Ocklawaha Rive #4

(below the Dam)

***Adventure Outpost dedicates this trip to the Florida Defenders of the Environment and to the memory Marjorie Harris Carr. Were it not for their passion and devotion to preserving the Ocklawaha, this natural treasure would now be a barge canal.

Cost: $50.00 per person. (includes kayak or canoe, paddle, vest, shuttling and guide)

Using your Own Boat: $35. (many paddlers with their own boats like to join us to learn more about the history, archaeology and natural history of these rivers).

Group size: 1 - 24 people.

Trip length: 4 - 4.5 hrs.

Skill level: Great for beginners and experts alike.

Difficulty: This is an easy paddle on slow, tannin-stained waters. There is plenty of water here so you won't have to pull over any shoals or shallows.

Dates

Join us for a scheduled tour (see calendar for trips being planned).

If you see a free date on the calendar, suggest the trip of your choice and we'll post it! or schedule your own private tour. Call for details (386-454-0611)

Location: To see this river's general location, go to the River Locator Map
or
Click on link below for a local map and then use zoom and panning arrows to explore the area. Note: the red star is NOT our meeting place, but just a nearby town or landmark.View Map

Description

The George Kirkpatrick Dam ( formerly Rodman Dam) is a fitting launch place for our exploration of a beautifully preserved section of the river as it once was, and as it will hopefully be again. Fantastic riverine forest, lots of wildlife, exploration of an ancient Indian mound and steam boat landing highlight this tour.

Unlike the upstream sections, where the canopy is often closed overhead, the lower Ocklawaha is more open, allowing us to get a sweeping view of the foliage lining the river. But, it's also much more braided. Many side streams and confusing forks make this an interesting area to explore, but can turn a leisurely paddle into an extreme workout if you make a wrong turn. You won't want to get too far ahead of the guide on this trip.

This is one of the best rivers for autumn colors in Florida. Cypress trees, with their brilliant copper foliage, tower over tupelos, dogwoods, sweet gum, elm and other with varying degrees of red, crimson, purple and yellow. Long vines of Woodbine and poison ivy weave their multi-colored foliage around the trunks and throughout all of the vegetation layers - ground level, underbrush and tree canopies alike. The stars of the autumn show are the red maples whose abundance and deep scarlet color will keep your camera clicking.

Red Maple

Acer rubrum

These trees are uncharacteristically sturdy for the maple clan. This allows them to grow much larger and older than some other maples. We don't have sugar maples here, but you can get a second-rate sugar from red maples if you're desperate. A more common use of this tree is for implements such as wooden coat hangers. One of this species most striking features is the beautiful red color of it's autumn foliage. The abundance of these trees, along with some other colorful inhabitant, makes the Ocklawaha forest one of the finest areas to enjoy fall colors in Florida. The red leaves are toxic to horses, however. Three pounds can be lethal. By virtue of their light, winged seeds (samara), these trees are quick to colonize any cleared patch of ground in wetlands. Another trick that makes them successful is their ability to change sexual orientation, sometimes having both male and female flowers on the same tree, sometimes they're separate.

Wildlife

This section, like others on the Ocklawaha, has a nice assortment of egrets, herons, ibis and other water birds. We often see otters, deer, alligators, snakes, swallow-tailed kites, bald eagles and an occasional wild hog. This is also bear country.

History

In addition to it's scenic beauty, this stretch of the Ocklawaha also serves as an excellent 'living museum' of man's 12,000 year relationship with nature in Florida. As we make our way downstream, we work back in time - starting with our launch at the George Kirkpatrick Dam, where we see man's most recent (and most destructive) attempt to 'tame' the river, we paddle past a couple of old steamboat landings before stopping for lunch at a large Indian burial mound.

Sydney Lanier, a well-known writer of the 1800's, called the Ocklawaha the "sweetest water-lane in the world, a lane which runs more than a hundred and fifty miles of pure delight betwixt hedgerows of oaks and cypresses and palms and bays and magnolias and mosses and manifold vine-growths..." Unlike so many early descriptions of wild Florida, which are merely frustrating glimpses into long lost worlds, this passage could have been written today. And, aside from the fact that he was sitting on the deck of an Ocklawaha steamboat, Lanier's instructions on assuming the "attitude of perfect rest" could just as easily be followed by the kicked-back, modern day kayaker. His suggestion - hike your left leg onto the boats railing, "then tip your chair in a slight diagonal position back to the side of the cabin, so that your head will rest there against, your right arm will hang over the chair back, and your left arm will repose on the railing. I give no specific instruction for your right leg, because I am disposed to be liberal in this matter and to leave some gracious scope for personal idiosyncracies,...dispose your right leg, therefore, as your heart may suggest. Having secured this attitude, open wide the eyes of your body and your soul; repulse with a heavenly suavity the conversational advances..." of others, "then sail, sail, sail through the cypresses, through the vines, through the May day...and so shall your heart forever afterwards interpret Ocklawaha to mean repose."

I can't count the times I've rounded a bend of the Ocklawaha, and found someone in our group - Sandy R., Trisha P., Nick B. and many others (you know who you are) laid back in their kayaks, in the "attitude of perfect rest." It's the perfect river for "repose".

Trip Notes & Current Conditions

(Interesting sightings or notes? Let us know and we'll post them here)

March 2, 2006 - Water levels are a little high, giving the river forest a good soaking. Usually, this would men fewer wading birds, but on today's trip we were treated to quite a few feathered companions. A couple of large flocks of white ibis were making their way up and down the channel, while pine warblers and scores of other LBJ's (little brown jobs) worked the under story. We spotted a half dozen gators, and twice as many turtles (mostly red-bellies) soaking up the sun and gearing up for the carnival of spring. At this time of year, we get a great demonstration of the subtle differences a few fractions of a degree in latitude makes on the environment. Here, in the Ocklawaha valley, red maples are a bit greener and more of their ripe, red samara (seeds) have dropped than those in the next valley to the north, along the Santa Fe. Elm leaves are bigger, newly unfurled ash leaves are a bit longer, the dust of oak pollen is more apparent. The forests of the Suwannee are just a shade less green. Fewer flowers have dared open and unopened buds are not as plump. But in either place, there's no mistaking it - spring is here!!

December 19, 2006 - Autumn was a brief affair on the Ocklawaha. Warmer than average temps and a soggy end to November made the color change less spectacular here than on rivers only an hour to the north. Deciduous trees have shed most leaves. Bloom seen included burmarigold, swamp lilies, spatterdock, climbing aster and a few cardinal flowers. Birds included bald eagle, many cormorants, some anhingas, about 2 dozen great blue herons, about a dozen white ibis (far less than usual for this time of year), several phoebes, assorted woodpeckers (including a head-banging pileated), several great egrets, a red-shouldered hawk, mobs of robins and grackles and one very loud barred owl that announced his presence first and then landed in a tree immediately alongside river where we could admire every detail of his (her?) plumage.

Sept. 20, 2007 - The controversial clearing of "hazards" from the river (the most recent, in a long history of political/human follies that have been inflicted upon this gentle river) is complete and the healing process has begun. Water birds are having to look a little harder for good limbs to perch upon, as they scan the water for dinner, and photographers are having to search a little longer for scenes with beautiful limbs overhanging the river. But, thankfully, the fishermen, whose boats average about 7 - 8 feet wide should have no trouble threading through the 30 - 40 ft wide swath that was sawed out.

Sept, 05, 2008 - Water levels are still high from TS Fay and the river forest is getting a badly needed soaking. While the water is running at a nice, quick pace and there's clear passage through this entire stretch, paddlers need to be extra cautious to avoid logs, snags and low hanging limbs. The quick current will pin your boat against such obstacles and it's hard to pull out. In extreme situations (fast water  moving under your boat while you're pinned) could undermine and tip your boat. In these situations, always lean AWAY from the oncoming water. And, always keep at least one paddle partner nearby. The old "buddy system" is a great idea!

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