As host of the Bulow Creek the day before, I had reserved a camping spot at Tomoka State Park. For once I found myself being the first to arrive at the event. It was Bud and Judy that pulled up first, they were just at the Kayak rescue class a couple of weeks earlier. Jerry, Pam and Julie joined in to make it 6 of us on this warm but calm day at the Tomoka State Park boat ramp.

After introductions and an overview of the day's paddle plans the group of us headed out with the wind to our back. I never thought I would say this, but it was a bad thing having that slight wind at our back. Because it was already above the mid 80's, it was like we were not paddling at all as we moved with the breeze. But we wanted the breeze to our face to cool us off. Even though it is but a mile, we made a stop at the beach to the entrance to Strickland Creek. We took our time, stretched our legs and talked a bit. I had noticed the island was cleaned up considerable and there was a new sign that said "No Camping on the island".

Strickland Creek is a very beautiful waterway. It is thick with hardwoods to the east and cedars and pine to the west. The western waters edge has a short beach a good portion of the whole distance and the land is

firm and sandy. There are plenty of places to take out and from the looks of it many places to camp for which the entrance sign says it is forbidden. That's too bad, it would make ideal wilderness camping as part of a longer trip along the Halifax or Tomoka Rivers.

We stopped at the city park, the only place where there is development because the creek is within the boundary of Tomoka State Park. We ate and drank and pretty much sweated the entire time. At midday, it was blazing hot. We talked about history as Jerry kept the conversation going and debunked a number of our well liked movies due to historical inaccuracies. We did not even think about continuing up to U.S. 1 once we got back into the water. We scooted about 50 yards east to the entrance to Thompson Creek.

The tide was fairly high and Jerry's Hobie pedal craft did ok. There were no breaks along this portion of the trek as the Thompson sits lower in the tidal marshes and weeds with muck shores if it had any at all. We were dumped out into the Tomoka about 1/2 mile from the Strickland Creek entrance. With the exception of the waters churning

constantly in front of us; at this point, I don't think we saw any wild life. They were probably in the air conditioning somewhere watching Animal Planet, as only fools would be out in this 96 degree heat at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

We stopped again at the beach head at the entrance to Strickland Creek where we needed a leg stretch and had lots of conversation. We reluctantly got back into our kayaks as we still had that last mile back to the S.P. ramp. There was conversation about how we should of launched on the south side of the bridge, knocking off a 1/4 of a mile. You say things like that when you wish this part was over with.

Prolog: Everybody needs to understand that after reading the trip report, these 2 creeks off of the Tomoka are excellent water-ways, just when is is cooler. In March and probably throughout the winter there place is lousy with Manatee and the bird are abundant. Another thought would be to launch at the city park and make the circuit without the visit to Tomoka State Park, at least for this hotter trip. That would have made the 7.5 mile trip about 5.5 miles. Something closer to what we did yesterday at Bulow. It was a hardy group though. Hope to see you guys out there again.

Our rendezvous at the Tomoka State Park, north of Ormond Beach Florida, was at the park’s first class launch and camp store.   The advantage of this location was the canoe/kayak vendor for which 2 of the participants utilized for obtaining kayaks.  Secondly, we had a unique opportunity to travel 2 distinct creeks without the bother of car shuttles at an end location because we were returning to the same spot.  Bob Lyle and Clark Getz camped Friday night at the park and thought all was lost when at 5:30 AM a thunderstorm rolled through with hard rain and lightning.  But when we arose from out of our tents at 7:15, the sun was breaking through, revealing blue skies.  

Fifteen WT members initially signed up for the adventure.  However, four had to cancel, each notifying me ahead of time (thank you).  Kevin Palin, a non-member ended up getting scheduled to work, Christine Richardson read the weather forecast and determined that the winds would be a little more than she could handle on an 8.5 mile run (that was a very smart move on her part, read later), and Brien and Brenda Vincent were coming down with a bug; we missed their pleasant company.

The 11 members were Laurel Williams (Orlando), Michael Galyean (Seminole County), Susan Schamay ( Orlando in think ), Clark Getz (Orlando), Carol Cooper (St. Augustine), Trisha Schisefsky (Inverness), Sean Lyle (Orlando), Bob Lyle (Orlando), Sue Chisefsky (Inverness), Ron Schultz (Ponce Inlet), and Kara Hoebsch (Winter Haven). We were in the water at 10:20 along with a brisk 10 - 20 mph wind, maybe a little less on the water level. I re-introduced the group at that time so everyone knew everyone else. I reviewed my plans with the group to make our way up the Strickland Creek first because we would be better protected from the southwest wind as that creek is considerably narrower than the open Tomoka and was protected by woods on either side.

The first mile was the most difficult and we had to make a hard run for it because this section of the trip is in the broadest part of the Tomoka River and we were going against the wind that got gusty at times as well as paddling against the tide (which I think, really did not have much influence). I had everyone stop on the lee side of the island at the entrance of Strickland Creek so everyone could catch up after the brutal first mile drive. I assured everyone that this was the worst of it, and upon our return we could lay back and sail in. I think it was appropriate to stop after only this first mile because it did give everyone time to chat and catch their breath and we could all resume upstream together.

The Strickland is a very pleasant creek measuring 150 to 200 wide with mature hammock on the east side and cedar, scrub oak and long needle pines on the west side which is really an island created as the spoils of the dredging of Strickland many decades ago. We had mostly sunny skies and though we still had to contend with the wind at certain angles of the creek’s meanderings, it was not extremely difficult. After about another two miles up Strickland, we beached our kayaks on the island side and stretched our legs. Again it was a good time to chat as a whole group. Both sides of the Strickland are part of the Tomoka State Park, so there is no development on any stretch of the creek. After about another mile or so of paddling we reached the public dock and boat ramp which had clean bathroom facilities and a covered picnic bench which we took advantage of as all 11 of us packed together. Again it was a great opportunity to chat. I believe this was a very good group - causal and having fun.

At this point we had reach near the very end of Strickland, which stops at U.S. 1 less than a mile from where S.R. 40 crosses, and the Ormond Beach landside town center proper is located. The remaining 1000 feet of Strickland, which was not on the plans to adventure up, was in a residential area with canals and large homes on its east. Just as we were about to make our way up the cut-over to Thompson Creek, a fisherman had informed us that there were many manatees to see just further up Strickland near U.S. 1.

We headed up to the end where there was a large open area that paralleled U.S. 1. The manatees were numerous. We all just gathered quietly in the center of this lagoon area and the curious manatees floated all about, some coming up to the kayaks to sniff the colorful objects with talkative beast upon these floating objects oooing and awing in delight. Those that had cameras got some good shots. After we got our fill of manatee cuteness, we headed back to the Thompson creek cutover.

Thompson creek is about 1/3 as wide as the Strickland and although it starts out wooded, it winds its way out into the Tomoka River's open salt marshes. The Thompson had its own character and meandered more significantly than Strickland. The tide was about ¾ of the way up, so its channel was plenty deep enough and most could paddle in tandem allowing for more friendly talk. As the creek approach the Tomoka, it meandered into the even gustier winds for short distances. But once on the Tomoka, the wind was at our back and we paddled with considerable speed, often times holding our paddles out to grab the wind energy to push us along.

Because there is no place to disembark along either the Thompson or the Tomoka, we stopped once more on the lee side of the Strickland Creek entrance as we had done earlier before. All stretching and standing was a welcome relief since we had been in our kayaks since lunch. Even though it was only about 1 mile back to the marina, I figured that this would be a good time to stop and chat once more before we would find ourselves in a fury of boat loading at the marina and everyone would be disembarking at different intervals. We cherished the time watching the buzzards sail high above in the gusts hundreds of feet above us. Then we noticed a couple of those big birds had white on them. Out came the binoculars that confirmed they were bald eagles. What with jumping mullet, Osprey dive fishing, manatee greetings, kingfisher cackles, and now eagle sightings; we were waiting to complete the trip with the sighting of the Florida Panther that had taken up residence in the Tomoka area, as reported in the newspaper just days before.

As we disembarked from this peaceful coquina shored island, I promised Trisha that her defeated muscles would change their attitude once she saw the bridge back at the State Park, it was just around the corner. The wind was worst than before, but still slightly to our backs. We only had to paddle hard to keep our keels pointed straight down the river's channel; first the bridge, then the sighting of the marina about ½ a mile further.

Epilogue: Including the extra distance to view the manatees, the trip was about 9 miles (I had precisely measured it at 8.5 miles not including the manatee lagoon on a prior expedition). The wind was a big factor in the rating of this trip. I asked a couple of the "whipped" folks if they considered this a moderate or strenuous trip. Without hesitation, it was a strenuous trip and I would have to agree with them. The wind was the biggest factor in raising that rating and hence, Christine judged correctly in deciding what was best for her. In fact, it had gotten so gusty that we had to tie our kayaks down as soon as we mounted them on the vehicle roofs for fear they would blow right out of their rack holders. I believe everyone had a great time; there was plenty of conversation and an appropriate number of stops for everyone's comfort and expectation of adventure. These 2 creeks are very beautiful and uniquely Florida. I would recommend them to anyone wishing to experience coastal Florida tropical woodlands and wildlife.

Regarding our manatee encounter, our group approached the manatees with consideration not to scare, did not approach with threatening speed, and did not use our paddles or boat to touch them. Though we intentionally sought out to see the animals, for the most part we drifted gently until the animals came to us. In researching manatee encounters, I believe our group followed the rules outlined at this website - http://www.homesafe.com/manatee/rules-of-the-road.html. I recommend this information should be available on the WT website for any future encounters.

Leader - Clark Getz (1st leader event)
Co Leader - Bob Lyle (1st co-leader event

On Tues 3/12/07, 5 Trekkers and a guest met at Tomoka State Park and paddled up the Tomoka River a little ways to the smaller Strickland Creek. We paddled up to a little city park where we ate an early lunch, then paddled down stream on the adjoining Thompson Creek and back to the state park. A nice morning with good company!

Host: Erica Johnson