Camps Canal to Prairie Creek

Camps Canal was constructed in 1927 to divert water from Prairie Creek into Orange Lake. Theoretically, waterways do exist from Newnan's to Prairie Creek to Camps Canal to River Styx to Orange Lake, but getting from lake to lake in a kayak would be a superhuman feat at this point. So I consider these forays down Camps and Prairie Creek to be research to find the North Central Florida equivalent of the Northwest Passage. This time I was committed to paddling the Prairie Creek end of the Canal until I could go no farther.

I have yet to head down Camps Canal without observing alligator behavior that I haven't elsewhere. This time a gator big enough to create a large wake even when it was under water pulled out in front of my boat and swam in front of it for 100 yards or so. Even when it submerged, it continued in front of me (and, guess what, a gator can outpaddle anyone) and seemed to refuse to let me pass. I would have happily done this the whole way down the canal, but it required all my concentration. Eventually, I splashed my paddle and it pulled to the side, submerged, and let me pass. Later, at the end of the canal, I paddled into the low canopy among the cypress knees to see if it cleared up ahead and another, smaller gator appeared and swam rapidly right for me. Another day perhaps.

About halfway down, I heard the first sound of Fall in the form of a Sandhill Crane in the prairie off my port bow. For adults in this area, this sound is the equivalent of an ice cream truck's calliope. It brings them running outdoors to find its source. For me, there is no finer sound in nature.


Update on "Harassed on Newnan's": Yesterday, as I was getting ready to leave the Orange Lake ramp at MKR, I saw a man standing next to the same truck I spotted at Newnan's that day. I went up and introduced myself and was able to apologize to him face-to-face for misjudging his intentions and writing about it. He could not have been nicer. I chatted with him for about 15 minutes and learned more in that time about invasive species than I ever knew before. It sucks that I had to make a friend by shooting first and asking questions later, but what are you gonna do if you're me?