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Summer time! Trips this month: 8
6/1/07
Time for my annual birthday paddling! Today I got 50 whacks in honor of officially becoming an old man of that age. Although I would have liked to have paddled in a more interesting location the plans we had for the big celebration meant that I needed to spend at least a little time working around the house and settled on Cedar Point Creek. My intention was to paddle north toward the road and possibly check to see it the squatters were still anchored there but as I headed toward the confluence point I could hear an odd buzzing sound - like a hive of bees except mechanical coming from the direction of the Intracoastal Waterway. When I spotted a rooster tail of water spray zooming through the marsh at a high rate of speed I assumed the worst - Jetskis but a few seconds later a fishing boat appeared and zoomed toward Clapboard Creek.
He was followed a few seconds behind by another and then another - all of the same approximate size and configuration and all with exactly two occupants and all following the same path and heading apparently to the same destination. Over the next 30 minutes, as I approached the sea daisy island at the confluence point another dozen or so boats came zooming down Cedar Point Creek separated by no more than five minutes. I soon realized that there must be a fishing tournament of some kind going on and not wanting to confront a fleet of fishermen trying to outrun fish or each other in the narrow Cedar Point Creek at mid-tide I decided to head east from the sea daisy island and possibly go out to the waterway. As the tide rose, however, I noticed that the fishermen started coming from the Hannah Mills direction and probably in the three hours or so that I was out there I saw at least 30 boats - more than I usually see in a year in this location. Some of them were brightly painted on the sides with the logos of the team's sponsor and the two-man teams often wore matching pfd's. I pulled over to a large sea daisy island a little west of the confluence point and after some consideration decided to call the day a wash and head home. As I got back out into the main channel just in front of the place where I had pulled off, I began to see the pod of five or six dolphins that I had passed on the way up. I paused to shoot them for about an hour as they played and fed. They were very active - jumping all the way out of the water and splashing a great deal. When one of the large professional boats came by sending up a huge rooster tail and wake they spent some time playing in the wake.
At one point, I followed them into a large pool to the side and watched as they fed. There was a Cormorant who was in the pool with them and it seemed as if he was following them and dove where ever they seemed to be the most active. When they came out of the pool back into the main channel three of them passed close by me and seemed to lift their heads, roll slightly to one side and eye me carefully. I could almost hear them sing "Happy Birthday to you.....you look like a Mullet and you smell like one too!" They began swimming back toward Clapboard Creek and since I was ready to head back myself I followed. Once we got to the place where I turned to the left to head back to my truck they continued on toward Clapboard and the river. I finished up by shooting a Great Blue Heron opposite the put-in and then watched as a Swallow Tailed Kite flew over. It was not the kind of trip I had planned for my birthday but as usual - the appearance of Dolphins makes a lot of things better. See the pictures from this trip
6/5/07
A thunderstorm rolled through the area a couple of hours before I got off but as I walked to my truck after work I found a relatively clear sky and clean air so turning right instead of left out the front entrance to the plant I made my way toward Pumpkin Hill Creek. I put in at about mid tide with the current flowing swiftly past the put-in as it headed out. As I began my journey I noticed a couple of large birds above me coming from the direction of Black Hammock and I could quickly tell that it was an Osprey and an Eagle. At first I thought that the juvenile Eagle, who was almost all black, was trying to steal a fish from the Osprey but as I watched it became apparent that the Osprey was the aggressor. He was without a fish and at one point dove at the Eagle forcing him to do a flip in the air and dive toward the deck. When he pulled up he made a bee-line for the trees on Tiger Point and the expression on his face as he flew over me was one of annoyance.
Meanwhile, the Osprey calmly circled above me before heading back to Black Hammock. I can only assume that the young Eagle had got a little too close to somebody's nest and promptly got his tail whipped. Usually, when I have witnessed these aerial battles over a meal the Eagle wins but only because the Ospreys don't think its worth fighting for. The kids? Now that's another story. I headed around the bend near the trails and let the current carry me down the stream. I looked ahead of me about 100 yards and saw something laying on a clay shelf above the water. I assumed that it was a pair of otters but I was too far away to tell. The batteries in my camera had just died so while I fumbled around with them whatever it was slid into the water and disappeared before I could get off a shot or get close enough to positively ID them. I can't be sure, but by the way they looked and acted I am pretty sure that they were not otters and the only thing that they really reminded me of was Gators. If so, it would be my first such sighting in this area and as brackish as the water is it's not something that I would expect to see. I've seen them in odder locations, however, and heard of them being spotted in the ocean so its not unheard of. I pulled over and waited to see if anything would re-surface but nothing did which was further confirmation that they were not Otters.
I continued on to my shrimpin' hole and nearly ran head on into a pair of Dolphins who were surfacing as they crossed in front of me. I spent the next hour or so drifting along with the pod which numbered about five and I shot them as they fed along the stretch of water that leads up to the point. When I reached the point I cruised by it but nothing was perching so I turned back and after considering checking out the cove to the east of the flats I decided to head back. I crossed paths with the Dolphins again near the trails as they were heading back out to deeper water. They came racing by me in water shallow enough that they pushed up a large ridge of water ahead of them and left a wake that splashed up on the shore. I made my way around the bend near the trails and came across a Great Blue who was stalking a meal along the muddy shoreline. I managed to park close enough to him that I could get some good shots while not disturbing him. I was finally rewarded when he lunged his head into the shallow water and came up with a foot long, mud covered snake. He began shaking it vigorously as he walked down the bank in an attempt to subdue it before sending it down his gullet. The snake responded by wrapping itself tightly around the Heron's beak as if to say - "now what ya gonna do birdie!?" I never saw the outcome of that battle as the Heron finally flew off and I ended my trip by watching the sun dip into the clouds over Tiger Point and then headed home. See the pictures from this trip
6/10/07
Hopey is out of town this weekend for her annual "Church Lady Retreat" at Camp Weed in Wellborn so with the AC still broke I headed south to Guana Lake on this Sunday Morning. I arrived at Six Mile Landing as some fishermen were launching a boat and once I got loaded up I saw that they were headed south so I decided to head north. I spotted a Stilt sitting on a nest that she had apparently built up to stay above the water that Tropical Storm Barry dumped on the region last weekend. The sight of her still sitting on eggs made me think that I wouldn't see any Stilt youngins once again but I as I made the turn north I heard the racket of some agitated Stilts and went to investigate. I assumed that I would find more nesting birds as I did three weeks ago when I was here last but I was surprised when I began seeing little grayish white birds scampering through the stubble.
These Stilt babies were at least twice as large as the ones I saw last year so given the timing I am guessing that these were born just after I was here in May making them three weeks old. That means that the ones I saw last year could only be days or even hours out of the shell. The guide books describe the Stilt babies as "precocial" and from my experience that is an apt description. These youngsters were about a third the size of their parents but were absolutely paying their excited squawks no mind as they explored the area, poking around in the mud to feed themselves. The adults were going nuts, of course, but seeing it was useless to corral their independent kids they concentrated on planting themselves noisily between me and their young.
After shooting the Stilts, I decided to take a path that put me in the stream that runs along the western shoreline. Apparently the recent rains had raised the water levels enough so that I could make my along this route so I decided to see how far I could go. I had seen some Bitterns flushing as I had approached and as I made my way west I spotted what looked like a cat tail head in the vegetation ahead of me only with the cat tails all dead it looked out of place. I realized quickly that I was seeing a Least Bittern who was trying real hard to convince me that he was a plant but since I had the jump on him he had no choice but to try to keep up the ruse. I carefully worked my way toward him and managed to get some good shots. At one point he stretched out his neck and I realized that at least two thirds of his body was neck. He was about to flush and I think that this was his way of making himself as large and as threatening as possible. It didn't work, of course, and he finally had to leave but the encounter made me realize why I have had such a hard time shooting this species for the last year or so. When the cat tails are lush and green there are lots of places for them to hide and it gives them a sense of safety as I pass by and they will stay put and peer out at me through the blades of grass. With everything dead and fallen over they are much more exposed and usually flush well before I see them.
As I made my way north along the western shoreline, I saw a couple of tiny gators slide into the water ahead of me but I never saw any large ones. I was extremely cautious as I paddled along especially after the encounters on my last trip. This is a very narrow and shallow path and I made sure I didn't paddle blindly into a Gator sunning himself behind a clump of rushes. Several pairs of Green Herons were in this area and flushed noisily as I continued on north until I reached the point where I had to return to the main channel just past the island on the eastern shore. I made my way around the next couple of bends into the area that I think of as "Stilt Central" - where the largest concentration of these birds seemed to be. As I paddled along I began hearing their calls more and more but I realized that instead of coming from the ground it was coming from a flock of more than a dozen who were flying around the area. I thought that it was a bit odd since I normally only see these birds paired off but this was definitely a group that had not nested yet. I wondered if this was a late arriving group of migrants - further proof that this spring has everyone a bit off.
They finally landed and I continued on toward a group of Great Egrets who were hanging around with a gray colored bird of slightly smaller stature. I checked with my binoculars and realized that this was a Reddish Egret - the first I have ever seen in Guana although it would seem to be an ideal location for them. This bird gave me the impression that he was immature since he had very little red on his neck and overall had a slightly "fuzzy" look to him. His Egret friends departed leaving him alone in the shallow water and after watching him for a few minutes he finally began his comedy dance routine - prancing and twirling about in the water. I left him and began observing what appeared to be another Stilt fight much as I had witnessed last month. What appeared to be three or four pairs of Stilts were flying about and chasing each other so I assumed that perhaps some of the late arrivers were marking out a territory. As I got closer, however, I could see some youngsters scurrying about and it looked as though several pairs of Stilts had decided to nest close together so perhaps I was witnessing a neighborhood squabble. Perhaps it was Stilt soccer practice or a Tee-Ball game and the parents were arguing over whose kid got to play center field.
I didn't go much further since it began to get shallow once again and not wanting to have another Gator encounter I turned around. The Reddish had moved on but I found him again and spent a long time watching and shooting him as he danced and even got a nice video. As I was watching him an adult Stilt began squawking at me and not seeing a nest I wondered why. Another Stilt came walking out from the vegetation that was only slightly smaller than the one who was squawking at me. It's plumage was just slightly gray and it was acting as oblivious to my presence as the smaller chicks so I am assuming that this too was a new fledgling - a very old fledge but a fledge nonetheless. I headed on back to the ramp and headed on home. Nice to see the babies again. See the pictures from this trip
6/15/07 We decided to attempt a paddle picnic in Ft. George inlet even though we knew the tides were not ideal and we were getting a late start to boot. Low tide was supposed to be at 4 pm and we set out from Alimacani at about 4:30. I was surprised to see that the water was already up and the current, instead of being slack was already coming in at a pretty decent rate. We made slow progress toward the ocean and about 30 minutes later we pulled up to the sandbar where we usually cook out. I could tell that our attempts to grill out were going to be iffy at best because the water was already even with the top of the bar and was inching its way from the ocean side as well. We decided to try it anyway and dug the pit several yards away from the water's edge and lit the coals and took a swim. We set the steaks out on the grill and began sipping our wine but within a few minutes it was apparent that we were going to fight a losing battle with the rising water. We decided that we had two choices - build and elaborate system of dikes and drainage ditches and hope for the best or abandon ship and pack up the steaks and finish them back on shore. Deciding that we were neither Democrats, Dutch nor Cajun we evacuated the sandbar and headed home. We made the mistake of deciding to chug our Merlot before heading back and regretted that the rest of the night but we arrived back home and finished the steaks and retired to watch the Indie and Anna show in the backyard.
6/17/07
I decided to head to my old Sunday morning standby of Pumpkin Hill and headed out on the slack, low tide well after sun rise. I spotted a medium sized Egret on the sand bar directly in front of the put-in and as I got close I could see that it was a Reddish Egret - the first I have ever seen in this area. I spent several minutes shooting him as he danced around the sandbar catching what appeared to be small shrimp. I headed on toward the point and soon was paddling against the incoming tide. I reached the point and was kind of surprised to find it empty. The Spoonbills were not at Guana when I was there last week and I had heard reports that they had been seen flying overhead in this area so I was expecting to see them perching in the trees at the point but it was empty.
I continued on up to the bay/cove east of the flats and spotted a flash of pink back in the grass so I slowed up to shoot the mature Spoonbill. As I approached him suddenly about six of the pink birds rose from the grass behind him and flew toward the point. I went on into the bay and ate breakfast before heading back. I spotted a small bird perching at the top of some rushes who was singing up a storm and I pulled over to shoot him. I'm not sure if it was a Sea Sparrow or an immature Red Winged Blackbird but it was singing so intensely that I could clearly see it's tongue as chirped away. As I made my way past the point I spotted something swimming along the grassy shore line. I fumbled around with my camera and was unable to get a shot off of the otter who gave me a quick look and disappeared. After sitting there for a while I decided to see if he had gone around the point and was heading toward the place where I had seen the pair go up on shore last June.
Sure enough as soon as I headed into Edwards Creek I could see his head pop up ahead. As I pulled up to the same spot where I had my unforgettable encounter last year he disappeared and a few seconds later I heard some rustling in the underbrush above me. I returned to Pumpkin Hill and my journey back to the put-in and saw little of interest the rest of the trip. See the pictures from this trip
6/18/07
Hope decided to decline my offer of a "veg-out" day on the water today so I out for a solo trip. Since there was a mid-day high tide I decided to delay my trip and set out at 9:30 with the intention of putting in at either Cedar Point or Hannah Mills and doing a circumnavigation of the marsh. The Cedar Point put-in was empty so I set out from there and immediately crossed paths with a lone Dolphin feeding in the area near the put-in. I spent several minutes shooting him and he allowed me to paddle up right next to him on a couple of occasions. He started to head a little further in so I set out for the confluence point on a swelteringly hot and still morning. As I got the place where I turn to the north away from Clapboard Creek I saw a single Black Necked Stilt fly overhead followed a minute or so later by a Spoonbill. A few minutes later as I was getting near the sea daisy island I spotted a feather floating by that was distinctly pink in hue so I plucked it from the water and inserted it in my pony tail. It was my first Spoonie feather after all these years and obviously came from a mature one. I suspect that had I been able to get to the confluence point a little earlier I would have found both Spoonbills and perhaps Stilts feeding in the shallows but now as I approached it was empty and the oyster beds were almost completely covered.
I headed north in the channel I was unable to travel on my last trip here on my birthday due to the heavy traffic. Today, I was the only one in sight and it made for a peaceful journey. As I rounded the big bend in the creek just before the large sandbar near the land mass I saw a Green Heron flush and spent the next several minutes playing hide and seek with him as he flew from perch to perch ahead of me before finally flying into the marsh. I decided to head up the stream that runs south from the road to check out the boat squatters situation. As I passed through the area I spotted what appeared to be a new Osprey nest adjacent to the nest I had seen before that looks as if it could be an Eagle's. Neither nest was occupied so I continued on and soon rounded the bend that put me in sight of the squatters. They seemed to have secured much of the trash on their barge so someone from the city or the Nature Conservancy may have talked to them. They seemed to have acquired a brand new 12 ft kayak to add to their fleet so it looks as if they intend to stay for the long haul.
I turned around and once back at the point I made the decision to go ahead and continue the circumnavigation and so fought the strong current for the remaning mile or so out the the waterway. Once there I headed south until I had reached the place where I usually get out to check my big white buddies - the Pelicans. As I walked across the flats I could see just how how the recent storms have put the water level as the weed line was a good 100 yards past the shoreline of the waterway. At first I couldn't see anyone in the Pelican's large pool and the pool closest to the island was empty. As I cleared some vegetation, however I could see that the spit of land where the Pelicans usually hang out was covered with a mass of pink and white. I could easily tell that the Pelicans were gone - perhaps only for the day - but a check with my binoculars confirmed that the pool was now occupied by at least a dozen Spoonbills, some of whom were in full breeding plumage. There were also several Snowy Egrets, a few Little Blues and at least a couple of Reddish Egrets.
I tried to approach them on foot but the Snowy's were skittish and kept flushing the whole group. The Spoonies would fly up, circle once and return to the same spot until finally they flew off and headed south. The Reddish Egret flew up with them but as I turned to walk back to my boat I spotted him in the other pool near the island but as I walked toward him he flew back to the Pelican's pool where he now had the place to himself. I paddled down to the northernmost entrance to Hannah Mills and took a break there. As I got ready to take a dip in the water a pair of Dolphins came swimming by just a few yards offshore. I took a nice break and ate my sandwich and drank a beer. As I got ready to leave I looked up in the branches of a small tree behind me and saw a Painted Bunting perching there. I pulled into Hannah Mills and found the shortcut route that winds through the marsh putting me east of the confluence point directly south of the island that lies in the center of the marsh. The rest of my trip was fairly uneventful and I was glad to be able to take advantage of the outgoing current and following wind. I had traveled 12 miles in 6 hours and was fairly well burned to a crisp so it was nice to take a break as I finished up my trip. Not exactly a "veg-out" paddle but it served its purpose. I was very relaxed when I got home. See the pictures from this trip
6/27/07
It had been too long between trips so today, with the house empty and dinner my responsibility, I headed to Wendy's, dropped by the house to pack a beer and was at Hannah Mills just after 5 pm. The stiff NE sea breeze that we have been experiencing all spring and summer was back in play as I set out into both it and the incoming tide due to peak out at around 8. I saw very little as I headed up toward the old cedar my goal to eat dinner on the banks of the waterway before heading north to see if the Spoonbills were back in the Pelican Pool. After stopping to eat and enjoy the cool breeze and beautiful sky I continued north and decided to pull off just south of the slough that cuts through the flats east of the pool. I decided that I would try to approach the pool from this direction and see if it was a better approach. As I got clear of the vegetation I could immediately see a glob of pink and I knew that the Spoonies were taking the Pelican Pool for the summer. Maybe they get a good price from the big white giants but it seems for sure that this is one of their summer hangouts as there was close to three dozen of the pink birds mixed in with the Snowy Egrets, a couple of Reddish Egrets and a lone Wood Stork who looked out of place.
Most of the Spoonbills seemed to be dozing in the bright setting sun but as I got close to the western bank of the pool the Egrets began to flush and that seem to wake up the rest of the group. I got to within 100 yards when the entire group rose up and I waited to see if the Spoonies would stay true to form and return to their roost as they often do when flushed. This time, I was not as fortunate as they made a quick circuit and then flew off en-masse in the general direction of Browns Creek. I was disappointed, at first, but as I surveyed the nearly empty pool I realized that three small birds didn't get the message and were sitting calmly on one of the islands that had held the bigger birds. They seemed to be kind of glad that they had the whole place to themselves and weren't about to let some hairy two-legged interloper chase them off. A quick check with my binoculars confirmed what I already suspected - that two of the three birds were Black Necked Stilts - yet another sighting of these cute birds outside of Guana.
The third bird was either a Willet or else a Yellow Leg and I managed to circled around the edge of the pool and walk to within about 20 yards of the trio before they flew off. With the pool now empty I walked back to my boat and pushed off for home. I had seen some Wood Storks lurking in the grass on the eastern shore of the waterway so I crossed over and was soon in sight of them. As I got closer I realized that several of the group were very young with a full head of hair, yellowish beaks and considerably smaller in stature than the adults who seemed to be watching over the kids. They finally flushed and I headed south, pausing to shoot an Osprey who was perching at our campsite on Bottle Island. The rest of the trip was uneventful but I stopped to shoot what looked like a Northern Shrike before crossing back over and heading home into the setting sun. See the pictures from this trip
6/29/07
Due to my work schedule, we had to delay taking our annual anniversary trip until this weekend but after loading up and making sure that Indie, Anna and Andrew promised no wild parties we headed west toward our destination of Suwannee River State Park. As usual, we decided to take the opportunity of a 4 pm check-in and most of the day to kill, to do what enjoyed doing 29 years ago when we were a couple of poor newlyweds in Tennessee - a back roads, scenic - "we'll get there when we get there" meandering route through the upper Suwannee River valley. We've seen a small amount of the Suwannee from the water and some more of it while driving or hiking and I always like to check out potential places to put-in before I make a long drive to a place I am unsure about so these explores of late have always had that dual purpose in mind.
We got off the Interstate at Live Oak and took route 51/129 north toward Suwannee Springs. The big attraction there, of course, is the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park and campground - a private facility that hosts Bluegrass and Country concerts on a regular basis. That's not really our kind of crowd so I doubt that we will ever stay there but I wanted to see if there was a public access to the river at the bridge. There appears to be a dirt track on the NW side of the bridge but someone was coming up from the river so we decided to not check it out. We had passed a sign before the bridge that indicated that Suwannee Spring was down a road to the east so we checked that out. What we found was one of those serendipitous places that we have discovered so many times in the past. The park is park of the Suwannee River Water Management District acquisitions and it is located where an 19th century resort used to be. The hotel is long gone but the old swimming pool that was built around the spring is mostly intact and very interesting. There was an old advertisement for the resort on the kiosk that claimed that the waters of the spring would cure all kinds of ailments including "female troubles". Hope said her only "female trouble" was me and we both decided that an iron skillet to the side of the head, a large limestone rock tied to the feet and a deep hole of dark Suwannee River water would cure a lot of "female troubles" so maybe there is something to the medicinal claims of the waters.
As we left the parking area of the spring we were treated to the sight of a large Hawk sitting on a gate bar just a few feet away from us. He was dark and had a speckled breast so I thought at first that he must be a Red Tailed Hawk. I rolled down my window and snapped a few shots before he flew up to a tree nearby. He let loose with a "Keeyah! Keeyah! Keeyah!" cry and we knew then that he was a Red Shouldered Hawk - a youngster. We're not sure if he was calling to us, or at Joni Mitchell who was playing on my I-Pod at the time (some people really don't like her for some reason) but more likely he was disturbed by the sight of an ancient hound dog that came ambling out of the woods at that time. I wanted to check out where the Alapaha River enters the Suwannee so we headed west on 132 and then took 251 north and crossed the river again just east of the Alapaha Rise. I had crossed the Alalpha last summer in Georgia while on a work related trip to Atlanta and was curious about it. I have since read that although it is a free flowing river for quite a distance in Georgia - once it crosses the state line it disappears, except at high water levels, under a very well defined but dry riverbed until it reaches the Suwannee where it comes out at the "rise". There is a county park and campground called Gibson Park on the NW side of the bridge and we stopped to check it out. It has a nice boat ramp and several campsites scattered about.
We headed north on 251 with the intention of crossing the Alapaha and then possibly heading west toward Suwannee River State Park but we saw a sign that said "Holton Creek Wildlife Management Area" and it seemed to indicate that this was another of the SRWMD areas so we headed down a dirt road to see what we could find. Holton Creek is the location of the first of the "River Camps" the district has started to build and we have been hearing and reading about them for about a year. We wanted to check them out but, of course, we were apprehensive about taking off in our boats without actually seeing one. We were hoping that there would be a road down to the river camp or at least down to the river itself or Holton Creek but after nearly an hour of wandering around the many sandy logging roads we were about to give up and head for the park. We had just passed a kiosk that told us very little and then traveled down a long road that seemed to be heading toward the river bottom but then the road started to get bad right at an open gate. I didn't want to risk getting stuck for no reason so I got out and walked up the road a bit where I could see a canoe propped up against a tree. With that promising sight we proceeded on but were surprised to find ourselves in the middle of what appeared to be private property with a large RV parked to the side and several small buildings off in the woods. The whole thing was located on a high bluff above the river and I began to wonder if this was the River Camp and that the RV belonged to the host. We were about to leave when a portly gray haired man in a cammo tee shirt appeared and we rolled down our windows to ask him if it was OK that we were here.
He politely told us that actually it wasn't - that this was a private drive and the only reason we had gotten in was because he had left the gate open for the park ranger. I asked if this was river camp and if he was the host and he affirmed both questions. We told him that we had been hearing about them for a long time and really wanted to check them out and he was more than happy to oblige us. We parked, and for the next 30 minutes or so he gave us a very personal guided tour of this wonderful facility. As it turns out, he is not only the host but is in charge of the river camp project and is in the middle of building something like a dozen of these sites from White Springs to the gulf. Doug Carter was his name and he spent a long time showing us around and talked very passionately about the philosophy of the SRWMD in trying to save and preserve the Suwannee. While he works on the camps his wife Myra works in administration for the State Parks and he told us we would probably meet her this week while we stayed at our cabins. We thanked him for the tour and told him that we would likely be seeing him in the future - next time from the water. Since it was getting late by now we decided to end our road trip and head straight to the park and check in. We unpacked and then took a nice dip in the freezing waters of the Suwannee near the ramp before cooking our supper and chilling out for the rest of the evening. We got more unexpected good news when we arrived at the park. The campground is closed this summer for renovations and the park is only open for day use and for cabin usage. That means that on what is normally one of the busiest weekends of the year - the park is basically empty. Hurrah! See the pictures from this trip
6/30/07
I had a rough night trying to sleep and woke up early with a splitting headache this morning but I felt better after taking a pre-dawn hike along the Suwannee River. Aside from slipping on some rocks and nearly plunging into the river with my camera I felt good enough to keep our appointment with the Withlacoochee River once Hopey got up and had breakfast. We set out from the ramp just after 10 am on a still, hot morning. We headed downstream on the Suwannee for about a quarter mile and then turned into the "With". There was a slow, easy current that we had no trouble paddling against and we quickly passed the Suwanneecooche Spring that flows out from the western bank of the Withlacoochee about 200 yards upstream from the Suwannee. The banks of the With are steep and covered with incredible limestone formations that are similar to what is on this section of the Suwannee but far more intense. My guide books say that at normal water levels the With has very few sandbars and therefore, while incredibly beautiful, doesn't offer many places to get out and camp or picnic without difficulty. We lucked out, however, with the river at a 30 year low we saw several small beaches under the limestone bluffs and on each bend of the river was a spit of sand that would have allowed one to camp.
As we headed north, we passed what appeared to be the ruin of a large, concrete tank or cistern up on a bluff. It was located on the western bank in the area where the ruins of the Drew Mansion is supposed to be and also where there was a large sawmill and cotton gin run by the former governor so this may have been associated with that. Just past that, on the opposite bank, we passed some ancient pilings in the water. There weren't any on the other side so it may have been a pier or wharf for the many steamboats that used to ply these waters and carry goods from Cedar Key on the gulf. About two miles from the Suwannee we encountered our first shoal. There was one gap in it that was deep enough to paddle so I attempted to navigate through it. I was paddling as hard as I could but staying put and was about to give up when one last dig got me over the top and into calmer waters. I turned around to tell Hopey to not attempt it but she was already in the middle of the rapid. She struggled as hard as she could but finally I told her to beach her boat and I got out and led her through a calmer, shallow section and we proceeded on.
About a half mile further up we encountered another smaller shoal but I couldn't find a path that was deep enough to dig my paddle into so I got out and led us both through on foot. Not far from the last shoal we reached the 141 bridge that crosses the river. Just before and after bridge we saw our first signs of civilization as houses began to appear on the bluffs above us. After passing the bridge we saw that there was a pair of very old concrete pilings from the previous bridge on either side of the river. The river here is clogged with large limestone boulders but still very navigable. As I was passing the pilings I suddenly noticed that there was a person sitting on the top of the one on the eastern bank. They were sitting there in a lawn chair with a fishing pole and a large bottle of whiskey. Since the house closest to the piling was sporting a large confederate flag I didn't really feel like engaging them in conversation but I was sure that they would holler or wave as we passed. I kept my eyes glued to the river as I passed but checked out of the corner of my eye to see if the guy on the pier was going to stir - holler, throw rocks at us or pull out a shotgun - I mean it was a little early to be drinking whisky. Finally, I got to a calm place and decided to take a long look at Bubba and realized that it was a mannequin - fully dressed with a flannel shirt, sunglasses and ball cap. It must have taken a lot of effort to get him up there since there was no visible way to climb the 25 foot structure. Hope and I had a good laugh about it as we headed on.
Just a few yards past the piling we encountered another shoal that was much larger than the previous two and after surveying it we decided that it would require too much effort to portage and we weren't in the mood to go much further anyway. There was a boat anchored in front of the shoal with a "Diver Down" flag up so there must have been a cavern in the deep pool just below the rapids since we never saw any sign of the diver or bubbles. We turned and floated quickly back downstream with the intention of picnicking at the first set of shoals we had passed. A young man, his young son and their little dog had beaten us to it so we headed on and finally found a small beach with some shade. We swam and snorkeled and ate and vegged out for the next couple of hours. The father, son and dog passed us going down stream and we realized that the three of them were in a kayak smaller than ours - no more than 10 feet long. The father was struggling to paddle over the head of the boy but the dog - who they said was named "Captain Jack" was manning the bow and ready to repel all boarders or bark at anyone he saw. They came back upstream about and hour later and the father admitted that it was getting a bit cramped in there.
We packed up and headed back downstream and as we approached the confluence point we saw our first evidence that this was a popular spot for the locals as about six boats were beached on the NE side of the point and they looked as though they were ready to party. About six of the bubbas were gathered around one of the racing boats to admire the huge engine with it's cover off and give advice to its owner on how to make it go faster or at least sound louder. As we approached the ramp a group of guys were setting out and they asked me if we had seen any big mullet. I confirmed that we had seen lots up the With and they got downright excited and set out to snare them with their crossbow fishing rig. We loaded up and had a relaxing evening capped off by a nice walk after sunset. The moon was supposed to rise full this night but a storm front had moved in and although it dropped little rain, it obscured any chance of seeing the moon. Only a ridiculously loud airboat passing down the river disturbed our evening walk. See the pictures from this trip
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