Dec 27,04
We meet at the Little Big Econ Canoe Launch area at 419 and Willingham Road for a river trip.
The ones going on the trip are Harry (the Commodore) his son, Harry and his friend Gary Dean, Mac (gator) and myself. The weekend before the trip we had three days of rain and cold weather but as luck would have it today is clear, sunny and cold.
Before I get ahead of myself the reason for this trip is that Harry contacted me and asked about a Econ River trip and two nights of camping since he and his son have not camped together since there last trip in the mountains of New Jersey which was 40 years ago. "O" I forgot to say Harry is 82 and his son is 62.
Harry #2 wanted to know if his friend and working buddy, Gary could come along and naturally the answer was ....Yes. Mac came along since he and I had located the perfect camping spot down river which is posted property and I secured written permission from the rancher for us to camp there. I also secured permission to park the vehicles at the take out on the private property at the Jolly Gator Fish Camp and Restaurant.
When checking on the parking I got a surprise ..... The father (Howard Butcher) of the owner is also a retired Deputy (Seminole County) Sheriff who I have worked with in the past and in fact he has a really nice retirement plaque in the restaurant saying he only spent 40 years with the department. With my 27 years on the department he makes me look like a short timer. :wink:
We got the vehicles unloaded and then went to the Jolly Gator to park them and my wife meet us there and shuttled us back to the canoes for the trip.
The day was bright, clear, and just perfect. The sun felt good shinning down on us as we paddled along with the current just enjoying the river and its wonders. Saw some bird life but not a lot due to the cooler weather.
This area of the river (419 to Snowhill) has a lot more blow downs and trees across the river thanks to the hurricanes but you can go under or around all of them.
Arrived at our camping area and after setting up camp we started a fire for some coals to cook potatoes in and steaks over. While eating super an eagle decide to sit in the top of a dead pine tree and check out our table manners or he just might of wanted some of the steak, potatoes, butter, sour cream and French bread we had for supper. Darn he might of even wanted one of the after dinner drinks.
Night arrived and with the fire it was just perfect then the night light came up and with it we had a bright night, a full moon does put out a lot of light.
While sleeping we listened to the owls asking each other if one of them had a spare pair of sunglasses because it was so darn bright. Guess you would call them moon glasses. :lol:
Dec 28th
Up in the morning .... Rather cool outside of the sleeping bag so the fire was re-lite and we warmed up while having breakfast. The dew over night had the tents really wet and we were wishing the sun would dry them out but today is overcast and not a lot of direct sunlight so it is packing up wet tents for today's river paddle.
The rest of our trip on the Econ is thru POSTED property and camping is not allowed unless you have written permission from the Ranchers (Land Owners) Snow Hill Bridge to the St.Johns.
You can paddle the river but not camp.
On the water and easing down stream watching the bird life and even seeing a few small gators trying to sun themselves on the river bank of logs. The day did get nicer as time went by but around noon it started to sprinkle on us but not enough to even get you wet, sort of like a mist. About 2:30 PM me were at our campsite and because of the way the sky looked (rainy) the tents were up 1st and then the table so I could start the beef stew. Got the beef cooking with some onions and fixed up a muscle relaxer out of ice , coke and an adult beverage so it was time to sit back and enjoy life.
Later on while adding more goodies to the stew here comes one of those Swamp Buggies with the 6 foot tires and all , everything , drive including 5 hunters , there dogs and a deer they just shot. The buggy pulled up next to camp and it was 2 of the ranchers son's and there friends so I made the introductions all around and even asked them if they wanted to join us for supper ... we could switch over from stew to venison ... When they quite laughing they had to get the deer back to the hunting camp so we were left alone with that big Dutch oven of stew all for ourselves. Which by the way disappeared once it was ready, not a drop left and I was sure there would be some left over, my guess is that it was the hard crust bread we had that soaked everything up?
It kept looking like it would rain any time but never really did, just a drop now and then but nothing worth while.
We were camping next to an Indian Mound which was to the north of us and to the South east we had some more campers but they were in the trees, a roost of the Wood Stork's or what we call Iron Heads. We also had a pair of Eagles in the area checking things out but the really loud, noisy, pest would come out later after dark. :twisted: AIRBOATS ..............
It is a really nice area to camp in but the airboats think it is even better to run around, over, under and anything else area. The one good thing was that in the morning the tents were dry and there was not any dew.
Dec 29th
Up in the morning then a short 2 hour paddle and we are at the Jolly Gator Fish Camp & Restaurant. Loaded the vehicles up with the gear and canoes then went inside and enjoyed a leisurely lunch and some reminiscing about the trip.
The Jolly Gator Fish Camp and Resturant is located at the St.Johns River and State Road 46. Besides anything to eat that a good resturant would have they have Catfish and Gator along with beer or mixed drinks, they also offer airboat rides for anyone wanting to see the river.
Chuck
PS. I think everyone had a good time ... they are trying to talk me into setting up another river trip but on a different river.
We meet at the Little Big Econ Canoe Launch area at 419 and Willingham Road for a river trip.
The ones going on the trip are Harry (the Commodore) his son, Harry and his friend Gary Dean, Mac (gator) and myself. The weekend before the trip we had three days of rain and cold weather but as luck would have it today is clear, sunny and cold.
Before I get ahead of myself the reason for this trip is that Harry contacted me and asked about a Econ River trip and two nights of camping since he and his son have not camped together since there last trip in the mountains of New Jersey which was 40 years ago. "O" I forgot to say Harry is 82 and his son is 62.
Harry #2 wanted to know if his friend and working buddy, Gary could come along and naturally the answer was ....Yes. Mac came along since he and I had located the perfect camping spot down river which is posted property and I secured written permission from the rancher for us to camp there. I also secured permission to park the vehicles at the take out on the private property at the Jolly Gator Fish Camp and Restaurant.
When checking on the parking I got a surprise ..... The father (Howard Butcher) of the owner is also a retired Deputy (Seminole County) Sheriff who I have worked with in the past and in fact he has a really nice retirement plaque in the restaurant saying he only spent 40 years with the department. With my 27 years on the department he makes me look like a short timer. :wink:
We got the vehicles unloaded and then went to the Jolly Gator to park them and my wife meet us there and shuttled us back to the canoes for the trip.
The day was bright, clear, and just perfect. The sun felt good shinning down on us as we paddled along with the current just enjoying the river and its wonders. Saw some bird life but not a lot due to the cooler weather.
This area of the river (419 to Snowhill) has a lot more blow downs and trees across the river thanks to the hurricanes but you can go under or around all of them.
Arrived at our camping area and after setting up camp we started a fire for some coals to cook potatoes in and steaks over. While eating super an eagle decide to sit in the top of a dead pine tree and check out our table manners or he just might of wanted some of the steak, potatoes, butter, sour cream and French bread we had for supper. Darn he might of even wanted one of the after dinner drinks.
Night arrived and with the fire it was just perfect then the night light came up and with it we had a bright night, a full moon does put out a lot of light.
While sleeping we listened to the owls asking each other if one of them had a spare pair of sunglasses because it was so darn bright. Guess you would call them moon glasses. :lol:
Dec 28th
Up in the morning .... Rather cool outside of the sleeping bag so the fire was re-lite and we warmed up while having breakfast. The dew over night had the tents really wet and we were wishing the sun would dry them out but today is overcast and not a lot of direct sunlight so it is packing up wet tents for today's river paddle.
The rest of our trip on the Econ is thru POSTED property and camping is not allowed unless you have written permission from the Ranchers (Land Owners) Snow Hill Bridge to the St.Johns.
You can paddle the river but not camp.
On the water and easing down stream watching the bird life and even seeing a few small gators trying to sun themselves on the river bank of logs. The day did get nicer as time went by but around noon it started to sprinkle on us but not enough to even get you wet, sort of like a mist. About 2:30 PM me were at our campsite and because of the way the sky looked (rainy) the tents were up 1st and then the table so I could start the beef stew. Got the beef cooking with some onions and fixed up a muscle relaxer out of ice , coke and an adult beverage so it was time to sit back and enjoy life.
Later on while adding more goodies to the stew here comes one of those Swamp Buggies with the 6 foot tires and all , everything , drive including 5 hunters , there dogs and a deer they just shot. The buggy pulled up next to camp and it was 2 of the ranchers son's and there friends so I made the introductions all around and even asked them if they wanted to join us for supper ... we could switch over from stew to venison ... When they quite laughing they had to get the deer back to the hunting camp so we were left alone with that big Dutch oven of stew all for ourselves. Which by the way disappeared once it was ready, not a drop left and I was sure there would be some left over, my guess is that it was the hard crust bread we had that soaked everything up?
It kept looking like it would rain any time but never really did, just a drop now and then but nothing worth while.
We were camping next to an Indian Mound which was to the north of us and to the South east we had some more campers but they were in the trees, a roost of the Wood Stork's or what we call Iron Heads. We also had a pair of Eagles in the area checking things out but the really loud, noisy, pest would come out later after dark. :twisted: AIRBOATS ..............
It is a really nice area to camp in but the airboats think it is even better to run around, over, under and anything else area. The one good thing was that in the morning the tents were dry and there was not any dew.
Dec 29th
Up in the morning then a short 2 hour paddle and we are at the Jolly Gator Fish Camp & Restaurant. Loaded the vehicles up with the gear and canoes then went inside and enjoyed a leisurely lunch and some reminiscing about the trip.
The Jolly Gator Fish Camp and Resturant is located at the St.Johns River and State Road 46. Besides anything to eat that a good resturant would have they have Catfish and Gator along with beer or mixed drinks, they also offer airboat rides for anyone wanting to see the river.
Chuck
PS. I think everyone had a good time ... they are trying to talk me into setting up another river trip but on a different river.