December 2015

Two backcountry kayak fishing trips in December led me to settle on a New Year’s Resolution:  I will seek a balance in all things between exploring the new and cherishing the old and familiar in my life.

There is little that excites me as much as exploring new waters, especially in remote pristine wild areas.  What’s around that next bend in the lake or what is lurking in that alluring dark hole in the mangrove tunnel at the S-curve in the creek?  The lightly traveled Fakahatchee River that springs from the Everglades near the Tamiami Trail then wends its way to the Gulf of Mexico is a perfect example.  The put-in point is just across the road from a popular tourist site—a recreated Seminole Village with thatched roof huts.  It is one of the few backcountry creeks I haven’t paddled.  Indeed, I have never seen a vehicle or boats at the clearing in the mangroves where you can launch a kayak.  Why?  The answer seems to be captured in Jeff Ripple’s Kayaking Guide to the Everglades in which he warns this is the toughest, most challenging route in his excellent book.

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