One of the many kayaking trails maintained by the Florida Paddling Association is the Lower Shoal River paddling trail.
This paddle begins at Bill Duggan, Jr Park on Hwy 85 and follows the Shoal River to where it converges with the Yellow River. A short distance down the Yellow River is a small boat landing named Gin Hole Landing, which is the takeout spot for this part of the trail.
We met my dad at Bill Duggan, Jr Park, dropped off our kayaks and then Dad and Troy drove our car and Dad’s truck to Gin Hole landing so we would have a pickup car when we finished.
Once they returned, we settled into our kayaks and canoe and off we went, kayaking the Lower Shoal River.
Under the Hwy 85 bridge and into undeveloped, true Florida.
Woods on either side of us, the noise from the highway fading as we slowly made our way downstream, a gorgeous river and just enough current to push us along so we only had to paddle around some of the logs in the river.
Floating down the river with my dad, husband and kids was amazing.
My daughter took off ahead of us and as she came around a bend, she surprised a small group of wild hogs drinking from the river. They saw her and took off through the woods making all kinds of racket.
You can tell the difference between a hog running through the woods and a deer because deer, while noisy, do not make anywhere near the racket wild hogs make.
The river was high so there were no sandbars to stop on and about lunch time we decided we might be eating in the swamp with our boats shoved up against a Cypress knee.
Which is when we came around a bend and saw a cool camp at the river’s edge.
And just around the corner we saw a dock with a picnic table up on a grassy hill.
There were no No Trespassing signs, so we pulled up and had lunch on the picnic table.
There was a well-worn path between the picnic area and the camp just around the bend so after lunch we followed it to get a better look.
I would love to have a nice party spot right on the river like this. Because we were on private property, I didn’t take pictures of the camp, but it was cool and looked like the perfect spot for parties.
And there was a bridge over the slough that is exactly what we need over the creek at Tower Camp.
After lunch we got back on the river and continued our journey.
Well, we were ready to continue when my daughter leaned a little too far over in her kayak and ended up in the river.
The current immediately took the kayak so she was trying to catch it while I scrambled for her paddle.
It took us a minute, but she caught the yak, I caught the paddle, and she was back in the boat, wet but laughing hysterically.
After another hour or so of wilderness we came across a small group of fish camps. Some of them are strictly camps but others are year-round homes.
About four hours after we launched, we reached the convergence where the Shoal River flows into the Yellow River.
Everyone else kept paddling but I sat for a while, watching the two rivers merge.
Our pull-out spot was another tenth of a mile or so and when I finished watching the rivers meet, I paddled on down to join the rest of our group and pull the boats out.
It took us about 4 hours to ease down the river, only needing to paddle around a few log jams.
Tired but happy we loaded our boats and headed home.
Slowly but surely I’m paddling my way along Florida’s Paddling Trails. Kayaking the Lower Shoal River was great!
