Kayak Fontana Lake

12/19 - 12/21/21 (2 nights)
2021 Bag Nights: 43

I put in at the Flat Branch Rd boat ramp and headed towards Site 72 in the Smokies, a beautiful day for a paddle.

Site 72 is a nice one in the trees

It is right at a bend in the lake so there are good views of the water.

The ridge behind camp

The water level in the lake is dropped for the winter, it will fill back up with rain and snow over the next couple of months.

My kayak far below

Moonrise through the trees

The next day I paddled over to Site 73 to check it out. 

View from Site 73

I paddled further down the lake and noticed what looked to be a flag on a ridge. 

As I got closer, I decided to see what was up there ...

... I found a grave site

Old boat on the ridge

Heading back towards camp

Last morning, nice sunrise

Lake mist glowing in the sun

Paddling back to the ramp

At one point, I looked up and saw what looked like a marker of some sort. I decided to climb up and check it out. Turned out to be another grave marker. 

Nice view of the lake from the marker

And then back to the ramp and car and home.

Everglades 2020

Everglades/Ten Thousand Islands

12/14 - 12/17/20 (3 nights)
2020 Bag nights: 31

Everglades City Boat Ramp

Weather looked good, ended up being warm during the day, I would have liked slightly cooler temps.

Roseate Spoonbill next to the boat ramp

Loaded up and ready to go

I ended up seeing dolphins everyday

I was going against the tide for a couple miles and it made for slow going. A couple times I pulled over to where I could hold on to a mangrove branch so I could rest. 

First night at Rabbit Key. At low tide, there is a large sandbar to walk on.

Horseshoe Crab

I think this is a Blue Heron

I got woken up in the middle of the night by noises from the waves. I was as high up as I could go, but my tent was almost in the water. Later, I looked at the tide chart more closely and that night was a higher than usual high tide. I did not get wet, but it made for an interesting night. 

Sunrise

Heading towards Pavilion Key

I had lunch at Pavilion Key and walked the beach

Then headed towards Mormon Key

More dolphins

I spent about 20 minutes watching them stir up the water, I assume they were feeding. 

Then on to Turkey Key for the night. I was on the east side of the island so no sunset and no breeze to keep the bugs down. I got swarmed bad enough that I ate dinner in my tent. My original plans were to head inland but the bugs changed my mind. Again, I got woken up by high tide coming in, this time I actually shifted my tent back into the grasses to avoid the water. 

Sunrise the next morning was nice.

After enjoying the sunrise, I had to pull the kayak through about a half mile of knee to thigh deep mud because the tide was way out and I did not feel like sitting around for another 5 hours. 

I decided to head back to Pavilion Key for the night and then back to the ramp. 

A couple crows kept me company while I read in the shade.

Mating season? 

Jupiter, Saturn and a couple day old moon

Sunrise

And back to the ramp, it ended up being a much easier paddle than the first day since the tide was coming in. 

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I ended up having extra days to fill since I wasn't in the Everglades. One day I drove over to Lovers Key State Park. It was not as nice as I remembered, but I guess that is what 30 year old memories do. 

Another day the whole family drove up to Ft Myers to check out the manatees at the power plant.