Jason's Central Florida Kayaking/Camping Blog: July 2011

Visited 07/10/11

Since my last post, I've discovered some extremely detailed maps of Florida's rivers, as well as some cool things I can do with Google Maps.    So, from here on forth, I'll be able to provide more detailed, location-specific information.

To start with, I found the following map of Peace River, detailing each of the 13 boat launches on all 70 miles of the river.    It provides coordinates for each of the launches but, as we discovered, they aren't necessarily accurate.

Peace River Map

For this run, my friends and I decided that we would start at launch #1 in Bartow (it's the closest to us) and 'yak to launch #3, 13 miles away in Fort Meade.

The coordinates for this launch are N 27.9022, W 81.8169.   You'll see the parking area just after the bridge on Hwy 60 if you're headed East.   There is not a gate on this parking area.   If you plan on camping this stretch, it would be okay to leave your car here, but its seclusion might be pretty inviting for the criminal type, so take caution.... or rig your car to explode when tampered with. Whatever. You can see the bridge in these photos:

We dropped the 'yaks here and took a 2nd car up river to Fort Meade. The coordinates of that launch are N 27.7515, W 81.7822. About a hundred yards after the bridge, you'll see the sign for the launch on your right. Follow the road all the way to the back and you'll find parking (No pictures. Sorry).

With a car at each point, we were ready to hit the water. We planned on a 9:30 a.m. launch. It ended up being closer to 11:00, but that's to be expected from the crew of misfits that I call my friends.

Before I move on to pictures of the trip, I'd just like to warn anyone planning on making this journey that you'd better be prepared to be in your boat for long stretches. As beautiful as the river is, the land is swamp. Finding a place to dock your boats is like trying to find a hippie at a metal show. Yeah, there may be one or two, but they're rare and they stink.

Now, remember how I said we planned on doing 13 miles of this river? Well, let me just say that 13 miles is a long fucking way. The water level was decent and the flow was good but between the winding nature of the river, and several obstacles we encountered, this trip was a bit of a bitch. There were a few occasions where our collective hearts stopped for second, assuming that we had reached an impasse in the river and would have no choice but to accept our fate, build a new colony on the riverbanks, and begin the process of populating our new civilization. Luckily, we were always able to manage our way through each obstacle. Unluckily, this didn't afford us enough time to finish all 13 miles. But, luckily again, there is another boat launch at about 7.8 miles.

Below is a Google Map I created, with a detailed path and launch points. If you're comparing this to the first map I linked to, you'll see that the 2nd boat ramp is actually about a mile further down river than the first map would have you believe. According to some airboaters we encountered, the ramp was moved years ago and our map was not current. This map is correct:

Custom Google Map

Unfortunately, I was too busy trying to bust through the tougher areas to take many pictures of them, but we did get a picture of this one. When we hit this, we thought for sure we would have to get all McGuyver on this river and build a helicopter out of fishing line and twigs. However, we were able to power through it with some effort.

This is the place we finally found to eat lunch. It was small. There were thorn bushes everywhere. There wasn't much of a bank to fish from... but we made do.

And getting off the island's steep banks, I flipped my damn boat. Fuck this island. Seriously.

We came across this dock about a mile before the end. My drunken buddies decided to dive into the water from this dock into three feet of water full of cypress knees. Somehow, they came out unscathed.

And here's what the boat launch/park look like at the 7.8 mile mark.

With daylight expiring and a storm brewing, we had to call a buddy of mine to come out and drive us to our cars. If you're inexperienced or just like to take your time, I would strongly suggest only doing the run that we did (or choosing a different run altogether). We would never have made it to the 13 mile mark and there's no way to turn around. With this current, you have no choice but to commit, once you've made the decision to continue on to the next port. Keep in mind, though, the 2nd launch closes at 7:30. If you leave a car here, and don't make it in time, your car will be stuck. The gates automatically close. For a little perspective, we hit the water at 11:00 and got out at about 6:00.

I attempted a little bit of lure fishing with a fake minnow, but was completely unsuccessful. We also threw the cast net quite a bit, looking for bait fish, but only came up with a couple Bluegill that were too large to use as bait.

- DIFFICULTY - 7/10
- PRIVACY - 10/10
- FISHING 1/10
- OVERALL EXPERIENCE - 6/10

Visited 06/25/11

Emerson Point Park is located on the edge of Tampa Bay, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

Before coming to this park, we did absolutely zero research. This location came at the request of a friend of ours that didn't even end up making it on the trip, and had never been here before. We were going in completely blind, but decided to make the trip anyway.

We were pleasantly surprised.

Our buddy Blake was meeting us at the park and arrived first, going all the way to the back of the grounds, so that's where we met up with him. On the way back, we passed several nice looking kayak launches. Although we had a great time, I'm sure this park has much to offer that we didn't take advantage of. We'll certainly be going back, at some point.

At the back of the park, there is plenty of parking, a boat launch, and a cool raised platform area that gives you a 360 degree view of the entire coast. However, unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of or from that hill. My bad.

Here are some of the views from the launch. I call it a launch only because they have a loop for your car and trailer but, really, everything here is a launch. Observe...

We had no reason at all for any launch site, though.     When you get to this area, look down the coast and you'll see a trail leading you into a beautiful stretch of woods/coastline.     This is where we decided to set up shop.     Rather than having to fit everything on our 'yaks, we decided to just carry most of our things a couple hundred yards down shore, where we found the little slice of paradise in the pics below.

As I tend to do, I must address the alcohol issue.        When we initially arrived, our buddy Blake was drinking a beer and quickly advised us that he had been informed that the ranger would be none too happy if he were to observe his consumption of said beverage.     We saw no signs prohibiting alcohol, so this was a bit of a disappointment.     In light of these events, we decided it was best that just not drink all day.... mmmph.... HAAAAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!   Sorry.   I tried to keep a straight face while I said that but, apparently, I failed.      We just kept our alcohol in our coolers and stayed our of sight of the ranger.      And this ranger WILL attempt to bother you if you're in the parking lot.   He came around twice in the 10 minutes we were in the lot.    I recommend getting out of there quickly.   He seems to be rather overzealous.

We walked/'yaked to our paradise below and weren't bothered all day.      However, if you choose to post up in this area, you'll definitely have several passers by, as this is still on a main trail.   Everyone we ran into was cool, though.... or at least they were quiet.

Unfortunately, we forgot to stop and get some shrimp, as we had planned. If you've read my other blogs, you're beginning to see a trend now.

We brought a net with us and had no trouble catching some bait fish. However, we caught nothing with those bait fish. If it's any consolation, though, there was a nearby fisherman with a bucket full of live shrimp who was also having zero luck.

After several hours in our little haven, we finally decided to take to the water. We found a couple cool little inlets and coves along the coast.

And a pink Spoonbill.

After our kayaking trip (maybe an hour), we saw some small birds standing knee-deep in the water about 300 yards out. We decided that we wanted to look like Jesus, and made our way out there. We came across quite an eclectic mix of wildlife.