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Creeks in Florida?


Charlie Harley, #14153

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I just finished a trip to Florida. Orlando, Cape Kennedy, and Miami were the basic destinations.  Driving around and watching the scenery go by got me to pondering a few questions...

 

Are there any natural creeks left in the state, or have they all been dredged and routed into manufactured ditches?

 

Whether a ditch or natural creek, how does any water flow anywhere? This state is flat as a pancake and you need elevation plus gravity to make water flow.

 

Do kids in Florida get the chance to grow up wading in creeks and swimming in ponds? I saw way too many gators for my comfort level. Those are scary looking animals.

 

Just thinking out loud on the trip home to East Tennessee where we have mountains, creeks that flow wild, and no gators.

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The water flows, though maybe not that fast.

Yes, kids (and adults) wade and swim in rivers, creeks and ponds.

Gators, for the most part, are not an issue. You leave them alone and they'll leave you alone.  Again, I said for the most part.  They are animals and will do what they want.  Crocodiles, on the other hand...  Water moccasins are more aggressive than gators. 

Have you ever seen an aerial photo of beach-goers along the Florida coast?  Might make a person re-think going into the water at a beach.

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29 minutes ago, Chief Rick said:

Have you ever seen an aerial photo of beach-goers along the Florida coast?  Might make a person re-think going into the water at a beach.

Did a search. What would I be looking for, sharks, crocodiles?

 

Here's a photo I found that got my attention as one who used to love going bass fishing. This is a fresh water lake, possibly Payne's Prairie?

Image result for aerial beach photos florida crocodiles

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Winter is the best time to visit Florida.  The Summers can get really really hot.  Those creeks are really canals they dug to drain swamps.   The farther south you go in Florida, the more impressive the land reclamation efforts are.   

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16 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Did a search. What would I be looking for, sharks, crocodiles?

 

Here's a photo I found that got my attention as one who used to love going bass fishing. This is a fresh water lake, possibly Payne's Prairie?

Image result for aerial beach photos florida crocodiles

target rich enviorment   

CB 

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There are plenty of creeks, lakes and rivers in Florida. The purest ones are inland and away from the coast. The further from the masses you get, the better the water is. If I had kids and lived around the cities, there is no way that I would want my kids playing in the creeks and streams....too polluted by rain runoff and trash. The rain runoff consists mainly of street and lawn chemicals/fertilizer. 

 

When I was a kid, we'd play in the lakes, streams and creeks. They were all healthy with abundant life to catch and observe. Things were much different then and the state population hadn't exploded like it is today. The creeks, streams and lakes around cities are now so polluted by chemicals/fertilizer that they are "dead" to anything except hydrilla, nasty algae and Nile Perch. Damn shame that the kids today can't enjoy nature the way it was meant to be enjoyed. Probably couldn't drag them away from their cell phones anyway.

 

Oh, don't swim with gators, moccasins or bull sharks....not a good idea.

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23 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Did a search. What would I be looking for, sharks, crocodiles?

 

Here's a photo I found that got my attention as one who used to love going bass fishing. This is a fresh water lake, possibly Payne's Prairie?

Image result for aerial beach photos florida crocodiles

 

That could be any one of the tens of thousands of lakes in Florida. I'm not worried about them while they are in the water. On land, them suckers are fast....real fast....but they don't corner very well.

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38 minutes ago, Alpo said:

Don't know about the rest of the state, but here in the panhandle we have creeks.

 

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=econfina+creek+fl&t=fpas&iax=images&ia=images

Pretty scenery...and that is a beautiful creek.;)

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Funny. Wiki claims it's a river.

 

I figure if you can stand on one bank and carry on a conversation with the guy on the other bank, it ain't no river.

 

And you're right. (He can find it) ECONFINA, otto you moron, ECONFINA is one beautiful place to be. Tastes good, too. All limestone spring-fed.

 

Geez Louise.

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1 hour ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Did a search. What would I be looking for, sharks, crocodiles?

 

~1997-98 I was stationed at NAS Pensacola.  Good Morning America did a telecast from the Air Museum.  I was security for the the area where they set up some monitors for the downlink from the Goodyear blimp, which was cruising between the base and Fort Pickens.  There was a constant feed from the blimp but very little of the footage was broadcast.  We were watching the sharks swimming around the people on the beaches on base and along Pensacola Beach.  The people in the water had no idea.  Might not have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.  A dozen or so sharks in all over the few hours we were there, not schooling, all seemed to be just cruising alone.

 

These pictures are similar to what we saw.  I just searched shark+swim+beach+Florida.

See the source imageimages?q=tbn:ANd9GcTCyEGMh3B9k7hxSBwvQm9z6FBPlRiQydkMCQ&usqp=CAU

See the source image

Image result for sharks near beach swim florida

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The northern part of the state especially has hundreds of creeks and streams. Many of them are in the extensive state park system. I worked on the Loxahatchee River near Jupiter. One of the few Federally designated National Wild and Scenic Rivers. A pristine river and sight of a large battle with the Seminoles in 1836. Just outside Orlando is Wekiwa Springs State Park. pic below. While the state is mostly flat it slopes in elevation from north to south. Hundreds of springs feed a large fresh water system down to the Everglades and to Florida Bay. The sub tropical rainfall replenishes the system. Underground the geology is porous limestone like a giant sponge. Most of the fresh water supply flows through this natural filter.

Gators are not a serious problem. Traffic is more dangerous. Most tourists only see Mickey World, Cape Canaveral, and South Beach but the state is much more with a rich natural and cultural history. Florida was one of the last states to be explored and settled. The Seminole Wars were long, expensive, bloody and about as popular as Vietnam in the 1820s-40s.

It’s more than amusements and skeeters.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rivers_of_Florida

 

https://www.floridastateparks.org

 

D18CD33C-99C7-4D14-A806-0936AC74F624.jpeg

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11 minutes ago, Tequila Shooter said:

Did a swim call once in the Gulf of Mexico.  We had to have someone with a rifle posted in case sharks were sited.  Lasted about 15 minutes before everyone was ordered out of the water.

Did a couple of swim calls - Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.

I jumped in the water and swam the first time, each location - just to say I'd done it.

Then I volunteered to stand shark watch every other time. We had M-14s.

Never saw a shark.  I just don't like swimming.

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Just now, Utah Bob #35998 said:

The northern part of the state especially has hundreds of creeks and streams. Many of  them are in the extensive state park system. A lot in the southern end are still viable. I worked on the Loxahatchee River for a while as a Ranger. It’s designated a National Wild and ScenicRiver. A difficult classification to get.

Just outside Orlando is Wekiwa Springs State Park. pic below. While the state is mostly flat it slopes in elevation from north to south. Hundreds of springs feed a large fresh water system down to the Everglades and to Florida Bay. The sub tropical rainfall replenishes the system. Underground the geology is porous limestone like a giant sponge. Most of the fresh water supply flows through this natural filter.

Gators are not a serious problem. Traffic is more dangerous. Most tourists only see Mickey World, Cape Canaveral, and South Beach but the state is much more with a rich natural and cultural history. Florida was one of the last states to be explored and settled. The Seminole Wars were long, expensive, bloody and about as popular as Vietnam in the 1820s-40s.

It’s more than amusements and skeeters.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rivers_of_Florida

 

https://www.floridastateparks.org

 

D18CD33C-99C7-4D14-A806-0936AC74F624.jpeg

 

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my wife is down in florida visiting some friends and taking bird pictures. Spent last night in a place called Everglades city (I think) and is doing a birding tour today. She is really excited by the numbers and types of birds she has come across although some of the locals have told her right now is not a really peak time for some of the species. She is scouting out BNB and unique hotels and in a year or so when I retire we will go together. Beautiful state for sure.

Regards

:FlagAm:  :FlagAm:  :FlagAm:

Gateway Kid

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1 hour ago, Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life said:

my wife is down in florida visiting some friends and taking bird pictures. Spent last night in a place called Everglades city (I think) and is doing a birding tour today. She is really excited by the numbers and types of birds she has come across although some of the locals have told her right now is not a really peak time for some of the species. She is scouting out BNB and unique hotels and in a year or so when I retire we will go together. Beautiful state for sure.

Regards

:FlagAm:  :FlagAm:  :FlagAm:

Gateway Kid

Everglades City used to be Drug Smugglers Central back in the day. It’s a great spot for birds though.....and skeeters in the summer. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/12/23/the-little-town-that-turned-to-drugs/7f3f3675-cfee-44cc-bd1e-958e6dbcca16/

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33 minutes ago, Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 said:

A lot of them were transferred to Oklahoma.

That’s why there are two recognized Seminole Tribes today. 
The Miccosukee tribe pretty much retreated to the Everglades, refusing to surrender. I considered going to work for their tribal police dept at one point. I don’t think they would have let me wear my 2nd Dragoons uniform.

31087A36-FF0B-4A28-9953-E3D029155885.jpeg

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6 minutes ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

B8AB8A8D-B314-49B4-8358-B046ACC121E6.thumb.jpeg.15fb712d0f34af8571144b4fca0fee4c.jpeg

 

There were few Creeks in Florida, mostly they lived in Georgia and Alabama.

The Seminole tribe was actually an offshoot of the Creek Nation. The original indigenous tribes, Calusa, Ais, Tequesta, etc were wiped out by disease or enslaved by the Spanish.

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We have more water than most people want: I live 500 yards from a very nice creek.   But sometimes what we call a creek: in Tennessee you would called a river.  

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ive lived from one end of the mississippi to the other , on the river and on tributary areas , its interesting what some call a river , a creek [crick] , a lake and a pond , i lived on a slough - it was basically stationary backwater off a fairly quick moving larger river , the little trickle of current just kept it from getting stagnant , when i was in florida i wondered at the lack of motion in their rivers and related it to that slough 

 

the river i live on is not very big - most of the year , but its falling fast and when it dumps into the mississippi a few blocks east of here its moving real fast , cant wade in without loosing your footing , when i lived south of here it would have been called a crick-creek "if you can throw a rock across it - it aint a real river" back then , got no gaters here  

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