The Ocklawaha River Basin - a multi-year adventure of its waterways and tributaries
If you want to skip the historical and personal background blabber, click here for the basics on the "Part 1" trip
NOTE: On August 8th, I explored the southern portion of this run. Starting out from Lake Louisa State Park, through Crooked Creek, through Lake Susan and in Lake Minnehaha to where I can see the 561 bridge; thus having a decent knowledge of the entire trip scheduled for August 23rd. Any changes to my original writings are written using this magenta color. I also added to some pictures to the bottom.
The watershed of the Ocklawaha extends as far south as Polk county near Davenport. This is part of the Great Green Swamp that actually feeds 4 distinct rivers, the Withlacoochee, the Hillsborough, the Peace and the Ocklawaha. The Ocklawaha is fed by an obscure creek or river known as the Palatlakaha River which flows from the southern end of Lake county, up into the Clermont Chain of Lakes and into a swamp and canal system that eventually dumps out into Lake Harris. From Lake Harris, to Lake Eustis, to Lake Griffin and then you are on the Ocklawaha proper. Due to extreme and prolong droughts here in Central Florida, especially these past 2 summers, the Palatlakaha River has been virtually cut off from the Ocklawaha.
In 1980, a college friend and I made a 2 day canoe trip from Lake Susan, which is just north of Lake Louisa, to near Lake Harris via the north flowing Palatlakaha. In those days, it was nothing but orange groves and a few cattle ranches. Sight of any housing was virtually nill. The southern portions are mostly lakes, that would be the considered the "upper" Palatlakaha; while the northern portions are mostly swamp, canal, a few lakes, and eventually a defined stream, that would be considered the "lower" Palatlakaha. The swamp regions are typically dredged; hence long straight runs with a few lilly pads to dodge. The lower portion has small flood control gates, some no more than an earthen dike, others where you have to portage around tall concrete gates. Traversing these obstacle posed no problem nearly 30 years ago.
Fast forward to 2008, it is my intentions to repeat the Palatlakaha run; this time, along its entire length from the swamps of the Great Green to the Leesburg boat lunch. Bigger ideas include continuing from Lake Harris to the St. Johns over a period of a couple of years by planning numerous day and overnight paddling adventures. However, the greatest challenge to this lengthy feat is the sad possibility that the Palatlakaha is no longer traversable. Between droughts, development and subsequent water withdraws from the ground, navigation may be impossible on the lower Palatlakaha. This is especially true near the Florida Turnpike and U.S. 27 area where a huge golfing community may have exacerbated the situation. But for now, the southern, or "upper" Palatlakaha is available for paddling, simply because it is one of Florida's great chain of lakes. And in fact, Lake County has marked out a kayak/canoe trail called the Palatlakaha Run, just one of Lake County's Blueways.
Why are we doing this trip in the middle of the summer? I like to do things in sequence, the river starts in the Green Swamp, hence, the logic follows, although not necessarily rationally, that we start Part 1 in the Green Swamp. The idea behind starting now, is that I can plan for a Part 2 excursion in October; and it is my hope that with the return of these rains we have been having so far this summer, it will bring the swamps and the canals up to safe passable levels. It might require that Part 2 be another single day trip from Clermont to some road crossing 9 to 12 miles down river. Because my only recent exploration has been as far downstream as Cherry Lake, I need to adventure through the narrower sections beyond that point. I need to check out the flood control and property rights considerations. Again, 28 years ago, my friend and I camped on an island (high water made it an island then). The river was secluded, we could get away with that. For all I know, the island has a 4-story timeshare on it now. We named that island KGB Island because we had to fight through some lily pads along a stretch of swamp and we were convinced that our terrible fate with these "suction cupped" canoe grabbers could only be the work of the subversive KGB trying to make our lives immensly miserable (you have to understand this in the context of the time). Oh, and don't be scared off yet, I can tell you from what I saw on July 11th, the plant life is entirely different than before. Lily pads may have succumbed to the capitalist rise soon after the fall of the Soviet Empire. So to answer the question, why August, because I am guessing October will have ideal water levels to do a middle section and even last through until December for the final or "lower" section.
| Part 1 of the Ocklawaha River Basin Paddle - The Upper Palatlakaha River (the details). The first excursion begins near the southern most end of the Ocklawaka River Basin in a swamp creek called Big Creek located within Lake Louisa State Park. We are not going to the furtherest reaches of the Green Swamp, but we will launch just enough into it that we can lay claim that we started in the vast region of central Florida called the Great Green Swamp. I highly recommend a visit to the website, as the Southwest Florida Water District has put together a very informative presentation. Update since original writings: Big Creek still lacks water. Even with considerable rains, the Green Swamp is currently a huge dry sponge, and until the sponge saturates, there will be no flow of any of the internal creeks of the swamp. In fact, while near the shoreline of the lakes and creeks, you can see the high water mark on the trees for which the current levels are nearly four feet below. In leiu of traversing Big Creek, we will launch from the beach at the state park which is indicated on the map to the right as the symbol of the human swimming. All the lakes in the Clermont chain of lakes are tanic or brown. The density varies from 3 to 4 feet of visibility. Actually the water is quite clean in the sense that without the tanin, the water is pretty much free of suspended particulates and lacks the pea green color of the Harris chain of lakes. From the park, we will take the western flank of Lake Louisa. This is a very big lake! It is 3.1 miles to the the northern outflow called Crooked Creek. See second picture below. This is where the Palatlakaha begins. We will have an opportunity to stop at a boat ramp shortly after we enter the waterway. It is a windy creek for about a mile and empties into Lake Susan, which is relatively small lake, about 6 tenths of a mile across. Then we enter another small portion of the Palatlakaha where Lakeside drive crosses over. This is the place I launched in 1980. Once you enter into Lake Minnehaha, you have hit another big one. This is not as big as Louisa, but close. We will make a Northwest run across the middle of the lake to the County Road 561 river bridge. This is a very short portion of the river as you enter into Lake Palatlakaha after passing under the bridge. The underpass will provide another place to stop a stretch our legs and snack. Lake Palatlakaha is relatively small. We can hug the swampy-cypress western shore for the sightings of gators and osprey that abound. I have kayaked this portion just this July from the top of Minnehaha all the way to Cherry Lake, 15 miles. It was too long for a summer run. |
 As we exit Lake Palatlakaha and back onto the river, there is evidence of mid-20th century dredging as the river is staight. In less than a mile you enter into a small lake called Hiawatha and the bridge to the north east is but a short distance. Once under the bridge, which happens to be Country Road 561 again, you are presented with the expansive Lake Minneola and the sighting of the Citrus Tower directly east. This lake, although massive, is even smaller than Minnehaha. From here it is but a short distance to the Clermont boat ramp as well as "downtown" Clermont. |
| Part 1 of the Ocklawaha River Basin Paddle - The Upper Palatlakaha River. (just the basics) All participants must meet at the Lake Louisa State Park launch at around 8:00 AM so we can launch at 8:30. (See Map) This is one trip that I will most assuredly leave on time. We need to get an early start as this is an August trip on lakes that have no spring water. I am guessing we will be off the water by 12:30 to 1:30. Expect the heat, but take on the pioneer attitude and sweat it out none the less. Consider this a grand opportunity to start a long journey through a vast length of Central Florida. To survive, you must have:\
Where is this park? (See Map) Four distinct notes regarding access to this Park.
|
 This picture is the Palatlakaha (really it is called Crooked Creek) between Lake Louisa and Lake Susan. The blue line is a road and has nothing to do with the trip. I
will also mention, that the Friday I made the Lake Louisa test run, the
weather wanted to get an early start. I was in the water at about
10:45, it was pouring rain at 11:15. Howerver, because I stuck
close to shore, I just cruised up under one of those fancy boat docks
with a roof and stayed completely dry. I rained about 8 to 10
minutes, then it quit for the remainder of the day.
|
This
picture depicts the starting point of the paddle route, departing from
Big Creek within Lake Louisa State Park. The red line is the path
we will follow. The big lake is Louisa, the small one at the very
top is Susan. |
This
picture depicts the segment from Lake Susan to the Clermont Boat Ramp
(red route only). Starting from the bottom, Lake Susan, Lake Minnehaha,
Lake Palatlakaha, Lake Hiawatha, and finally Lake Minneola and back
south to the boat ramp in Clermont. The blue route represents a
15-mile exploritory round-trip up to Cherry Lake I made July 11th.
It is here were I determined the 90oz fluid requirement.  |
This is the drive into the park from the entrance. You can see Lake Louisa in the distance. There is some pretty good vertical relief within this park, but this picture can't capture it. This is also a great place to cycle. |
 |
| This is a different lake within the park. This shot is from the porch of one of the dozen or so cabins that have. The cabins are superior looking. Along the same lines as Silver River State Park. |  |
| Again nice, cabins; maybe event a better generation than Silver River, which are very nice. The down side: not a tree in sight |  |
 |
|
| This is Crooked Creek between Lakes Louisa and Susan. Somewhat of an interesting run. Of course there is no flow of water. For the most part is has no development on it. It is about 1.5 miles long. Except for the boat launch, there is not a place to take out here. |  |
| I wanted everyone to know that the State Park does not have a launch. Sometimes I really wonder about State Parks and where their thought process comes from. The lake is a form of recreation and although there is a county motor boat launch on Crooked Creek, you would think they would accommodate canoes and kayaks by having a launching area closer to the lake. There is about 250 foot of boardwalk and about 200 feet of beach you have to traverse to get to the water. |  |
| I had this vision that Big Creek was, well, BIG. This is one of the outflows from the Great Green Swamp. Unfortunately, the Swamp is currently in a recharge phase, even with normal or above normal rain falls. I suspect this Creek would only be navigable during flood stages and not during even normal conditions. |  |
| This section is reserved for Part 2 - | |