Outdoors

Calusa Blueway a trip back in time

By TERRY TOMALIN
Published March 13, 2005

MOUND KEY - Standing on top of this 35-foot high shell midden at the mouth of the Estero River, you get a view that is normally only enjoyed by the residents of the condominiums across the bay.

Once the capital city of the Calusa, the Indians that ruled South Florida, Mound Key had an intricate system of canals that allowed its residents to pull their dugout canoes right up to their thatched huts.

Today, the dugouts are long gone and the canals are filled with sand, but sea kayakers can still get a taste of what life for the "Fierce People" must have been like by paddling the Great Calusa Blueway.

The canoe/kayak trail, which will be about 80 miles long when it is complete, winds through some of Lee County's most pristine waterways.

"We have most of the signs up for phase two, which should be completed by the end of this month," said Nancy MacPhee, the Lee County Parks and Recreation employee responsible for the trail. "The new section will include Charlotte Harbor so people will be able to paddle the trail and camp on Cayo Costa."

The Lee County Paddling Trail offers many great day trips to secluded bays and rivers. But paddlers looking for a greater challenge should follow the progress of a more ambitious trail that Florida officials hope will someday run around the entire state.

The Florida Circumnavigation Saltwater Paddling Trail will be comprised of 26 segments. The trail will begin with the Pensacola Fort Pickens Saltwater Paddling Trail, run down the west coast, take a jog out along the Florida Keys and then run north up the east coast to the Nassau/Fort Clinch Saltwater Paddling Trail.

"We have tried to keep all the segments pretty much the same length, 60 or 70 miles," said Doug Alderson, who works for the Department of Environmental Protection's Office of Greenways and Trails. "We are in various stages of the planning process but in the end we will have clearly marked routes that go along both coasts."

Lee County's Calusa Blueway is well marked, but paddlers can also get a free map complete with GPS numbers at www.greatcalusablueway.com Though not part of the state project, it is well worth a visit.

The Big Bend Saltwater Paddling Trail, which opened last year, is the standard by which all future segments of the trail will be judged.

"The middle segment of the Big Bend Trail is completed," Alderson said. "We want to expand it, make it longer so it runs from St. Marks all the way to Yankeetown."

State officials are already well into the planning process. Alderson said that by 2007-2008, paddlers should be able to circumnavigate the state. When complete, each trail will have a series of primitive campsites spaced about 10 to 15 miles apart.

Planning will begin on the Pinellas Saltwater Paddling trail next February. Officials have begun working on the Tampa Bay/Longboat Key segment.

"There will be challenges," Alderson said. "We have areas that are restricted, such as military bases and wildlife sanctuaries, so there might be some long paddles mixed in. But in the end, I think it will all work out."

[Last modified March 13, 2005, 00:23:15]