Paddle Florida joins DEP in partnership
Recently, Paddle Florida staff met with leadership at the Dept. of Environmental Protection in Tallahassee. As a result of this meeting, both the Office of Greenways & Trails and Florida State Parks have agreed to assist Paddle Florida expand its event schedule in 2010/2011. The plan is to host an event in each of Florida's Five Water Management Districts. In addition to the 2 events we do each year on the Suwannee River, and the event over MLK, Jr. weekend on the Peace River, we are expanding to include events in the Panhandle during spring break, the Keys over President's Day weekend and an event somewhere in the St. Johns Water Management District over the Christmas break. We are in the process of planning each of these additional events, so stay tuned!
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Peace River trip a resounding success
Over the MLK, Jr. weekend, 75 paddlers took on the Peace River in southern Polk and Hardee counties. We started at Ft. Meade Outdoor Recreation Area on Friday evening with dinner and a presentation on Peace River fossils by local fossil expert Mark Renz. The audience was intrigued by the prospect of finding million-year-old fossils over their 3 days of paddling.
Winter Paddle Florida began in earnest on Saturday
morning, as paddlers were fed a hearty breakfast.
They put in at the Ft. Meade boat ramp and traveled
13 miles to Paynes Creek Historic Site, punctuated
by one of our famous Paddle Florida lunch stops
on property provided by Mosaic. When paddlers arrived
at Paynes Creek in Bowling Green, they were treated
to dinner and the music of Raiford Starke, the
self-proclaimed 'human jukebox'. As if on cue,
when everyone was snug in their tents, the rains
came and continued through the night. When dawn
broke, the skies cleared while paddlers had breakfast
and got on the river for a short ten-mile paddle
to Pioneer Park in Zolfo Springs, again stopping
for fruit, drinks, PB & J, granola bars and healthy snacks at Crews Riverside Park in Wauchula.
On Sunday night in Zolfo Springs, Mosaic provided
a terrific bar-b-que dinner before Danny Kushmer,
a representative of the Southwest Florida Water
Management District, gave an overview of the Peace
River and its importance in the region. Local legend
Rich Mistretta performed his own brand of 'jukebox'
music before our intrepid paddlers rested up for
the 19-mile final day.
On Monday, our participants rose early for breakfast,
anticipating a long day. But paddling conditions
were picture perfect, and the makeshift lunch stop
halfway through the day fortified everyone to finish
long before they anticipated. With a following
wind, cool temperatures in the morning and bright
sunshine in the afternoon, along with a swift current,
everyone finished the day in Gardner before 2pm.
Paddlers were then shuttled back to the start in
Ft. Meade where a final hamburger and hotdog buffet
was served at 4pm before everyone retrieved their
gear, loaded their boats and departed for home.
The inaugural Winter Paddle Florida is in the
books and it appears that everyone enjoyed exploring
one of Florida's most pristine and wild rivers.
We want to thank all of the folks who made this
event possible, including the City of Ft. Meade,
Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing, Mosaic,
the Florida Park Service, Hardee County, the City
of Wauchula, the Southwest Florida Water Management
District and Mark Renz. With the help of these
and other partners, we hope to make this event
an annual occurrence over the MLK, Jr. weekend
each year.
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Spring Paddle Florida is just around the corner
Our third annual Spring Paddle
Florida will be held March
18-25, 2010 on the Withlacoochee
and Suwannee Rivers. Unlike
in years past, we will begin
the trip at Madison Blue Springs
State Park on the Withlacoochee
River. After paddling 12 miles
on the wondrous Withlacoochee,
and traversing some great 'fast'
water, we spend the night at
Suwannee River State Park near
the confuence of both rivers.
We will then paddle for 6 more
days until we reach Manatee
Springs State Park; 115 miles
in all. Deadline for registration
is March 5.
In order to register for
our 2010 events, paddlers can
view and access details on
our homepage at www.paddleflorida.org
We have tweaked the website
a bit and now it is really easy!
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Entertainment
lineup for Spring Paddle Florida
almost finalized
As we move toward final preparations for our Spring Paddle Florida event, we have almost finalized our entertainment lineup. First, on Thursday night, March 18th, at Madison Blue Spring, Lars Andersen will give a slide-shoe presentation on the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail. On Friday night, Paddle Florida mainstay Magda Hiller will serenade us with her unique brand of musical promiscuity. On Saturday night at Advent Christian Village, we will hear from Ken Sulak, the leading expert on Sturgeon on the Suwannee. He will attempt to answer the age-old question, 'Why do sturgeon jump?'. On the 22nd in Branford, we will hear from Mike Devlin of 21st Century Kayaks in Naples. He will give a talk on a new kind of skin-on-frame kayak: one that you can affordably build yourself! The following night at Gornto Springs, we will once again hear the amazing Bluegrass sounds of Big Cypress Bluegrass. They performed on our Fall trip and are back by popular demand. For our final night, we have signed up Raiford Starke who made a big splash on our recently completed Winter Paddle Florida on the Peace River. Our thrid annual Spring Paddle Florida on the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers is shaping up to be a great trip! Please see the 'entertainment' section on our Paddle Florida website for updates at www.paddleflorida.org
Fifth Annual Paradise Coast Kayak Festival
When shivering kayakers elsewhere are
just starting to put their boats back
into chilly northern waters, Southwest
Florida will be celebrating the end
of its Winter kayaking season.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Special Thanks and Shout Outs to
our dedicated Paddle Florida volunteer staff, including
Walt & Sally Jetter, Martha Szymoniak, Bill
Hay, Sergio Alvarez, Cassie Howard, Tom McLaulin,
Chuck Utter and the incomparable Jan Corcoran.
Without the assistance of this great group of people,
none of our events would be possible. Paddle Florida
volunteer staff,
We Salute You!
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