OFF THE MAP
Off The Map: KAYAKING FLORIDA'S GREAT RIVERS:
western everglades - In search of Mr. watson
In southwest Florida, we are featuring the Western Everglades as one of our premier paddling destinations. In our program our host Hunter Reno begins her journey at the historic fishing village of Chokoloskee. |
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Here, she gains local knowledge of the how the Ten Thousand Islands and the western Glades were first settled during a visit to the Smallwood Store and Museum. Lynn McMillian---the granddaughter of Ted---helps Hunter better understand the era in which the store and the early settlers, including Ed Watson, flourished. Watson was killed by his neighbors in broad daylight not far from where the museum sits today. The Watson story helps set the stage for the quest that follows. (As author Peter Matthiessen wrote of his trilogy about the Watson saga: "It is my hope that this re-imagined life contains much more of the truth of Mr. Watson than the lurid and popularly accepted 'facts' of the Watson legend.") |
Hunter loads her kayak with her camping gear, food and water. Equipped with local insight on routes and weather from local outfitter Jeremy Harraden and with a “Backcountry permit” from the Everglades National Park Service (ENP) in hand, Hunter launches her kayak from the edge of Chokoloskee Bay. As she goes, she pushes beyond Rabbit Key Pass before heading north up the Lopez River. |
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On the Lopez, Hunter stops briefly at the NPS’s wilderness camp site named “Lopez River”, a site-mound that was historically farmed by the pioneer Lopez family. Here, she examines the large tabby-composite cistern that remains. She continues paddling northward up the river to Sunday Bay, the first of many shallow wide bays that help create the “Wilderness Waterway” of the Everglades National Park. |
| Around her, white pelicans take flight and gators hunt for food. She heads for a “chickee” on Sunday Bay, one of the dock-like platforms the park service has constructed when no dry land is available to camp. Here, she plans to rendezvous with a park ranger who helps her better understand the unique nature of these western Glades. |
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Breaking camp in the morning to a rising sun, Hunter continues to follow the Wilderness Waterway southeast, paddling through Huston Bay and then Lost Huston Bay, before turning south to enter the Chatham River. The Chatham is the home of the 40-acre Calusa Indian mound that once housed the old "Watson Place." Here, she camps on another ENP wilderness campsite, pitching her tent not far from where the infamous Ed Watson once lived. |
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On the mound, she examines the remains of Watson’s occupation---including rusting farm implements, a cistern and a sugar cane rendering vat. She comes to better understand the plants that grow here, as well as the wildlife she has seen and how it has adapted to meet an ecological niche. |
She sets up her camp for the night atop the mound. She sits out on the dock at the edge of the red mangroves to watch the sun set into the Glades. As she does, she reflects on her journey, on the wild mystique of the Everglades and its juxtaposition to the heavily-settled urban south Florida, and the dramatic saga of Ed Watson. Watson and the Glades have been widely misunderstood, and perhaps by learning to know them more intimately, we can come to a higher appreciation for the complexities of both. |
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