Trip Planning

Hopefully we’ll see lots of this on our trip.

Rodney Smith and I plan to paddle a canoe the length of the Indian River Lagoon come December. For those unfamiliar with Florida geography, we intend to start in New Smyrna Beach and paddle to Hutchison Island, a distance of 160 miles plus change. If we average 10 miles a day, a very makeable distance, it will take us 16 days, assuming no lost time to weather. Yes, that is a ridiculous assumption.

It’s Rodney and me, so yes, we might be crazy.

A minor expedition like this requires some trip planning. I’ve already started.

Unlike a wilderness trip, where you must bring everything you need, we’ll be travelling through a densely populated area. This frees us from having to carry close to three weeks worth of food, since we can re-stock our larder along the way. That’s huge.

The same goes for water. If we were taking an Everglades trip we’d have to carry every drop of fresh water we would need. There will be lots of places to refill our water jug on this trip.

Where will we sleep? The men who dug the Intracoastal Waterway left big piles of dredged material as islands all along the trench. Camping is allowed on most of them.

So what will we be bringing? Here are the headings on my list, in no particular order:

-house
-boat
-fishing
-kitchen
-personal
-first aid
-clothes
-miscellaneous
-menu

If there’s any interest I will post the complete list as a web page. The same goes for our route and projected camping areas.

Rodney wants to raise enough money to establish an educational trust fund for students who wish to study the ecology of the lagoon. So he is actively looking for sponsors. Old Town Canoe is our first, putting a new Penobscot 17 at our disposal. Hurray for Old Town!

If you have any interest in helping us reach our goals, or know someone who might, please have them contact either Rodney or me.

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2013. All rights are reserved.