Floridian Foray
With a 4-day weekend in front of me, I decided to try to get out and explore the ol' Florida a bit. Water being its key attraction, I started with grand plans for a float trip that eventually got scaled down to a one-night trip with a dude from the element named Ray, after other parties bailed. The basic idea was to take a canoe and a couple of kayaks down to Ft. DeSoto State Park, paddle across the channel to an island named Shell Key (it appears that to Floridians "key"is to "island" as "snowmachine" is to "snowmobile" for Alaskans), and set up camp. The canoe would transport our gear, then we'd use the kayaks to explore the area and catch fish for dinner.
More trail rated than you can shake a stick at.
A view of our flotilla. To move everything at once, we lashed the kayaks together and dragged them behind us in the canoe. It worked pretty decently, even in a moderate chop.
One of the signs circling the key. Our camp was in the trees - we actually approached from the water on the other side. This was taken on the second day. The first day was cloudy, but warm. We kayaked for several hours without any success catching fish before a thunderstorm chased us back to camp. We got a fire going in time for a torrential downpour, waited that out long enough to eat, then slept. Next time, I'm bringing more than a wool blanket for sleeping.
Our camp. Ray's got a "tent cot" going on in the background. That's right, a cot that is also a tent, kind of like a jungle hammock, but much heavier, and without the damage to trees. Cool concept. Waterproofing needs some work - he had to cut a hole in the cot to drain the water out of it.
We happened upon a sweet rope swing by our campsite.
View from the key's beach. I must admit, the morning view was pretty awesome.
While the second day was gorgeous, it was also fairly cold. While I probably didn't need the hat and rain jacket, I was going with it since I'd just gotten feeling back in my toes.
All in all, sleeping in a tent was awesome, the camp site was pretty sweet, and paddling around randomly was cool, although a fish or two would have been nice. Yep, I think this water camping thing might have some potential.
More trail rated than you can shake a stick at.
A view of our flotilla. To move everything at once, we lashed the kayaks together and dragged them behind us in the canoe. It worked pretty decently, even in a moderate chop.
One of the signs circling the key. Our camp was in the trees - we actually approached from the water on the other side. This was taken on the second day. The first day was cloudy, but warm. We kayaked for several hours without any success catching fish before a thunderstorm chased us back to camp. We got a fire going in time for a torrential downpour, waited that out long enough to eat, then slept. Next time, I'm bringing more than a wool blanket for sleeping.
Our camp. Ray's got a "tent cot" going on in the background. That's right, a cot that is also a tent, kind of like a jungle hammock, but much heavier, and without the damage to trees. Cool concept. Waterproofing needs some work - he had to cut a hole in the cot to drain the water out of it.
We happened upon a sweet rope swing by our campsite.
View from the key's beach. I must admit, the morning view was pretty awesome.
While the second day was gorgeous, it was also fairly cold. While I probably didn't need the hat and rain jacket, I was going with it since I'd just gotten feeling back in my toes.
All in all, sleeping in a tent was awesome, the camp site was pretty sweet, and paddling around randomly was cool, although a fish or two would have been nice. Yep, I think this water camping thing might have some potential.
posted by Slim at
7:54 PM
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