Well .. The Fisheating Creek "Swamp" Trip is one for the record books.
Day #1..............
To make the boring part short , Mac and I got there with the canoes and checked in , even with all of the Love Bugs we collected on his truck while driving down to the creek.
While checking in and getting the cabin the Gal looked at us and said ..." Ya All Camping " ? Yes Mam on the river but we want the cabin to relax in before the trip and after we get back on Friday.
Her... You know there are no linens on the beds , No Pillows , No Towels or no Nothing .... Just the beds and the cabin. I asked if there was air conditioning since it was about 119 degrees outside , yes there is a AC Unit. OK , We are camping and have all the stuff for sleeping , even some toilet paper. Which was in short supply in the cabin. :lol:
The front area /bedroom
The family / entertainment center , Picture , courtesy of Swamp Rat. Lazyriverguy as the male model. :lol:
The dinning area ( minus the chandelier ) Picture , courtesy of Swamp Rat. Mac in the cowboy hat , me just being myself , even with the shinny dome.
The back bedroom , bath room , kitchen. ( open shower , open toilet , frig , microwave and sink.)
We got to the cabin ( the large Deluxe one ) , turned on the AC and settled in. Next thing we know it is pouring down rain outside and washing all the bugs off Mac's truck. ( Rain)
A little later Joe ( lazyriverguy) arrives and claims the other bed for himself. He tells us he drove threw a real bad rain most of the way down ... There is one clue we missed. ( Rain)
Well sitting inside and enjoying the cool air , we started talking about the river and I went to get the map , open the door and there is Swamp Rat ( He is just as krazy as the rest of us) , so I said , come on in.
Well we had a good gab session , checked the map out and got hints about good spots to fish an camp. A little later he went out to his vehicle and returned with a crock pot full of some good smelling chow , some really Delicious wild Hog , rice and veges mix he had cooking in the Crock Pot...
I think all of us had between two or three helpings of that.... DAM GOOD CHOW , Really some fine eating. Plus the company was very enjoyable with all of us sitting back enjoying life.
Swamp Rat ( Brad) told me the seasoning in the mix was some of the Everglades (Heat) mix. It had a good punch to it , not to hot but just darn good. If you are interested. http://www.evergladesseasoning.com/products.htm
Eventually swamprat left , we did our best trying to talk him into skipping work and making the creek run with us. He did say he would honk his horn when going to work in the morning at 5:30 AM as a wake up call as he passed the river. What a Nice Guy.
( We were like Goldie locks and the three bears with the beds , mine was like sleeping on a wood floor , Mac said his was just right and Joe said his was like sleeping in the hammock. What the heck we had some cool air that night. ) :lol:
Day # 2.........
Off to bed and up in the morning around 7am. Goofed off till 9 and then went to load the boats and gear on the shuttle. The outfitter was nice he pointed out where to park , which vehicle he was going to use and we loaded everything , he did help to strap down a couple of the boats.
In the van and off we go........ While driving there the outfitter tells us , I might have enough gas in this van to get there .... "O" Great.... We are in the middle of NOWHERE..... Well we made it to the gate into the road to get to the river , Joe unlocks the gate , we drive threw it into a jungle road fit for 4 wheelers... Then locks the gate...On down this path to a gate... Unlock it and leave it open. I enjoy drives threw the wilderness , pastures and swamps and this is one wild area but I would of felt a lot safer in the my Jeep , especially since it has a full tank of gas.
Hot Dam we are almost there..... "O"ooop's , the road is underwater , "O"Well the driver tells us van might make it so we go paddling in the van , all the gear and the boats in tow threw and down a flooded road for a good quarter mile to the put in. The van is pushing a wake of water in front of it and off to the sides. The driver tells us we are close to the put in.
ONE .. Problem , the put in is a good 80 feet on down the road from where we stopped in two feet of water. OK.. Sooooooo we Back up to a small area of dry ground about 60 feet behind us to unload everything.
We unload the gear and boats on a very small area of some almost dry ground with a large supply of Fire Ants as the very unhappy , disgruntled residence of the dry land. They did not like to have visitors and let us know that.
One boat and the gear down the road it at a time to the river and some deeper water....... all three are loaded so we push them into the deeper water and hop in ..... The trip is a go we are on the water..
We are paddling , there is water everywhere , no matter where you look there is water , under the boats , in the trees , as far back as you can see , everything is FLOODED. Well we paddle along thinking for the best.... Only to be delivered the worse.
Joe........
Mac.........
Keep in mind this is a 4 night trip so we have everything for those 4 days , water , chow and all the rest. Planned on paddling 6 miles , camping , two days later 6 more miles , camp for two days and then on down stream and back to that Hilton Inn they call a Cabin.
Well .. Sir and Mam.... We paddled 9 miles and finally found a small piece of dry ground to camp on , it was across from the Burnt Bridge put in for the 4 day trip back to the outfitter. Burnt Bridge is the half way mark on the river.
What a nice place to camp , wrangle the boat ( one at a time ) threw the Cypress Knees , unload it and move it so the next boat and paddle can get in .. repeat the process for the last boat.
There was a small are without any Cypress Knees so Mac could set up his tent ... Joe and I hung the hammocks. His was the Hennessey and my Clark Hammock this time.
( Joe has a way to keep the skeeters from biting him threw the bottom of his hammock , he sprays it with some bug dope to chase them off) I'm in my hammock and I hear this sisssssss ,sissssssss , sisssssss, then the aroma of bug dope drifts past me. )
Hennessey Hammock of Joes in the foreground , My Clark in the background.
We were suspended over the Cypress Knees so we made sure the hammocks were tied off nice and solid. Sure did not want a knot coming loose during the night and having one of us impaled on a Cypress Knee.
If you do not know what a Cypress Knee is , it is a very solid , cylindrical , piece of wood sticking up in the air like a very fat ice pick.
I borrowed this picture from the web.
Gathered some fire wood , had a fire , cooked up supper on Joe's tripod grill and got the potty set up , a nice deep hole under it. Stayed up to around 11 and then hit the sack... Hotter then the gates of Hell but with your back on the hammock it felt like an AC blowing on you. Bless hammocks for hot weather camping they are nice and cool.
Day #3.
Cooled down during the night but the skeeters sure came out right around sun rise. I had a zillion of them trying to join me in my hammock and they never managed to get me. Most of them left at full day light.
Later I made a visit to the potty with that nice deep hole ...... The dam thing was full of water.
The up side is while having breakfast we had a flock of wild turkeys back of the camp feeding and during the night while sleeping and in camp the Owls were having a Congress and Senate meeting... Man they were sounding off all night long right above us.
Got the boats loaded and back on the water. Paddling on down river looking for another campsite....... Which was never located , anyway one for a tent , two hammocks , several spots that were almost dry but about 6 feet wide and 20 feet long but loaded with Cypress Knees and/or Fire Ant Mounds... Neither for good camping.
So another 9 miles in the blazing Sun , Oppressive Heat and finally back to the campground....... The blessed Cabin and some air conditioning , dry sleeping beds , a showery and a supper of some steaks with baked potatoes cooked over a fire. The cabin was sure looking good after this trip.
SUMMERY........
Paddling the Creek in high water is the same as paddling the Okefenokee Swamp without anyplace to camp... It is a twisty , turning back on itself creek , 160 degree turns are the normal and paddling threw trees 4 or 3 feet apart is considered normal. All while doing it in a current that wants to push you where you do not want to go. All the rain to day before up to the north sure pushed the river level up for the trip. The folks at the camp told me the water came up 1 1/2 feet while we were on the trip.
( This area is a good one for two or three folks but not a large group since the campsites are few and far in between , especially with high water. If the state would have a Chickee at each Lake , like in the Okefenokee Swamp , then there would not be any problems. It is all State Land and access is controlled by the outfitter/concessionaire. No open public roads or access to it. )
There are a lot of good size lakes in there , this one was right across from our camping spot at Burnt Bridge. Looking down river ......
It is one wild and beautiful area , some real swamp paddling and you better know what you are doing , we are three experienced swamp paddlers and I DO NOT recommend any beginner ( Non Swamp Paddler) or what we call a open water paddler to do what we did.
There are stretches where you paddle along and would think that the open area is where you go , WRONG , you cut between these two trees and take the 4 foot wide path threw the forest.
This is one wild area , we saw , Wild Hogs ( in water up to the bellies ) Deer , Wild Turkeys , Tons of Gators ( they were everywhere ) the birds are there in all sorts , sizes , shapes , colors. It is a wilderness experience. If you want civilization go about 20 miles any direction and it is there.
I am very happy with the Clark Hammock , It is skeeter proof as the claim , not one bit threw it to me and I had a gazillion of them around me that one morning , at sunrise. This is one Hammock that will be with me on a lot more trips , that you can beat on and have some money in the bank.
The Thermacell does what it say's it will do , no skeeters around us after I lite it , might of been one or two but nothing like what was out there looking for a meal as us being the Blue Plate Special for that night. This is anouther item that will be on trips in the future , no second thoughts about that.
Chuck.
PS. The weather changed when a front moved threw , really comfortable at fisheating creek when we left it was 50 in Ocala at Joes home and 58 at Mac's and over at my place. This morning here at the house it was 60. :roll:
Day #1..............
To make the boring part short , Mac and I got there with the canoes and checked in , even with all of the Love Bugs we collected on his truck while driving down to the creek.
While checking in and getting the cabin the Gal looked at us and said ..." Ya All Camping " ? Yes Mam on the river but we want the cabin to relax in before the trip and after we get back on Friday.
Her... You know there are no linens on the beds , No Pillows , No Towels or no Nothing .... Just the beds and the cabin. I asked if there was air conditioning since it was about 119 degrees outside , yes there is a AC Unit. OK , We are camping and have all the stuff for sleeping , even some toilet paper. Which was in short supply in the cabin. :lol:
The front area /bedroom
The family / entertainment center , Picture , courtesy of Swamp Rat. Lazyriverguy as the male model. :lol:
The dinning area ( minus the chandelier ) Picture , courtesy of Swamp Rat. Mac in the cowboy hat , me just being myself , even with the shinny dome.
The back bedroom , bath room , kitchen. ( open shower , open toilet , frig , microwave and sink.)
We got to the cabin ( the large Deluxe one ) , turned on the AC and settled in. Next thing we know it is pouring down rain outside and washing all the bugs off Mac's truck. ( Rain)
A little later Joe ( lazyriverguy) arrives and claims the other bed for himself. He tells us he drove threw a real bad rain most of the way down ... There is one clue we missed. ( Rain)
Well sitting inside and enjoying the cool air , we started talking about the river and I went to get the map , open the door and there is Swamp Rat ( He is just as krazy as the rest of us) , so I said , come on in.
Well we had a good gab session , checked the map out and got hints about good spots to fish an camp. A little later he went out to his vehicle and returned with a crock pot full of some good smelling chow , some really Delicious wild Hog , rice and veges mix he had cooking in the Crock Pot...
I think all of us had between two or three helpings of that.... DAM GOOD CHOW , Really some fine eating. Plus the company was very enjoyable with all of us sitting back enjoying life.
Swamp Rat ( Brad) told me the seasoning in the mix was some of the Everglades (Heat) mix. It had a good punch to it , not to hot but just darn good. If you are interested. http://www.evergladesseasoning.com/products.htm
Eventually swamprat left , we did our best trying to talk him into skipping work and making the creek run with us. He did say he would honk his horn when going to work in the morning at 5:30 AM as a wake up call as he passed the river. What a Nice Guy.
( We were like Goldie locks and the three bears with the beds , mine was like sleeping on a wood floor , Mac said his was just right and Joe said his was like sleeping in the hammock. What the heck we had some cool air that night. ) :lol:
Day # 2.........
Off to bed and up in the morning around 7am. Goofed off till 9 and then went to load the boats and gear on the shuttle. The outfitter was nice he pointed out where to park , which vehicle he was going to use and we loaded everything , he did help to strap down a couple of the boats.
In the van and off we go........ While driving there the outfitter tells us , I might have enough gas in this van to get there .... "O" Great.... We are in the middle of NOWHERE..... Well we made it to the gate into the road to get to the river , Joe unlocks the gate , we drive threw it into a jungle road fit for 4 wheelers... Then locks the gate...On down this path to a gate... Unlock it and leave it open. I enjoy drives threw the wilderness , pastures and swamps and this is one wild area but I would of felt a lot safer in the my Jeep , especially since it has a full tank of gas.
Hot Dam we are almost there..... "O"ooop's , the road is underwater , "O"Well the driver tells us van might make it so we go paddling in the van , all the gear and the boats in tow threw and down a flooded road for a good quarter mile to the put in. The van is pushing a wake of water in front of it and off to the sides. The driver tells us we are close to the put in.
ONE .. Problem , the put in is a good 80 feet on down the road from where we stopped in two feet of water. OK.. Sooooooo we Back up to a small area of dry ground about 60 feet behind us to unload everything.
We unload the gear and boats on a very small area of some almost dry ground with a large supply of Fire Ants as the very unhappy , disgruntled residence of the dry land. They did not like to have visitors and let us know that.
One boat and the gear down the road it at a time to the river and some deeper water....... all three are loaded so we push them into the deeper water and hop in ..... The trip is a go we are on the water..
We are paddling , there is water everywhere , no matter where you look there is water , under the boats , in the trees , as far back as you can see , everything is FLOODED. Well we paddle along thinking for the best.... Only to be delivered the worse.
Joe........
Mac.........
Keep in mind this is a 4 night trip so we have everything for those 4 days , water , chow and all the rest. Planned on paddling 6 miles , camping , two days later 6 more miles , camp for two days and then on down stream and back to that Hilton Inn they call a Cabin.
Well .. Sir and Mam.... We paddled 9 miles and finally found a small piece of dry ground to camp on , it was across from the Burnt Bridge put in for the 4 day trip back to the outfitter. Burnt Bridge is the half way mark on the river.
What a nice place to camp , wrangle the boat ( one at a time ) threw the Cypress Knees , unload it and move it so the next boat and paddle can get in .. repeat the process for the last boat.
There was a small are without any Cypress Knees so Mac could set up his tent ... Joe and I hung the hammocks. His was the Hennessey and my Clark Hammock this time.
( Joe has a way to keep the skeeters from biting him threw the bottom of his hammock , he sprays it with some bug dope to chase them off) I'm in my hammock and I hear this sisssssss ,sissssssss , sisssssss, then the aroma of bug dope drifts past me. )
Hennessey Hammock of Joes in the foreground , My Clark in the background.
We were suspended over the Cypress Knees so we made sure the hammocks were tied off nice and solid. Sure did not want a knot coming loose during the night and having one of us impaled on a Cypress Knee.
If you do not know what a Cypress Knee is , it is a very solid , cylindrical , piece of wood sticking up in the air like a very fat ice pick.
I borrowed this picture from the web.
Gathered some fire wood , had a fire , cooked up supper on Joe's tripod grill and got the potty set up , a nice deep hole under it. Stayed up to around 11 and then hit the sack... Hotter then the gates of Hell but with your back on the hammock it felt like an AC blowing on you. Bless hammocks for hot weather camping they are nice and cool.
Day #3.
Cooled down during the night but the skeeters sure came out right around sun rise. I had a zillion of them trying to join me in my hammock and they never managed to get me. Most of them left at full day light.
Later I made a visit to the potty with that nice deep hole ...... The dam thing was full of water.
The up side is while having breakfast we had a flock of wild turkeys back of the camp feeding and during the night while sleeping and in camp the Owls were having a Congress and Senate meeting... Man they were sounding off all night long right above us.
Got the boats loaded and back on the water. Paddling on down river looking for another campsite....... Which was never located , anyway one for a tent , two hammocks , several spots that were almost dry but about 6 feet wide and 20 feet long but loaded with Cypress Knees and/or Fire Ant Mounds... Neither for good camping.
So another 9 miles in the blazing Sun , Oppressive Heat and finally back to the campground....... The blessed Cabin and some air conditioning , dry sleeping beds , a showery and a supper of some steaks with baked potatoes cooked over a fire. The cabin was sure looking good after this trip.
SUMMERY........
Paddling the Creek in high water is the same as paddling the Okefenokee Swamp without anyplace to camp... It is a twisty , turning back on itself creek , 160 degree turns are the normal and paddling threw trees 4 or 3 feet apart is considered normal. All while doing it in a current that wants to push you where you do not want to go. All the rain to day before up to the north sure pushed the river level up for the trip. The folks at the camp told me the water came up 1 1/2 feet while we were on the trip.
( This area is a good one for two or three folks but not a large group since the campsites are few and far in between , especially with high water. If the state would have a Chickee at each Lake , like in the Okefenokee Swamp , then there would not be any problems. It is all State Land and access is controlled by the outfitter/concessionaire. No open public roads or access to it. )
There are a lot of good size lakes in there , this one was right across from our camping spot at Burnt Bridge. Looking down river ......
It is one wild and beautiful area , some real swamp paddling and you better know what you are doing , we are three experienced swamp paddlers and I DO NOT recommend any beginner ( Non Swamp Paddler) or what we call a open water paddler to do what we did.
There are stretches where you paddle along and would think that the open area is where you go , WRONG , you cut between these two trees and take the 4 foot wide path threw the forest.
This is one wild area , we saw , Wild Hogs ( in water up to the bellies ) Deer , Wild Turkeys , Tons of Gators ( they were everywhere ) the birds are there in all sorts , sizes , shapes , colors. It is a wilderness experience. If you want civilization go about 20 miles any direction and it is there.
I am very happy with the Clark Hammock , It is skeeter proof as the claim , not one bit threw it to me and I had a gazillion of them around me that one morning , at sunrise. This is one Hammock that will be with me on a lot more trips , that you can beat on and have some money in the bank.
The Thermacell does what it say's it will do , no skeeters around us after I lite it , might of been one or two but nothing like what was out there looking for a meal as us being the Blue Plate Special for that night. This is anouther item that will be on trips in the future , no second thoughts about that.
Chuck.
PS. The weather changed when a front moved threw , really comfortable at fisheating creek when we left it was 50 in Ocala at Joes home and 58 at Mac's and over at my place. This morning here at the house it was 60. :roll:
