kinda curious as to how it changed.

If I remember right, its like 8 miles to ECC and its really best to ride in with the tide or the current is a bummer. So its a long day and it takes some planning. Were you going to camp?

Depending on the winds and tide I could take my large canoe and a motor to minimize the time/effort. I have towed a second canoe many times if you would like the option.

[Jay]

Gary - definitely interested.  Send me an email at jayfthomas at gmail.com and we can continue the discussion there.

Jay

[Jay]

Looks like we have some new GE imagery to work with.  That area looks like 1/23/13.  I have seen other areas in the park with imagery as late as mid-march.  I am hoping to make it up there too.

vivian said:

Lost portage is on my list next season!

[Amazon Bill]

I did it! Through a long series of trial and error of low-tech hunt-n-peck, the photo below is a screenshot of GE with an Overlay that was created using high resolution images from Labins.org and ArcMap. Bring the attached overlay .kmz into your GE and modify the properties to allow the original GE image underneath to be seen. The Labins image appears to be at a lower tide.The yellow guess-routes won't show up.

[Jay]

Nice Bill.  I will be tracking the weather as the week progresses to see if a coordinated push from both sides is possible.  It is an afternoon high tide...we'll see.

[Gary M]

Cross your fingers... it looks like the weather just might cooperate. A lot of rain during the week would not be a bad thing either.

And thanks for the tip about Labins Bill... I wasn't aware of that site.

Jay said:

Nice Bill.  I will be tracking the weather as the week progresses to see if a coordinated push from both sides is possible.  It is an afternoon high tide...we'll see.

[Jay]

So yesterday I went down to Bear Lake - more specifically 64M to see what I could see. I exited Bear lake into the - I'll call it a lake to the west.  Max depth in there is probably 18"-24" much of it 6"-12" especially in the western section. The water level was about like I remember it a couple of years ago.  The water is skinny, but the mud bottom is such light density, you can paddle through it - very interesting stuff.

I was able to paddle to the point I call 64M.  The area did not look impenetrable, so I exited the boat. The muck was @ knee deep until I got a few feet from the shoreline.  Then it firmed up to mostly ankle deep (when you couldn't find some sticks to stand on) to occasionally shin deep.  Not bad at all.  I was able to make my way across the 64 meters in @3 min and 30 seconds to the point I call BearExit.  It seemed longer - but I took a video and looked at it this AM and it was that quick.  In the track you will see a lot of noodling around - I am pretty sure most if it was GPS drift.

As for water flow - maybe some at the highest tides.  It was actually a lot drier than I thought it would be.

On the first image there was a point I call SPush.  I intended to go down there and see what that looked like, by my track it looks like I turned too early and bailed out when the water was only a couple of inches deep.

Fishing - The previous two trips I had fun with Tarplets and Snooklets - none this time.  There were fish back in there - I think they were Reds - but for the life of me I could not get them to eat.

Could you portage a boat through there?  I think absolutely.  Solo probably not so fun.  Are you going to be a  little mucky on the other side - yep - but it washes off. 

So I need to put together a couple of days to hit it from the west.

[toofaraway]

I understand some folks not wanting to cut, but to me given the history of that area I don't think it'd do any harm.  If someone were to open up the portage I wonder if the crocs and gators would keep it clear.

[Gary M]

Toofaraway...

While I do not cut... the rules are the rules... I have an old friend who has fished the 'Glades for over 50 years and every time we go along the coast in his boat, and see what Wilma did to the mangroves, he can't help but mention that it is illegal to even tie a rope to a mangrove tree.

He's a sarcastic old fart, but his point is that even if every camper tied a hammock between two trees, (or if paddlers cut out a few portages?) there is no way people could come close to the damage that one hurricane does in a day.

[Jay]

Well my kids got me a GoPro for Christmas and I took it on the trip. I put together a video if anyone is interested. 

http://youtu.be/vYfSDOdX1iU

The portage section starts @8:30.  I shot it in HD if you have high speed internet.

[Dallas]

Nice footage Jay. The GoPro really takes crisp video.

Jay said:

Well my kids got me a GoPro for Christmas and I took it on the trip. I put together a video if anyone is interested. 

http://youtu.be/vYfSDOdX1iU

The portage section starts @8:30.  I shot it in HD if you have high speed internet.

[Jay]

I didn't see any indications of recent reptile activity in the area of 64m.  Seemed like a rip place though.

toofaraway said:

I understand some folks not wanting to cut, but to me given the history of that area I don't think it'd do any harm.  If someone were to open up the portage I wonder if the crocs and gators would keep it clear.