The Big Bend: Wacissa and Aucilla

The Awesome Aucilla River, Wonderful Wacissa River

& 

Weekend at Goose Pasture

1/29/2016 Through 1/31/2016

View from Goose Pasture Campground to the Wacissa River

Our trip to the Big Bend of Florida began mid afternoon on a Friday. It took us approximately 4.5 hours from our home destination to arrive at Goose Pasture Campground. Along the way we amused ourselves by listening to “The Big Jon” show on the radio. “Big Jon”plays oldies and laughs like Muttley from  “Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines.” I sent Big Jon an email from my cell phone with a request for a song. JB and I high-fived and burst out laughing when we heard my first name and email read on the radio followed by the song requested!

We drove the last hour or so in darkness. Along the way we saw the silhouettes of many deer on the side of the road out searching for their next meal. Our travels took us down long dirt roads surrounded by total darkness (described, at times during the ride, as "creepy") until we finally reached the campground where the rest of our group was warming up by a campfire. We couldn’t see what the campground looked like because it was so dark. However, pinholes of golden light from the multitude of stars above poked through the dark sky. I’ve never seen a more beautiful sky than here. The skies were crystal clear. We were told this campground was designated as a “Dark Sky Place,” though I can’t find any information confirming that, but I can tell you I have never seen that many stars in the sky with such clarity in my entire life. The sky was literally filled with stars.

Goose Pasture Campground

DAY 1: MIDDLE AUCILLA RIVER

We awoke to a very chilly morning, but that didn't deter our quest for paddling a new river! Everyone was up bright and early and ready to go. Since this was our first time in this area we weren’t very familiar with where we were going, but we managed to find the take-out  and buddy shuttle to the put-in. 

This railroad bridge was the first thing I saw as we slid our kayaks into the water - such a beautiful image to see first thing in the morning. We had no idea what to expect as our kayaks merged into the swift moving current of the Aucilla River and began to take us on a ride through natural wilderness beauty.

River Birch trees lined the banks and the bark was in various stages of peeling, curling like the shavings of a pencil just sharpened.

Every mile we continued to paddle did not disappoint. Everything the eyes took in illuminated the beauty of our wild surroundings.

Unfortunately, this river is known for fishing lines and hooks left to hang on tree branches. The casualties of this practice could be seen as we passed what appeared to be a Barred Owl that I assume must have gotten caught on the hook and drowned.

The star of this paddle was the scenery. We did not see much wildlife -only a few birds here and there.

Cormorant sitting high above us in a tree

The river was very deceiving. The waters could be calm and peaceful one moment and suddenly the loud roaring of fast moving water could be heard just around the corner. We rode through some small, fun shoals.

"Roxy"

We made our way back to the campsite for dinner followed by a VERY large campfire!!!

 

DAY 2: WACISSA RIVER

The next day we drove to our put-in at the Wacissa River. The Wacissa flows about 12 miles from its headspring before it joins the Aucilla River. It has been declared an "Outstanding Florida Waterway"and I can see why it has earned such a distinction. I have never seen water so clear for so many miles!!! From the moment we launched our kayaks, there were many different kinds of birds that could be seen: Cormorants, Moorhens,Great White Egrets, Cattle Egrets, Little Blue Heron, American Coots, Bald Eagle, to name a few:

Moorhen

American Coots

Snowy Egret

You can tell a Snowy Egret apart from a Great Egret by their  bills, which are mostly black with orange at the base, their long, fluffy plumes and though it can't be seen in this picture, their yellow feet.

Little Blue Heron

Little Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Greater Yellow Legs (Sandpiper Family) - This bird was once painted by John James Audobon and the painting entitled "Greater Yellowlegs" (See Below)

 

Cormorant

Northern Flicker - Woodpecker

Bald Eagle

Great Egret, Ibis and Juvenile Ibis

Anhinga

STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION....

Econlockhatchee - Middle and Upper Section at High Water 9-5-2015 and 9-6-2015

 

The Econlockhatchee

419 Bridge to Snowhill Road Bridge

and

Hidden River RV Park (Highway 50) to 

419 Bridge

At HighWater

The Econlockhatchee River is a north-flowing, blackwater river that is approximately 54.5 miles long and is a tributary of the St. John’s River. The Econ flows through the counties of Osceola, Orange and Seminole.Its name is Muscogee and translates to “River of Many Mounds.” There are three sections of the Econlockhatchee mainly paddled, dependent in some instances on the water levels of the river.  The first section, (the "upper section") from Highway 50 to the 419 Bridge is not often paddled and is very rain dependent, but can be described as the most beautiful of all three sections.  The second section (the “middle section”) is from the 419 Bridge to the Snowhill Road bridge. Many people also routinely paddle the third section (the “lower section”) which is from the Snowhill Road bridge to CS Lee Park. The 419 Bridge is where the tributary of the Little Econlockhatchee meets with the Big Econlockhatchee to flow through the Little Big Econ State Forest (now the name of the forest makes sense!) According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, this waterway was designated as an Outstanding Waterway and singled out for preservation.

419 Bridge to Snowhill Road Bridge 9-5-2015

 

It had been awhile since we last paddled this section of the Econ. Since I live in the area and I knew we had received alot of rain, I was interested to see just how high and fast this river was flowing. As it turned out, it was higher than I had ever seen it. The banks of the river spilled past the grass that lead to the bridge and even from beyond the forest.

There wasn't much wildlife to be seen, but we did spot two bald eagles. We didn't even see any alligators this trip. The water levels were so high I was concentrating on trying to remember what the river looked like without the water being so high.

An orange blaze marking the hiking trail, which was of course impassable due to the high water

Majestic American Bald Eagle

We paddled up the bridge, parked our kayaks and ate lunch on the middle of the bridge. The sandy spot where we sometimes stop and take a break to stretch was covered in water.

JB paddling past the old Flagler Railroad bridge pilings.

Little Big Econ State Forest is historically significant since it contains the first means of crossing the Econlockhatchee River. The Old State Road 13 railway and trestle were part of the Flagler Railroad System in the early 1900s. Today they are part of the Florida National Scenic Trail and are used by hikers to cross the Econlockhatchee River.

(Source: The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services)

View From The Bridge: To the right of the picture is normally a large sandy area, but now underwater.

 

The rest of the paddle went swiftly thanks to the current which gave us an averaging moving speed of 3.2 mph without even trying. We paddled 8.25 miles in 2 hours and 36 minutes and we stopped for a whopping 40 minutes for lunch. Before we knew it, we were at Snowhill Bridge. Normally there is a steep, rocky slope to lug our kayaks up to our cars. Not today. There was orange tape blocking entrances to cars to travel under the bridge because it was underwater. It was easypeasy to kayak up to the bridge and literally all we had to do was get out of our kayaks, pick them up and walk a few feet to our cars.

JB and I were excited for the next day to come because we had already decided we were going to attempt to kayak the Upper Econ.....

Hidden River RV Park (Highway 50) to 419 Bridge 9/6/2015

 

JB can't wait to paddle the Upper Econ!!!

It was a beautiful Sunday morning and according to the water gage, the river was 20.86 feet and ready for us to explore it. Our journey began through a canopy of cypress, oaks and palms.

We meandered through swamps and attempted to navigate the main channel, but this proved to be difficult because the water spilled into the surrounding forest and at times there did not appear to be any flow of the river to follow. Nevertheless, we were always able to make our way forward, but not without getting slapped a few times by the many trees which partially blocked the path as we paddled onward. My sunglasses were a casualty of the paddle battle between me and a bushy oak tree branch. Oak Tree Branch: 1 Me: Lost Pair of Sunglasses sunken into the abyss of the Econ.

At times the river would open up and we paddled past many "Posted: No Trespassing" signs which helped us realize just where the boundaries of the river normally were. Though we could hear the distinct sounds of a pilated woodpecker and the hooting of owls from deep in the forest, we could not see them. We did see an Aningha and Great Blue Heron fly by, but I was not able to photograph them. We also saw a deer run into the woods. The wildlife that could be seen was very skittish and would quickly disappear once it knew we were around.

We only saw two alligators and this was the runt of the two. The first one was spotted in a more swampy area and was what we like to call "A BIG Boy!!!" JB saw the mammoth alligator and pointed it out to me. I did not grab my camera because when I turned and saw the size of it, I decided it was a good time to paddle faster.

Lunch Spot!

We managed to find our way through the maze of trees and finally saw the 419 bridge....we made it! Just in time, too, because rumbles of thunder were growing louder.

 

We love to explore rivers we have not done before and this was surely an exciting, scenic wilderness journey we will not soon forget.