Bear Lake Side Two location questions: Calusa Cannels & Cattail Lakes

[Miami101]

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Thank you folks for the information you have given me on this site. At this point I feel it time to take a leave, and stop posting on this site for a period of time.

 

Thank you once again. Sorry if my words have offened anyone. It is not a refection of this site, nor the people on this site. Please forgive me, but I was very hurt by the fact that someone of like mind would of tried to band me from the only place in world I find peace.

 

Thank you

Carlos Miami101 AKA John Bob

 

 

 

[Bob Quirk]

I know a Calusa canal is supposed to go from Mud Lake perpendicular to the Bear Lake Canoe Trail then SE to the Gulf. I also believe the guys who dug the canal used some of those lakes for fresh water so it's possible they dug or used some of the routes. How have you een getting there? Are you using a mothership?

[Miami101]

No mother ship good old hard work. E-mail me for details

[Miami101]

If you look at the 1st map and follow the yellow path and beyound you will notice it keeps going. Also I notice there looks to be solid ground on the left side. I have not made it that far yet, but will try again in a few months. I did a few trips out there with Jared E last year to expolrer, and fish.

[Miami101]

I know this posting is going to get removed, but I have to post here my thoughts. I got a call today from the Everglades Park. Yes the park I help clean, and work at on my spare time. I was told that someone on this site told them I was cutting paths in the park, and sent them this link. The person even gave them my number.

This made me get very upset due to the fact I do not support any cutting outside of the parks assigned, and given, supervise by Thomas himself. When I join his team I gave him my word I would follow his rules, and have done so. I also gave my word to Keith on this site that I would follow all the rules, and he told me to join the Swamp Apes so I could add value to the Park that I love so much. In fact if I would of made such a statment about cutting the posting would of been removed of the site. This site follows all the rules, and breaks none.

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Here is my statement no I do not support cutting anything at the park. If there is something in the way you just need to go around it, or go over it. Now I know why I don't post very much....so few of us, and such big ego's. People talk the talk, and working together...but when it comes down to it....we are all animals. Nonthing more just animals!

Thank you
John Bob AKA Miami101

[Wayne Wells]

Several years ago, Congaree National Monument (now a National Park) decided to clear out a large creek that runs right through the middle of the park. We had a hurricane a few years before that had blown hundreds of BIG trees over and in to the creek. This creek had been one of the major ways that people saw and became advocates for the park. Paddling made people like the park. When the paddling went away, so did the publics interest.
That decision to clear the creek of debris caused a near riot within the park staff. One faction believed, and probably still believe, that ANY brush clearing or natural disaster remediation is absolutely not done. The road stops at the park entrance kind of a mentality.
The "Lets clear the trees, and get the public back" faction won the day, and since those days we have become a National Park with all that confers, as opposed to a relatively obscure National Monument.
The "All Natural" crowd was quite mad about that outcome.

To go to the issue in the Everglades, it is very easy to imagine that there are folks who are TOTALLY opposed to even a group like Swamp Apes for the same reason. As far as they are concerned, the pavement should stop at the park entrance. That crowd isn't interested in a compromise between public use and convenience.

[Miami101]

Wanye to be honest I removed the response I was going to post to you.
I think I made my point above, and perhaps in an angree period of the day.

I will call the park on Thursday, and have my laywer contact them. I will let him deal with this matter, and remove myself. There are laws in this country to protect people, and making such statement that someone is breaking a law in a National Park is a big deal.

Thanks for the histroy lession. Speaking about histroy where did the calusa Indain go to?

[Wayne Wells]

They went to Cuba.

[Miami101]

Yes I know my grandfater passed on these stories from old family members past.

[Bob Quirk]

OK guys. Here is the deal with cutting and other non authorized activities in ENP. ENP is over 90% designated wilderness area. Any work out there even to established trails must be approved by the wilderness committee. The people on the committee take their job of protecting the wilderness very seriously and so they should. They are not unreasonable people they are just people who love the glades and do their very best to apply the federal regulations to all projects in the park. And yes some of them probably read web sites like Gladesgodeep.

Recently there have been incidents in the park where people have been cutting, trashing or collecting plants or animals in the park. So we can expect an increase in enforcement in the park. I for one think this is a good thing.

Why do I support enforcement? Well the end of the Bear Lake walkiing trail is a good example. This path was opened as part of an approved project by the Swamp Apes. It's proximity to the Flamingo campground, natural beauty and penetration of the wilderness all make it a jewel in the parks collection of trails. People from all over the country and the world now use it to get a taste of what the interior of the park looks like. This is the positive, now the negative. Almost as soon as the path was opened a group of fishermen, laid claim to the trails end area. I have personally observed them taking bikes and large dogs back there, both in violation of park regulations. I have seen them with illegal fish including snook and black drum. I have packed out large garbage bags full of their trash. I have had the pleasure of smelling their excrement (there are times when it smells like a sewage treatment plant) and seeing the sides of the trail decorated with their used toilet paper. The last time I was out there I saw several mangroves that were hacked up apparently because they got in the way of casting their fishing lines. So yes I encourage the park to enforce the rules and I have even had second thoughts about opening up access to these areas. WITH INCREASED ACCESS THERE MUST BE INCREASE ENFORCEMENT!

So if you received a courtesy call from the park concering increased enforcement count yourself fortunate. (BTW: I recently got a call questioning the wisdom of an internet post.) Your contact information is on your volunteer form and they are trying to protect you. Also, be advised that being a member of an approved project team does not constitute permission to cut where ever or when ever you like. You must let your volunteer supervisor and the park you are out working and you must let them know where you are.

So what is my advice to the folks on this site whom I count as kindred spirits. Well first I must be foolish and mention things that I think go without saying: don't trash, cut, poach, or otherwise harrass the wildlife in the park. Then there are some less than obvious things we probably should do. First be careful with your words on web sites such as this one, they are for public consumption. We should strive to support the park rules and staff in all our posts. We should try not to sound like neanderthals who leave big footprints in the park and disregard rules we think are foolish or don't agree with. If we are opening up trails or planning big trips we should make the extra effort to make sure the park knows and approves of what we are doing. We need to make the effort to be the biggest supporters of the ENP staff and the wilderness committee.

[Gary M]

The abuse of the end of the Bear Lake Trail has been going on for a long, long time. The recent clearing of the Trail just made it easier for them.

But, other than that, I agree 100% with what Bob just said.

Miami 101...

Back in the 80s, when the Bear Lake trail went through to East Cape I spent a lot of time out there, but I never could get to the northern lakes, even then.

The Calusa Canal is pretty obvious, still, on Google Maps. It cuts SW from Mud Lake and generally followed the Bear Lake Trail for a while before cutting along the ridge and SE to Snake Bight near the Rowdy Bend Trail swamp. The dip in the Bear Lake Trail skirts the large midden that is kinda famous (Bear Lake Mound) and the Calusa Canal was the main access to that. It kinda looks like it was an ancient toll plaza to me. There are remnants of an even older canal near where Snake Bight Trail is today.
The high ground area you are interested in below Raulerson’s Marsh and the west end of Bear Lake caught my attention years ago too, but I was never able to get near it due to low water. On a whim, about 2-3 winters ago on Christmas vacation, when the winds were too strong to paddle anywhere, I hiked out the (then closed) Coastal Trail and up to that high ground area. It was tough. While it quite well may have been a midden , in the recent past (before the Park was established) it definitely was used by settlers.
There are some interesting archeological reports about the Calusa Canal and the Bear Lake Mound at one of the S FL university libraries, but I don’t remember where I found them.

[Gary M]

Bob,

A question: who or what is the Wilderness Committee? And how would one contact them?

Thanks.

[Miami101]

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