[Paddlewise] Peace River experience

Last weekend (Nov. 6-7) we did an overnight canoe trip on the Peace River,
from Zolfo Springs to Gardner, Fl. I want to use this opportunity to
express my disgust about what is going on on this river. While we were
waiting for our shuttle to be set, we saw 5 busloads of paddlers being
dumped at the put in at Prairy Creek park, by the Canoe Outpost and Canoe
Safaries. And more must have been brought in earlier. Most of these
paddlers were very loud already, and stuffed their canoes with coolers and
suitcases of beer, not being bothered by the presence of other,
non-commercially-outfitted, nature loving paddlers. During the waves of
these annoying rednecks coming over, we even lost some of our gear. Once on
the river we were constantly bothered by obviously intoxicated river users:
they flipped their canoes, leaving their stuff floating down river, they
were loud, annoying, and hitting on the females in our group. And they were
everywhere! By the end of the day, while looking for a campsite, there was
no way to avoid these hords of neanderthals: all potential campsites were
taken. We ended up on a muddy site, as far away as possible from the noise.
But still, after dark there was no way not to be bothered by the noise
produced, which culminated when loud fireworks were set off next to us in
the middle of the night!

We were looking forward to a quiet weekend on the Peace River, away from
the Homecoming madness in Gainesville. But this was even worse. And it is
not only my own peace that I am worried about, I am worried about the
river. I was disgusted by all the trash that is floating around, and I can
see that the landowners are not happy with the hundreds of people camping
on the banks each weekend, without any facilities around. Obviously nobody
cares to dig a pit for his/her droppings, fire circles are everywhere,
clothslines are left behind, and then there is the trash! Beer cans and
glass everywhere!

Needless to say that I had a very bad experience this weekend. And I blame
this on the commercial outfitters, who obviously make good money out of the
exploitation of the precious natural resources ($60 per canoe). I am not an
advocate of alcohol restrictions, adults should know how to drink responsibly.
But in this case I think it would help a lot when alcoholic beverages would
be banned from the river, to weed out the people who should be in a bar,
and not on a beautiful river. And I think that the commercial outfitters
can do a lot to help achieve this: just don't allow beer in the bus. In the
end this may even help their businesses survive! For now I will not advise
anybody to go paddling on the Peace River.

Peter van den Hurk


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