Calooshahatchee River paddling

Since our campground is on an island in the middle of the Calooshahatchee River we thought we would do some canoeing trips.

We tried an 8 mile bike ride looking at all the expensive houses in the small developments near our campground but doing so required us to bike along N. River Rd, which has no bike lanes and has some fast traffic. I thought we could make it over to Calooshahatchee Regional Park where they are supposed to have bike trails, but Peggy did not want to bike another mile down the road.

So on Wednesday we paddled downstream on the Calooshahatchee River, paddling around the oxbow islands. It is a big river and a windy day so it was tiring. We probably paddled a little over 6 miles.

The Calooshahatchee River, which means "River of the Calusa," was the main waterway of the Calusa people, who lived along the coast of southwest Florida and travelled in their dugout canoes until they were  eradicated by the European explorers in the late 1700s.

On Thursday we planned to paddle upstream about a mile to Hickey’s Creek but our campsite is on the downstream side of the dam and you are not allowed to paddle through the river lock. So we had two options, we could either carry the canoe through the campground to the upstream side of the dam or paddle over to the south side of the river where we could just slide the canoe up the grassy slope and down to the upstream side. This was much easier, no lifting required. I didn’t want to reinjure my back which is finally starting to feel much better.

The creek is about one mile upsream of the dam and is easy to paddle the 3 miles upstream to a park. However there are many homes along the creek so that it is not as pretty as I had remembered. But it gets much more scenic when you reach the park.

Reading from their park description, “Hickey’s Creek Mitigation Park was established in 1994 as a gopher tortoise mitigation preserve. Hickey's Creek is a shady oasis for paddlers and a picturesque spot for fishing and picnicking. Its dark waters are home to otters, alligators, largemouth bass and the occasional manatee.”

We did see a lot of turtles and a few scenic views along the creek. The weather was sunny and warm but very windy.

This past week has been partly cloudy with temperatures in the low 80’s every day but last night a cold front rolled in bringing a liittle rain, lots of wind and for the next week they predict the high’s only in the mid-60’s, with lows  around 50^oF.