Our canoes locked together for security while we're hiking.
June 21 has become the "official" Nude Hiking day. I wanted to do something with hiking this year, and Mike hadn't been to Rough Island yet, and I haven't fully explored it myself.
We 'cheated' a little and motored across Lake Hatchineha from Camp Mack. I wanted to be on the island well before thunderstorm time. My canoe and motor towed Mike's canoe until we reached the shallows just before the mouth of the Dead River. Then we switched to paddling, poling, or walking and dragging the canoes as needed. Dead River was much lower than i've seen it before. We arrived at the landing on Rough Island by about 1:00 PM.
We decided to use the main campsite as a base camp, and Monday we just made short hikes since we had already gotten a workout getting here and bringing the canoes up to be locked together.
Our canoes locked together for security while we're hiking.
Other than the short hiking, we pretty much chilled out by reading and chatting.
(And of course setting the solar shower out in the sun. The round things are clay pipe bowls drying.)
Oh yeah, we washed dishes too.
Our campsite
So we're guys, okay?
We started out from camp about 8:30 to avoid the heat of the afternoon. We wanted to see a beach on the Dead River that I had spotted on Google Earth. (The canoe landing near camp is a little mucky, and this beach showed as white sand. I thought it would be nicer for skinny dipping, and it was at the mid point of the planned hike).
The Google Earth view of the island also showed a jeep trail going most of the way there.
Mike heading North on the trail.
Most of this day's hiking was through "Florida Prairie" - open grassland as seen above
We hiked past a fenced enclosure that we thought at first was an outlying cattlemen's campsite before reaching the Dead River. Due to lack of rain, it was a good bit deader than we expected.
The Dead(er than usual) River
We had hoped to have a refreshing skinny dip here, but that was problematic.
Skinny Dipping in the Dead River
Looking back from the 'beach', we saw that the fenced area was an Osceola Airboat Association campsite. The sign on the gate said Welcome (which is sort of the opposite of No Trespassing). So we decided to have a water and trail mix break.
Osceola Airboat Association shelter
Plaque at said shelter.
Mike at said shelter.
View from said shelter.
Cows staring at said shelter.
We headed East next, following the Dead River to the ford where the "official" jeep trail enters the island, then hiked back toward the Cattlemen's Camp (see last year's trip).
Heading back South toward the Cow Camp
At the Cow Camp, we stocked up on some of that good ole cold sulpher water to take back to camp.
Mike collecting that Nectar of the Gods - Sulpher Water
Our hike was 4.65 miles according to the GPS with essentially no shade. Temperatures were in the 90's by the time we reached camp, so other than refilling the solar shower with water from the landing, we power-lounged the rest of the day - me in my hammock, Mike in his chair.
There was a rash of airboats at the river landing after supper. No one came into the campsite, but several stopped and killed their engines for a while before moving on.
Just before dark, the same two deputies that stopped by last year stopped by again. We had already gotten in our tents to avoid mosquitos, but they walked over and asked if we had cell phones and whether anyone knew we were there. (Same things they asked me last year)
We slept in a little and hiked closer to camp today, mainly looking for interesting future campsites. (With all the airboat traffic, we decided next time we come, we'll hike further into the island to set up our base camp.)
I was intrigued by this clearing - almost a small pasture - surrounded by woods
Mike was intrigued by this split tree that refused to die
And by this interesting tree
After hiking, we did some more power-lounging, reading, followed by somewhat more proper skinny dipping
Again, about supper time, there was more airboat activity down at the boat landing, including one man getting out and walking along the shore before getting back on board and driving off.
I am writing up this report in my tent before going to sleep. It's now 10PM. We are planning to be up and out by 8 in the morning.
Well, we didn't move out till about 8:45. The rain chance was predicted at 50%, so we wanted to be off the open water by noon or so. After hauling the canoes back to the landing, we donned our packs and hiked the rest of the stuff out.
Getting ready to leave
Somehow we didn't have to walk the canoes as much as when we came in. Go figure. We did have to cover up temporarily when an airboat came upriver. When it came into view, we saw it was the tourist airboat full of tourists, of all things. They went back the way they came before we cleared the Dead River, so we had to cover up again.
On reaching Lake Hatchineha, we walked the canoes to deep enough water, then paddled till it was deep enough for the motor. After that, it was just a nice easy trip back toward Camp Mack where the truck was parked. We were making good time, the weather was still clear, and I just wanted to get in some full fledged skinny dipping where the water was more than knee deep, so we stopped at a spot on the shore where Lake Hatchineha narrows into the Kissimmee River.
So we got in four good peaceful, clothes-free days, except for a couple of minutes when the tourist airboat passed us. Course, we had to dress before getting back into the marina. Oh well.
