Reptile Love!

We spent the second leg of our Florida/Georgia trip at Three Rivers State Park right on the Florida/Georgia border. The park is located on the shore of the man-made Lake Seminole which is a nice impoundment that has created a lot of deep water habitat for all manner of freshwater flora and fauna.

While you can boat and kayak and fish in the lake, it is actually unsafe for swimming. This is because of the hefty populations of large alligators who live there, and for the danger of infection from a particular nasty amoebic infection that has been reported (rarely, thank goodness) from exposure to the those who have gone swimming there.

The one thing about this trip to Florida is that we did not encounter much in the way of wildlife. I'm not sure why this was, but I suspect the spring flooding of the Suwannee River drainage system likely contributed to this. Normally we see plenty of wildlife down there, but reliable animals such as raccoons, armadillos, white-tailed deer, hawks, owls, ibises, woodpeckers, and other creatures were in very short supply.

However, I did see a number of large alligators in Lake Seminole just off the boat ramp not far from our campsite. In the late afternoon I spotted one alligator that seemed to be very gradually creeping up on the near shore from a point on the opposite side of the channel. It was hard to get photos because she was so far out, and I have never been happy with the quality of photos that I get with my telephoto lens.

After a while I noticed that she seemed to be switching position. And then I realized that I was seeing two alligators. Then, in a while, I recalled that it is getting close to mating season for alligators when the males will take to roaring and vibrating their bodies to create enough of a bass-line to attract the opposite sex. What I was seeing was a female alligator taking the measure of the tolerance level she night expect from a large male who was hovering around the near side of the lake. Better safe than sorry, I expect.

At any rate, here are a few that I managed to take (not good ones, I'm afraid) of the near encounter of a female gator and her bashful target.

This was our campsite at Three Rivers State Park. Nice and quiet even when the campground filled up on the weekend.

Lake Seminole. Kayakers and Canoers make the turn around an island.

A medium sized gator was sliding carefully across the lake.

And then I noticed that there were two!

When your prospective mate is an armored, territorial grouch, you approach with care.

A Nine-Day Camping Trip to Florida.

I logged another long video of various places we camped and hiked and canoed on a nine-day trip to Florida in 2008. We do not go to the places most tourists visit in Florida. We stay away from the crowded beaches and the amusement parks and the larger cities and towns. We prefer the Florida wild country. And, believe it or not, Florida has a tremendous amount of wild and rural land.

Nine days camping, hiking, canoeing.

Kayaking a spring run.

Boat ride from a mainland state park to an island state park.

A  native Floridian along a spring-fed river.

Selling the Canoe

Since we bought Carole the kayak, and since I will be getting one soon for myself, we're selling our canoe.

It was a great boat, but we've found that we much prefer using kayaks to canoes. For one thing, kayaks are lighter, and much more maneuverable. Canoes have their advantages, but for the kinds of paddling we're going to be doing, kayaks are the future for us. Mainly since Andy doesn't go along with us anymore and we just don't need the extra capacity.

So, here are photos I took today so that we can list our canoe on Craigslist and sell it off to someone who will enjoy it as much as we did.

14-foot Old Town canoe. Regular wear from moderate use.

Two paddles and two life vests included!

Lake Jocassee

We went canoeing on Lake Jocassee in South Carolina today. Why'd we wait so long?!

This is where Carole and I had lunch today.

I'll post more later.

Another Canoe Trip

This was my long weekend. The only time I get a Saturday off in a five-week span. Normally I will plan a camping/hiking or backpacking trip on this rare event. However, with the bum knee and looming surgery I had to forgo that pleasure. Instead, Carole and I headed over to work on the travel trailer to get it ready for our next trip which will occur after I am hopefully well enough to take it for a spin in late July.

Also, we loaded the canoe for a paddling trip on a lake in South Carolina tomorrow. At least I won't have to walk.

Our truck with our canoe loaded up for the trip tomorrow. That's two canoe trips this month!

We spent a fair amount of time in the Casita cleaning her up and restocking the cupboards.

And there they are, the way Carole and I get around when we head off for our south-based vacations. Our Nissan Frontier with V6 engine, the Old Town canoe, and our beloved Casita travel trailer which allows us to camp in great comfort in the most out of the way National Forest and National Park campgrounds.

Kayaking

Carole and I discovered some time back that we prefer kayaking over canoeing. The canoe has its place, but for casual cruising on the lakes and rivers, I much prefer kayaks over canoes. The thing I like most about kayaks is their superior maneuverability. They're just a whole lot easier to steer than canoes. Another thing I like about them over canoes is that they seem to draw less water--I've paddled in water a few inches deep without scraping bottom in a good kayak.

Carole speeds ahead of me on the Catawba River.

The kayaks that we want to purchase are a bit expensive. So we've been holding off on getting replacements for our canoe. We like the idea of solo kayaks instead of a tandem model, so that will also add to the cost. In addition, we want to get kayaks that we can use in slightly rough water--maybe up to Class III rapids--and something that will allow us to take multi-day trips with room for camping gear. We've actually picked out the models we want, so we're just waiting for the budget to allow for the purchase.

I find a nice backwater channel to chill out and listen to the woods.

I took this video mainly to illustrate with sounds and moving images the song of the cicadas in the forest on the island we circumnavigated. In this inlet they were really chirping away. The discordant screeching of a group of human children behind me distracts from the song of the insects, but you can still feel the power of the singing cicadas.

Andy stopped to go wading in the shallows at the low end of the island. (Behind him are the chattering kids--nice children, but I just wanted them to be quiet for a bit. Oh, well. Quiet's not something that kids normally do.)