The Blackwater State Forest lies in the northwest corner of Florida near Pensacola. I got to the park on Sunday. On Monday Guatemala John arrived to join me in some paddling. I met John and his buddy Rhode Island Bob while paddling in the Okefenokee Swamp and John and I agreed to meet here after the Thanksgiving holiday. John's been wandering around loose for the last 10 years or so. He generally likes to summer in the southwest or northwest US and winter in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and other places in the southern latitudes. Sounds good to me.
When John arrived on Monday he brought a cold front and temperatures in the low 30's with him. After struggling through breakfast with semi-frozen fingers we were anxious to hit the water and take advantage of our new found shuttle capabilities. Both of us usually paddle alone. This kinda limits us to the kind of trips we can make individually. Together, our options are much broader.
The Blackwater State Forest has 5-6 of Florida's scenic canoe trails running through or fairly close by; Blackwater River, Sweetwater/Juniper Creeks (a local says these are blocked by downed trees), Coldwater Creek, Yellow River, Shoals River and the Perido River on the Alabama border. Go to the State Forestry office on FL 191 just below FL 4 for maps, river conditions and general information.
We chose to do the 11 mile lower section of the 31 mile Blackwater River today, ending at the State Park. After leaving my truck at the takeout in the park, John drove us to Bryant Bridge to launch his canoe. The GPS said the take out was 5.8 miles away but of course that was in a straight line. Unfortunately a rather gruesome sight greeted us at the launch. A doe's head, legs and some unidentifiable parts lay beside the ramp. Someone had shot it in the last day or two, butchered it and carried away the good stuff, leaving the offal behind. Barf!
The truly interesting thing about the Blackwater River is the contrast of its dark stained, tannin colored water to the bright white of its sandy bottom and the wide sand beaches and 6-8 foot sand banks. For the most part this section of the Blackwater River is about 50 feet wide. The water didn't exceed three feet deep anywhere and most of the time was closer to two and even one. A ranger told us recent rains had raised the water to those levels as they haven't had much rain in this area the past year.
A one-two knot current pushed us along quite nicely. It felt great having a current behind me and not having to paddle back upstream against it later on. We didn't see any wildlife on this late November day. Part of the reason might have been all the talking we did on the way down. 4 1/2 hours found us somewhat disappointed as we arrived at the takeout. Well, we have tomorrow to look forward to. Neither one of us has any kind of schedule to maintain so we'll do whatever we want.
11/29/00: We got a late start today so decided to do a couple of walks in the state park and state forest. On one of the walks, John pointed out a pitcher plant to me. This is an insect eating plant, common in Florida, but the first I'd seen. We saw a few birds but they apparently have headed south.
11/30/00: We spent the night in a primitive camp site. John sleeps in his truck and I've recently switched to doing the same so we just pulled into the site and parked. He's had 10 years to work the kinks out of what works for him. I'm still trying.
Today we tackled the Shoals River. The official pamphlet said the river was 34 feet deep, which seemed a little contrary to its name. Apparently it was a misprint because the water never exceeded three feet. A lot of downed trees had been pruned to make the river navigable making the paddle more interesting.
We saw a few ducks and a few schools of fish through some pretty clear water. The absence of downed trees in some stretches was kinda disappointing with no logs to maneuver through.
12/01/00: After another night in a different primitive camp site we did the Blackwater River from Kennedy Bridge to Cotton Bridge a 8-9 mile trip. I thought we would have made better time in the canoe with a 1-2 knot current pushing us along but we've only been averaging 3 knots or so. It's a good thing wee haven't tried to bite off something larger. I guess all the maneuvering and talking and being old and all slows us down. Even all out and with the current behind us we only got it up to 4.7 knots for 5 seconds or so, at least according to the GPS.
Today was a better paddle but only because we had more downed trees to maneuver through. Everything we've seen so far has been 50 feet wide, 1-3 feet deep and clear or tannin colored.
12/03/00: Yesterday dawned a drab and drizzly day. A ranger had told us the Yellow River had plenty of water but we both agreed to call it quits. We'd been struggling with some mildly cold weather all week and both were ready to move on.
John headed off to the Florida Caverns near Tallahassee and then for points south. I hung around Blackwater State Forest Saturday and Sunday with intentions of heading briefly into Alabama and Mississippi and then on into the bayous of Louisiana.
After a really blustery Sunday the forecast was for sub-30 nights for the next week. Instead of west, I'm now heading for somewhere south. I'll try for Louisiana again in January or sometime thereafter. I don't need all that cold.