Loxahatchee River Trip

Monday February 27, 2012
Don’t forget to MYMO

 

I was out running at 7AM but I didn’t beat the heat.

72 degrees, is usually too warm for me but thankfully there was a good breeze.  I did 4 miles while David went to a Quest Diagnostics in Stuart Florida to get his blood drawn for this week when, starting today, he is off all his meds.

 

When he came back, he felt like going out on the river so after lunch that’s just what we did.  We put in at the River campground boat ramp.

 

The Loxahatchee is a good sized river.

 

In the lower section it was lined with red mangroves.

 

 

 

I love the way the mangrove roots reach for the water.

 

 

 

 

 

These were particularly long and looked almost like they are putting a cage around themselves.

 

I noticed this tree from the river side. 

It looks  like the land side tip toe tree from our walk yesterday but its toes are in the water this time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We paddled up past the park’s main boat dock and passed one of the tour boats coming back in.

 

 

 

 

It was about a 90 minute paddle up river to our destination, the Trapper Nelson Interpretive Site.  Lots of osprey nests on the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not the three bears or the three pigs or the three musketeers but the three turtles.  A family?  Doesn’t it look like baby, papa, mama?

 

Are we lost??

As we were paddling longer and longer, we had some question about whether we had taken a wrong turn on this river with many turns and curves and island but then, just as we thought maybe we were lost, around one of them, we saw the site.

 

 

David pulled up on shore.

 

I chose to use Trapper’s rustic boat shed

 

 

Here it is from the land side.  Trapper used no power tools in the construction of his homestead.  Everything was done by hand and made out of the heart wood of the slash pine which is very resistant to insects and deterioration.

 

 

Trapper  was quite a character. 

6’4” tall and 240 pounds.  Here is some general information on him that was posted at the site.  There is more information on him in this wikipedia article if you are interested.  The mystery surrounding his death is worth a read.  Still controversial.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This picture is from from the Visitor’s Center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We learned all this and more from Ray Cyrus a full time RVer who is the work camper living and at working at the Trapper Nelson Interpretive Site.  The light didn’t cooperate very well with my pictures of Ray.  But I think I’d love to have his job if he ever gives it up.  UNlikely  :-)

 

 

Ray was full of information about Trapper and his life and death.
He also told us that the park maintains these original buildings, they have not recreated them. They are just as they were when Trapper died in 1968.  Trapper certainly did a top notch job building them and any parts that need replacing are done by the park as exact duplicates of what he did, and done the same way.

 

 

 

Here’s Trappers main house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Would this bed suit a man 6’4” tall??

 

 

 

 

Interesting that the bedroom was the first room inside the door followed by this main room in the rear of the house.

 

 

 

 

A Surprise in the chimney

was found some years after the state park acquired the site.

 

 

This is one side of the main building.  I liked the window shutters hinged at the top and open underneath the deeply overhung roof.  Good designs for a hot black water river area.

 

If you came for a visit, invited of course, here is where you would stay.

 

 

 

 

Wonder if this record was kept to encourage you not to stay too long?

 

 

 

 

Your bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This site could only be reached by boat but rapper had indoor plumbing.

 

 

 

 

Here is his water tower.  He pumped the water up by hand and then gravity fed it down to his buildings.  Ray told us that trapper had a boat that he would row 9 miles to town for dinner and eat a whole pie for dessert and then row back.  He would also pick up building materials there from demolished buildings or those damaged in floods or hurricanes and use the materials around the homestead.  This was the source for all the metal he used.

 

As he became more of a curiosity living out so far on his own, people began to seek out “Tarzan of the Loxahatchee” so Trapper, ever the entrepreneur, started a zoo with the animals he trapped and charged admission.

 

 

 

I thought he was a pretty cool guy setting himself up so well so far from civilization, but I’m not much for animals in cages or for selling raccoons or “wild cats” to anyone who wants to order one.
Ray said he had a contract with Sears but no one seems to know to provide what.  Ray wondered if it was coon skin caps. 

 

 

As you can see above and below, the park service keeps the site exactly as it was down to all the firewood.

 

 

 

 

 

Alligator Cages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you can see the inside where there is a shallow bath tub type thing that could be filled with water for the gators.  Some life for a gator.  How did they even move?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raccoon cages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Wild Cat” cages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This wild animal was not in a cage.

 

 

 

 

I could have stayed much longer and listened to Ray tell tales but
the afternoon was getting away and we had a 90 minute paddle back

 

 

 

 

I LOVE cyprus trees.

Isn’t this beautiful??

 

 

 

And their knees too.

 

The red color of the air plants in the trees caught our attention.

 

 

Look Ma no hands!

 

The Loxahatchee, as a designated wild and scenic river and located so close to such a dense urban area, is monitored quite closely.  The folks from USGS were there taking information.  My tax dollars at work doing something I am actually glad to pay for.

 

The trip back was more tiring as the winds picked up and the river became rough.  

But we made it and were very glad we went.
If you go to Jonathan Dickinson don’t miss this even if you have to take the tourist boat to see it and hear Ray tell you all about it.  BUT they rent canoes and it’s a great paddle !!!

Off to Sebastian Inlet State Park Tomorrow.