With all the narrow creeks I'd been paddling in recent weeks I was beginning to feel claustrophobic and in need of some open water. So I moved to Lake Seminole, 50 miles or so northeast of Tallahassee right on the Georgia border.
The main body of Lake Seminole is about 10 miles long and 3 miles wide and most of it is in Georgia. A dam at the headwaters of the Apalachicola River created or expanded the lake. I presume this is a major water supply for the area. I stayed at Three River State Recreation Area right on the lake. The Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers flow into the lake while the Apalachicola River flows out.
Talking to a ranger indicated lots of alligators, some of which are supposed to be 12-14 feet long. We would have to see about that. My kayak is only 12 feet long.
I launched from the boat ramp a few hundred feet from my campsite. The shore of the lake is all hardwood with 10-15 feet of 4-5 foot tall grasses extending out into the water. Lots of 1 foot round lily pads provided another buffer to the shore. Lots of regular and red headed coots dart around amongst the lily pads looking for a meal. There's a number of red headed sapsuckers in the campground. I suspect these are what Woody Woodpecker was based on because they look a lot like him with black and white checked feathers.
They also pull 12+ pound bass out of this lake on a regular basis. A wall of the ranger station contains lots of photographs of people with some huge lunkers. Big bass must mean big gators.
I paddled out a short stretch to a small island and immediately spotted a 6 foot gator stretched out in the water along the shore. As it saw me, it partially submerged and drifted out towards deeper water.
Some of the islands and some of the shoreline are made of red clay. Quite a relief from the ever present Florida sand banks. I saw a fair number of great white egrets and a single blue heron.
I paddled out to a couple more islands farther out. These were surrounded by 20-40 foot fields of grasses and some really large areas of lily pads. Lots more coots could be seen and heard out here.
Off in the distance I saw a long log that appeared to have many, many fairly large turtles on it. As I approached, many of them started plopping into the water. I started counting the ones plopping in the water and counted 5+. Then I counted 10+ still on the log. Plus I heard more splashes behind some grasses where I couldn't really see. So my new official turtle on a log record moves from 9 to 15, just like that. I'm sure there were 20-25 turtles on that log, maybe more, but I'll settle for a new and accurate record of 15.
I saw an 8 foot alligator pulled up on a small sandbar, facing away from me with part of its tail still in the water. I cautiously paddled closer making as little noise as possible. Since I was coming up behind him, I was able to work my way to within 35 feet of it and snapped a picture. As expected, it panicked at the sound of the camera.
What wasn't expected was it turned around and ran directly at me through the shallows for about 20 feet before veering off to the right to hit water deep enough in which to submerge. The water was less than a foot deep and I can still see the water splashing as it high stepped its way towards me (kinda like that hooded Australian lizard you see running across the water on the Discovery Channel advertisements) and its big head and shoulders swaying back and forth with each step. It accelerated really quickly. One second it was motionless and 2-3 seconds later it was under the water out of sight. If it had been so inclined, it would have been on me in another 1-2 seconds.
Notice I said it ran at me. There's no doubt in my mind that it did no charge at me or try to bluff me. I'm sure it turned and headed for deep water out of sheer instinct and that I just happened to be in its way. When it finally saw me it altered course.
I didn't have the presence of mind to snap the last picture on the roll of film. I was just awe struck (terror stricken?) as it came towards me like a freight train. When an 8 foot alligator comes directly at you to less than 20 feet, that can be classified as a scary experience. Talk about up close and personal. It would have been a hell of a picture though.
The turtles were back on their log when I passed by on the way back. I didn't try to get close enough to see them individually or try to count them.
A 5-20 knot wind was kicking up 0.5-1.0 foot waves as I pulled out into Lake Seminole from the Three River State Recreation boat ramp on day 2. I didn't bother to go back for the spray skirt even though the waves were hitting me broadside. They were pretty far apart but even so, a couple of them splashed up into the cockpit.
The object today was the Chattahoochee River flowing into the northeast corner of the lake. I couldn't actually see the river and just headed in that general direction. The whole northern part of the lake covers (mostly) dead trees and stumps, the results (I assume) of the lake expanding when the dam was built.
I don't know how long ago the dam was put in but it must have been many years ago. At first I thought some of the stumps still had life in them because there were branches with green leaves sprouting from them. Closer inspection revealed the stumps were playing host to other trees and plants. My guess is the stumps rotted and then a bird came along and dropped a load, including a seed and the seed found all the nutrients and stuff it needed in the stump. I even saw a couple of small maples with their roots wrapped around the stump for support.
One tree looked like one of those little Japanese trees and had an osprey nesting in it. In fact, there were another half dozen osprey nests in the area.
Paddling through all these stumps requires a little care, which I didn't exercise. Consequentially, I would frequently ride up on a submerged stump. Snakes (I assume cottonmouths) had pulled themselves up on a couple of the stumps.
An hour of paddling saw me to the mouth of the Chattahoochee River. Somewhat disappointed because the banks, as far as I could see, appeared to be mostly grass, I started upriver anyway. I had just picked up a discarded soda bottle and rounded a small bend. The first thing I saw as I drifted forward was a jaw about 18 inches long attached to a large head which was connected to a big, fat body which in turn led to a long, thick tail that disappeared into the vegetation. I'd guess the alligator was in the 9-10+ foot range.
It saw me and twitched as if to escape but then settled down and just watched me. It wasn't concerned when I snapped a picture but when the kayak banged into an overhanging branch it had had enough and calmly walked to the water's edge and slid in. That would have been a good picture too but I blew it. I get so wrapped up in watching something like that I forget all about the camera.
While sitting there looking for sign of the big gator I saw a couple of others floating nearby. Later on when I paddled into some backwaters I was to see many more, maybe 10-12 or so, all swimming in the water. The backwaters also contained several great egrets, many coots and a single blue heron. I also saw several 1-2 foot torpedo like fish that reminded me of trout or maybe mullet.