John Prince Park - Palm Beach County Park

This large park is just part of the Palm Beach County Park System. It is located in Lake Worth, FL. This is the Link to the park & campground.

The camp has over 300 small campsites, jammed in between a private airport and the lake. However it seems to be very popular and most of the sites are occupied for the entire winter season. 68 sites are limited to 14 day stays and they are all along the shore of Lake Osborne.

Prices are similar to Florida’s State Parks but they only take reservations 90 days in advance, so it is much easier planning and getting a campsite here.

 

We got here last Saturday morning and will stay for a week. We were welcomed by this Muscovy Duck who looked like we was ready to come into our camper. It was a good thing we had our screen door closed. These ducks seem to roam all around the campground looking for handouts.

 

The weather has been back to normal temperatures, 60-75^oF for this time of year, except on Tuesday morning. We awoke to a severe thunderstorm which had tornado warnings for our location. In fact, 3 tornados touched down south of here. The storm was gone in an hour and we had an 80^oF day.

 

What we like best are the paved bike trails, shown on the map above. It is about a 9 to 10 mile ride around the park and lake. The weather has still been windy and since we could see the entire lake from the bike ride, we saw no reason to try canoeing around the lake.

There are birds everywhere who seem to have lost all fear of anyone on the trails. We saw large flocks of Ibis, many kinds of ducks, including the 3 Wood Storks above. Lots of Herons, Anhingas and Egrets. There are supermarkets not far off the trail where we can do a little shopping.

Our vacation plans after this are a little loose. We had figured by now we would want to go north  to Ocala National Forest where it would be cooler. But we really have not had any really warm weather yet, and Peggy didn’t want to go very far North already. We agreed we both liked Lithia Springs, south of Tampa and Silver Lake, north of Tampa and wouldn’t mind spending a week or so back in that area before going north to Ocala.

Cool, Windy Weather

It’s not unexpected that even Southern Florida has cold spells. Well last week was one of them. Mornings were cold in the 40’s and daytime highs barely reached the 60’s. But what was worse was the wind, at times reaching 40 mph. On those days we stayed inside but finally the wind stopped, and we got out paddle again.

On Wednesday we got out in our canoe and paddled even further up Hickey’s Creek. The creek is much narrower and wilder beyond the little park that we got to last week. There are many low hanging branches and tight bends but has more wildlife. We paddled for 3-1/2 hours and even though it was only 60^oF, it was sunny and I didn’t need a sweatshirt.

We saw a Alligator, a Limpkin, many Ibis and Egrets.

A few weeks ago they got 12” of rain in the counties around Fort Myers, but the rain had stopped by the time we got here. However, as we drove due south on the small local roads from Lithia Springs, all the farm fields were underwater. All this water is entering the Caloosahatchee River and has also filled Lake Okeechobee for the first time in a few years.

The local TV news people are going crazy; “It’s been terrible, all this brown water coming out of the river is ruining our beaches at Sanibel and Fort Myers. It’s all that dirty polluted water from that big bad lake”. Nothing could be further from the truth. First of all the lake is now full and whatever comes in must flow out. I guess the locals here just want the Lake to flood until the dam bursts. Don’t they realize this? Second, they are only releasing 5000 CFS from the dam into the river but here downstream at our campground there is 10,000 CFS passing through the lock. This means half the water is runoff from the record setting rainfall and of course with pine trees there is a brown color to the water along with the dirt and fertilizer runoff from the farms. Here at camp the water is brown colored but clear and the fishing is good.

But they are still complaining on TV every day. They want this freshwater stopped, the salt water fish don’t like it and some die.

I noticed that NBC was videoing in our campground so I walked over to talk to the cute reporter. I found myself on the 6 O’Clock News that day. I videoed this using my cellphone from our TV, take a look.

For us to paddle the river upstream of the lock it’s easy to paddle across the river and portage through the Corps. picnic ground and lock viewing area. Yesterday we decided to stop and view the boats going through the lock and visit the Corp. visitor center. The photos above are a view of boats passing through the lock.

They say that Manatees also pass through the lock everyday and wait around until the lock opens each morning. The lock is only in operation from 7AM to 5PM. So boats wanting to traverse FL from Fort Myers to Stuart on the waterway must wait overnight here, if they get here too late in the day.

Today is our last day at Franklin Locks. We leave Saturday morning to travel along the river to the East Coast and the city of Lake Worth. We will stay for a week at John Prince Memorial Park. on Lake Osborn.

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.

W.P. Franklin near Fort Myers

We arrived at the Corps of Engineers campground after our 2 hour drive plus a stop to grocery shop just as our sites current occupant left.

This campground is on an island in the Caloosahatchee River right at a navigation lock.

It is a small campground and like the FL State Parks is almost impossible to get a campsite. You need to try 6 months in advance at exactly 10:00:00 AM. So last September after trying for 8 straight days, we snagged this site. All the sites are on the water with concrete pads and covered picnic tables.

My back is starting to feel better but I had another camper help me get the canoe down, where it will remain until we leave.

When we looked across the river we saw these two bald eagles watching us set up camp.

This part of FL has gotten over 12” of rain in the past month, so all the rivers were up and Lake Okeechobee which is the source of the river is full and they are releasing a lot of water. But it is a big river and we didn’t think the current was that swift.

But the little Telegraph Creek, where we had paddled in the past, was roaring. We remembered it as a 5’ wide creek running though some farm land. The last time we actually saw a rare Florida Panther laying on a tree above the creek. This time we did see a big group of Llamas at the farm. We only made it about halfway and the hanging branches and fast current made us turn around after 1-1/2 hours. It took us only 45 minutes to get back to camp and we barely paddled at all. The weather has finally warmed to near 80^o F but it is still very cloudy. Our plans are to relax here for two weeks before heading to thae east coast. We plan to paddle & bike around the area.

My Back to Lithia Springs

Actually we are back to Lithia Springs but I have been having back problems (Sciatic Nerve Pain) since we left Hillsborough River three weeks ago. I think lifting and carrying the canoe has taken a toll on my spine. For my close friends and family, click here  My Back Problems for more details about my experience.

Both E.G. Simmons and Lithia Springs are Hillsborough County Parks.

Simmons is on Tampa Bay.

 

 

Lithia is inland near Brandon, FL on the Alafia river.

The campsites are smaller and more open but are all on the mangrove channels at Simmons.

The campsites here at Lithia are wooded and private but only 5 sites are on the river. We were in this same site both different weeks we were here,

There are nice park roads to bike at Simmons but you can connect to miles of concrete bike trails in Fish Hawk Ranch from Lithia.

It is windier at Simmons since they are on the bay but generally they are full even during the week, overflow waiting sites are available. Lithia fills up on weekends but usually has room the rest of the time. The new rules are still first come first served but you can stay all winter for $18/day for those of us over 65.

We will try to do some more biking if it stops raining. It is warm, around 68⁰F, but has been raining for the past 36 hours. We got almost 3” of rain and the river is high.

Our plans are to head south on Saturday morning to W.P. Franklin Campground on an island at a river lock on the Caloosahatchee River near Fort Myers for the next two weeks.