I was at Myakka River State Park before but had forgotten everything about it except I had seen a pair of sandhill cranes. Checked my notes and they said it was a beautiful, beautiful park with a lousy, lousy campground. Unfortunately I read the notes after I had checked in so here I am.
Temperature down in the 30's last night and a 10mph wind blowing. Went for an early morning walk along the scenic road and it was quite cold. Cabbage palms interspersed with thatched palms interspersed with live oaks all along the road. Live oak branches hang over the road forming a canopy with Spanish moss dangling down. These are old, gnarly trees with thick, twisted trunks and branches. Small ferns grow along many of the thick branches forming an entire eco-system of their own.
The lake can be seen from much of the road. A few herons and egrets could be seen along the shore. A flock of about 30 white pelicans flew across the lake in formation.
I spotted what I thought was an exhibit of some kind. Turned out to be a wild pig trap with one in it. Farther on I saw another that had a sow and at least two little piggies. The next day both traps were empty. Well the second one was filled with turkeys eating the corn placed in the trap as bait.
On the way back I looked up and saw a pair of young hawks perched together on stubs on the end of a branch overhead. I took several pictures and they looked like some kind of carving they were posed so perfectly.
The wind was still blowing so I drove a few miles to a small bridge over Upper Myakka River. I was going to paddle the river but when I saw a path along side it I decided to follow it instead. Good thing I did. It was very pretty but ran out of water in 1/2 mile.
Back at the bridge I crossed the road and followed a path down that side of the river. 100 feet brought me to a good sized alligator stretched out on the other side of the river (creek). Much of this sandy area had been rooted up by wild pigs so it was understandable why they were trying to trap them.
Farther on I watched a river otter diving for fish. He was pretty good because every time he dove he came up with a small fish. I took maybe 15 photos but most of them were out of focus.
By the time I was done with that walk it was noon and the wind had died down. I went to the lake, had lunch and then dumped the kayak in the water. As soon as I did this large air boat with 20 people came out of the channel. I was tempted to pull the boat back out to get away from the noise but didn't.
I paddled up the lake 50 feet off shore. The air boat swung over to the other side because there wasn't enough water for even its shallow draft. Most of the upper lake is less than a foot. I just saw a few herons and egrets and some ducks along the way.
Paddling down the other side I saw a gray thing along the shore and paddled over to investigate. It turned out to be an alligator and when it started to move I backed off so as not to disturb it. I hadn't paddled more than 40 feet when 2 alligators burst from the tall grasses and hit the water. Then 2 or 3 more came running out and then some more. Must have been 15 of them laid up in those grasses.
I now understand its the Lower Myakka Lake that's the real attraction to the more adventuresome. There's supposed to be some huge alligators down there. Maybe next time.