Memorial Day Extreme

For Memorial Day I embarked on an extreme adventure! That’s right, three days and two night in the wilderness with nothing but my wits and about 80 pounds (felt like 200) of modern technology. The trip was organized by Victor and the main players in the eXtrememiami club came along. The plan was to drive to Myakka state park on Saturday and hike into a primitive campsite and spend the night. Sunday we were to arise early and drive another hour to pick up canoes and begin the first leg of a 23 mile paddle down the scenic Peace River. Monday we were to finish up the trip and head back to Miami to resume reality.

The trip turned out great. We had 14 people come along in 4 cars; I rode up with Vanessa in her truck. We shared the four hour drive from Miami with Tom and Vero. We arrived at Myakka around 2 and everyone got on the trail by 3. Now I have found the State Park maps here in Florida to be less than ideal for orienteering. This one was no exception. We ended up taking the long way around, about a four mile hike. At one Point Mike and I hiked ahead to find the site and come back to help the others. We arrived back to the group to find them already setting up camp in clearing and about 10 seconds from starting an illegal fire in an illegal campsite. It's all fun and games until you have to pay a $500 dollar fine. No worries on that count, we grabbed the gear and moved to the sanctioned site and enjoyed ourselves immensely that night.

The next morning started out harsh. We had to be out of the site at 8 so we could get to the canoe place in time. I couldn't find my sunglasses or my eating utensils while packing up. They turned up later whenI unpacked my tent. I was not the only one with a hangover that day. The pictures below demonstrate some of the evenings highlights. Johnny Walker is not so friendly the morning after my friends! The 2 mile hike back to the cars was unpleasant to say the least. I need to rethink my packing strategy to dump some weight for the next trip. I suppose another option would be to drink less and sleep more. Naaah! After a nap in the car and some Gatorade I was suitably refreshed for the paddling part of the adventure.

We were shooting for a bridge that was supposed to be the halfway point for our trip. The river was high and the water calm. We spent a lot of time looking at Gators and Turtles on the banks. There were a lot of huge trees blocking parts of the river, victims of the hurricanes. It made it interesting. Mike and I almost got swamped by an airboat that blew past us going much too fast. How Rude!

We finally reached the Bridge and set up camp on a low ridge overlooking a flat stretch of water. We quickly built a fire (We always quickly build a fire) and played Frisbee in the water for a long time. This night the alcohol was mostly gone and it was a relaxed evening for all. Later that night some folks came up the river on a john boat with a 10,000 candlepower flashlight playing all over the water. We figured they were looking to poach some alligators. They came up and down the river twice but it didn’t look like they got anything. Score one for the Gators!

I crashed at 11 but got up again around two and hung out some more and helped burn all of our trash. “Don’t burn plastic.” I said when I walked up to the fire. The four late-niters all laughed. They had just thrown the plastic trash bags on the fire. “Alright, just don’t throw the aerosol cans on the fire. They explode.” More laughter. They had been in the garbage bags! Lady luck was shining down on us in the early morning moonlight. No explosions. Now they know not everything can be burned, and knowing is half the battle.

Monday we got up at 8 and packed up after breakfast. We expected a long day of paddling. After a bit we passed the poachers site. We all recognized the fat guy with tattoos who had been flashlight. Later we passed another site who wanted to trade us beers for soda. Unfortunately we had none to offer. I feel for them though. We hit the end of the trip at 11:30, three hours before we had expected. That sucked. Mike and I passed on some really sweet looking rope swings because we thought we were pressed for time. Stupid River maps! Next time I go camping I’m getting a real map of the area so this sort of thing doesn’t happen. I really could have slept longer in the morning and taken time to play Tarzan for a while.