04/04/00 Paddling From US 27 Bridge, North:
Looks like we got another keeper here! The Aucilla River starts above Monticello and runs to the Gulf of Mexico. Part of the river is one of the Florida Greenways and Trails System Canoe Trails. Their brochure describes from US 27 Bridge westward for 19 miles.
This morning was a dreary, drizzly day when I put in at the US 27 bridge over the Aucilla River. The brochure describes some 3+ knot currents. If I was going to run into any of those, I wanted it to be early in the paddle on the way out rather than on the way back when I'm tired so I headed east instead of west.
Trash littered the put in under the bridge and it appeared to have been accumulating for some time. I paddled out into the darkly colored water, heading into the current. A railroad bridge crossed the river just upstream from the US 27 bridge. Once past that bridge and around a bend in the river, everything changed. The crud and the noise were left behind.
Paddling against a 1-2 knot current and no wind I was hit by the beauty of this river right away. For most of today's paddle the river remained pretty close to 40 feet wide, sometimes widening or narrowing 10 feet or so with plenty of water underneath. The river banks rose to 3-4 feet in some sections but for the most part were 1-2 feet.
Cypress is the predominate tree along this part of the river. Many, many smaller ones were in the water or near the waterline even though the river appeared to be down 3-4 feet from normal. Larger cypress with great twisted trunks were plentiful. Live oaks grew out over the river forming a canopy Though not as plentiful as in other areas, Spanish moss dangled from many trees. Maples could be seen scattered along the way too.
The first obstacle I came to was a live oak growing completely across the river. An arch in the trunk provided just enough room for this old guy to squeeze through without capsizing. Another inch or two would have required portage.
I paddled at a pretty consistent pace against the current but still had plenty of time to enjoy the display of trees and their sometimes strange growth patterns. Eventually I came to a downed tree completely across the river. The only flow of water was from under the tree itself, none could flow around it. So, mumbling to myself, I got out and pulled the boat over it.
Once in the kayak again, I noticed a lot of bubbles flowing from upstream. This indicated (to me) there was some white water up ahead somewhere. Rounding a bend I could finally hear the rush of water over rocks and through a narrow channel.
This was strange because I hadn't seen any rocks at all on the river so far. I guess that's because nature had piled them all at this narrow 20 foot channel. This is a solid class 2 rapid. While not very long, 2 large, separate cushions of water lead down into 2 different sets of 1 foot standing waves. Two cypress trees, amazingly, seem perfectly contented in the middle of the rapid.
I might have been able to power my way up either set of standing waves but I would never to be able to get up over either of those 1+ foot cushions of water. So, out of the boat I come to drag it up a tiny rivulet.
Above the rapid, the river widened to 75+ feet as the water backed up, waiting for a chance through the narrow channel. Current wasn't even noticeable. Many cypress trees seemed perfectly content sitting in this relatively still water, making a really pretty picture.
Wildlife had been pretty scarce along the river. One great egret, a couple of cormorants, a few ducks. Other than that nothing. The scenery more than made up for that lack though. Several feeder streams begged to be explored but I kept to the main river. Except for a short stretch of 3+ knots, the current stayed within the 1-2 knot range most of the way upriver.
Then I saw something in the water up ahead. It was a bird of some sort. It was in the water and I thought it was feeding on fish or something. Then I saw it was the current that was moving the bird. Then I saw the line hanging from a tree. Paddling closer, I could see it was an owl or small hawk that had become entangled in some heavy twine. I don't know how long it had been dead and didn't want to get too close or touch it.
I'd seen a lot of lines dangling from branches on the way up and assumed they were some kind of maker and passed them by. Looking closer at this one, I saw a hook and sinker and that it was deliberately tied to the branch. Well that pissed me off and I happily cut the line from the branch. Can you imagine what that bird went through, struggling to get loose from that line as it dangled in the water getting weaker and weaker until exhausted, it finally drowned? That sucks! Big time!
About noon I came to another downed tree blocking access. This one I didn't feel like dealing with. I just let the current take me downstream while I had lunch. The GPS said I had only come 1.75 straight miles in almost 2.5 hours. It was my intent to drift all the way back to the put in using just enough correcting strokes to keep me from being swept into a strainer or from being impaled by a branch. The only other strokes I took were to paddle over and cut another line from a branch.
I did back paddle a little as I approached the rapids. I could hear but couldn't see them from above. Then as I got nearer I could see what appeared to be a sharp drop off. Then, finally, I could see some white (actually brown) water. I didn't give it a whole lot of thought but I don't think there was much doubt I would run them. If I had brought my spray skirt I might have put it on but then maybe not, since I didn't put the PFD on.
I approached the top of the rapids slowly so I could decided which of the two shoots I wanted to go down. I decided to go down the one on the right. The plan was to hit the standing waves and then back paddle into the eddy between the two sets of standing waves and then ferry over to calm waters.
I went up over the cushion very slowly and it's a good thing I did. It was higher than I thought and the bow dug into the water a little as it was. If I'd been moving faster, I would have really buried the bow. I still hit the standing waves too fast. They're only 20-25 feet long and I was almost through them before I knew it. Instead of trying to back paddle to the eddy I just stuck the paddle out in some kind of combination of a brace and a draw stroke and let the current swing the stern around into the eddy. From there I just ferried through the tail end of the other set of standing waves to calm water.
The land beyond the banks was all flat and covered with yellow flowers that I thought might be mustard. The sun was out now and the turtles were crawling up on logs and branches to warm up. Still no other wildlife though.
04/06/00 Paddling From Lanier Road:
The last 2 nights have been in the 40's and yesterday managed to crawl up into the 60's (shiver, shiver). For today's paddle I added Polartec soaks and sweater as well as a windbreaker. I drove to a put in I'd found yesterday (From US 27 junction take SR 257A 4.1 miles south. Turn left at the Middle Aucilla sign onto Lanier Road and follow dirt road .9 miles. Turn left at kiosk and then make first right). The temperature was still in the 50's causing steam to rise from the warm waters of the Aucilla River as it rushed past several large cypress trees right in the middle of the river by the put in at 2 knots or so. Cool!.
The GPS said I was 3.5 straight miles from yesterday's put in on US 27. Paddling upstream, against the current as usual, the sun was reflecting off of the water directly in my eyes so I guess I was aimed towards the east.
Seeing lots of bubbles coming downstream I figured I was going to run into a set of rapids almost immediately. The farther upstream I paddled, the more bubbles seemed to be coming down. Finally, half a mile upstream I came to the cause of all the commotion. It was just a shoot through a narrow bend in the river with a 3.5+ current ripping through. No obstructions or standing waves, so I just powered up the 15-20 feet to the top.
Lots and lots of cypress in the water and on the banks. A leafy vine was attempting to cover (strangle) many of them. Some of the cypress in the water were causing small islands to be formed around them. It actually looked as if the river was at flood stage, when in reality it was probably down several feet below normal.
A little farther upstream I saw a critter I took to be a very large otter swim from one side of the river to the other. It circled around there for a second and then started swimming back. Mid-way in the 40 foot wide river a big round tail came up out of the water and I heard a loud smack as the critter dove.
The only critter I know that looks, sounds and acts like that is a beaver. I saw another one just a little farther upstream. It smacked its tail as it dove several times. I think both of them were trying to draw me away from wherever their lodge and probably their litter of young were hiding.
All of this was taking place near a log that was down across some fast moving water. I saw no lodge nor much other side of beaver activity. Up north they build their lodges of sticks and mud in the water with entrance under water. This allows them access from below when the water is frozen. No sign of one here.
It would be a good place for a dam since the log covered about 80 percent of the river already. But no sign of dam work either. If they were going to start work on a dam, I hoped they would wait until I came back downstream. I didn't want to have to carry over a damn dam.
As I paddled upstream I did notice several trees that had been gnawed on. The cypress knees look like saplings that have been gnawed down so that made spotting real ones a little more difficult but they were there.
Many live oaks grow out from the banks along the Aucilla with their crooked branches reaching across the river to join hands with those stretching from the other side. A tree with tear shaped leaves and ragged bark became fairly plentiful. It had a fairly straight trunk with what I guess were growths of tiny root systems growing out of different parts of the trunks. Occasional clumps of palmettos dotted the shoreline and every once in a while a cabbage palm stood out by itself.
The bright sunlight and smooth, fast flowing waters reflected everything in sight, doubling the pleasure of the scenery. Every time I stopped to take notes I'd drift back 50-100 yards or so. I didn't care much. The scenery was just as good the second time I paddled up to it.
A lot of those damn fishing lines were tied everywhere. I left them alone on the way up but got tangled in one later on and cut a lot of them on the way back down the river.
I heard, but didn't see, what sounded like a giant woodpecker banging away. It wasn't the little tap, tap, tap of a little one but a loud thump, thump, thump. I thought I saw a pair of bright red cardinals but they turned out to be large canary shaped birds. A hawk with white flecked brown wings and a rust colored body flew from tree to tree in front of me for a while and then realized I wasn't going away and flew off into the forest. I would see a couple more during the day. Several ducks and a bunch of turtles rounded out the wildlife for the day.
At noon I came to a short section of 4+ knot current pouring through a bend in the river. I didn't feel any overwhelming need to prove to myself I could power up it. So I just had lunch as the current pushed me downstream whence I'd come. No sign of the beaver on the way back.