Captions
Pat on Juniper Creek
Don on Juniper Creek
Kayaks on Juniper Creek
Pat on Juniper Creek
Juniper Creek Rescue
Pat and I were camping one cold Florida night in the Ocala NF at the Juniper Springs Campground. Because there are no electrical hook ups here, we woke up to a chilly RV. I tried to start the generator, so I could plug in a heater, but the generator failed to start. Then I noticed the coach batteries were dead. Since we had seven more nights without electric to come, I figured we would have to postpone our plan to canoe the Juniper Creek that day in order to resolve these problems. We found that the closest RV dealer was about 40 miles away in Ocala so we headed out in that direction. On the way, we found an Advanced Auto Parts store and got the batteries tested there. Turns out the trip down the road was enough to charge the batteries, even the generator started - life was good! We still had time to do some paddling today.
Juniper Creek is one of the most beautiful creek runs in the country. It appears to be an easy flat water creek, but actually requires the skill level needed to run a Class 2 whitewater river. You will not find rocks and rapids on this twisty river, but a swift current will slam you into overhanging trees, partially submerged ones, sandbars or the over-grown bank.
We got on the creek at noon, in one of the aluminum canoes that the park rents out. It’s listed as a 4 hour, 7 1/2 mile run and the last shuttle pick up was 4:30 PM. It was a beautiful day, a bit cool and cloudy - perhaps a bit too cool for the gators. We took lots of pictures as we cruised down river. Only 2 kayaks broke the solitude of the trip. In peak season, a hundred or more boats crowd this small creek. We were about 2/3 of the way down the run when we came up on a canoe broadside in the creek. It looked like they needed assistance so we stopped next to them to help them get over the tree trunk they were hung up on. We gave them instructions on what they needed to do to get over the tree. They were unwilling to follow our instructions and we soon found out why. They had started the run an hour and a half before us and had already dumped twice. The woman in the bow was frantic and complaining that her male partner was hyperventilating. Actually it was worse than that. The man seemed to be in a state of shock. He would not move or shift his weight for fear of ending up in the swift cool water. He was a big guy, maybe 280 pounds. The woman begged us to help them. The man had given up and said we should send the rescue team for him, because “that’s what they are there for”. I explained to him that it would be dark before a rescue squad could get back into this wilderness.
It became apparent that if they were going to make it down the creek before dark, we would have to make it happen. As I steadied the boat in the current, Pat climbed out on the tree and helped the woman out of their canoe. Together, while trying to balance on a slippery trunk, they were able get the man and canoe over the obstacle. It was too precarious to try to load the woman back in the canoe so we told the man to drift down downstream a little way, and we would bring his partner over. Within seconds, the man grabbed an overhanging branch. The water kept pushing the canoe downstream and he looked certain to take another cold dip. Somehow he held on until we got there and stabilized the canoe. We got both canoes side by side along the shore. With several miles left to the take out, I knew they not be able to finish the trip on their own.
I convinced them that the man should continue down river in the bow of my boat, and Pat moved over to the stern of their boat. This was a difficult assignment for Pat since she is always the bow person. With a 500+ pound load in my boat and a bow man with no skill, I knew it would be a tricky trip. I tried to give him some instructions, first one being “don’t grab any branches!” Then I taught him the draw stroke. His draw was not very effective, but he could sure splash a lot of water. It was not pretty, but we completed the run with a dry boat. A few minutes later, Pat and the woman pulled in. They had a few problems but also made it safely down. We loaded the boats on the canoe trailer and returned to the park. The couple still did not realize why they had a problem. The woman said they were experienced canoeists. It turns out that all their experience was on lakes. They also thought it was a four mile canoe trip. They said no one told them the trip was difficult.
A couple of days later, we had an opportunity to talk to the manager of the canoe concession. She explained that they really had no control over who rented canoes. All they can do is tell them it’s not a run for novices and explain other hazards. As a result the government sends a rescue team out about twice a month to find canoeists who do not make it back. This country must be sitting on a huge surplus of money because these idiots are not charged a cent for their incompetency!
