Perdido Key and St. Andrews Bay are surrounded by urban sprawl and all the powerboats, diving and dolphin watch cattle boats and other junk that goes with it. Ok if you don't have the other places on your list as options. St. Joseph Peninsula is a must. My advise is put-in at the picnic ground in the State park and paddle around the Peninsula starting on the Bay side and returning to the park on the Gulf side. Camping is permitted anywhere behind the dune line along the way. Anticipate a heavy surf landing on the beach here. Take-out near the campground and steal a shower - - I'm not sure it is technically allowed but we always do it anyway. St. Vincent - - yes for sure! Here you can paddle along one side, (gulf or bay), cross to Little St. George Island for primitive beach camping and return on the other side. Hike on St. Vincent wherever you like but no camping there. Beware the tides. There can be some mean currents there and potentially rough water crossing from St. Vincent to Little St. George. If you prefer to car camp there is a private campground at the put-in, (Indian Pass). St. George is more urban sprawl. Go here only if you are are desperate to see teeny boppers in bikinis. St. Marks is wonderful and very much like most of the Big Bend trail. I would advise a day trip from the Lighthouse eastward and return, (I'm doing this one for the umpteeth time this Wednesday). There is camping at a county park just outside the refuge on the St. Marks River, (worth a trip itself). No camping is allowed anywhere within the refuge, ( but I know a spot or two . . . . . . . . ) The Big Bend trail is long and virtually all salt marsh but very remote and pristine for Florida. I don't recommend it if you have to give up St. Joe or St. Vincent for it though. Ochlockonee River State park is nice if you like paddling in the wake of jet skies. Go at your own risk and be sure to take your ear plugs. I'd be happy to supply more specifics if you like. I've been paddling these venues for 25 years. Cheers, Michael in Tallahassee _____________________ "Parks are for people" is the public-relations slogan, which decoded means that the parks are for people-in-automobiles. - Edward Abbey On Apr 11, 2005, at 4:36 PM, kenneth johnson wrote: > I am planning a 2 week paddling trip to Franklin LA (Black Bear Festival > Paddle on Bayou Tech) and on to the northern FLA coast. There are 7 areas I'm > considering: 1-Perdido Key, 2-St. Andrews State Recreation Area, 3-St. Joseph > Peninsula State Park, 4-St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge, 5-St. George > Island State Park, 6-St Marks National Wildlife Refuge and Ochlockonee River > State Park, and 7-Big Bend Salt Water Paddling Trail from the Aucilla River > State Park to Suwannee River mouth. > > Question: If you only had time to do half of this, what areas would you > definitely want to not miss? Anyone paddled these areas with any words of > wisdom for the wise (or unwise)? Thanks for you help! *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Apr 11 2005 - 14:56:21 PDT
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