Peace River Fossil Hunting Part II

It has been way too long since I have posted anything and I have a resolution to become better about that.  I still have lots of adventures to share.  This one is from just a couple days ago.  It has been fairly dry around here and this is the best season to go to the Peace to look for shark's teeth and such.  We decided to take a friend and his son kayaking and fossil seeking with us.  We called an outfitter on the River in the area to try to rent a kayak for our friend.  They weren't equipped/flexible enough to help us with what we needed, which was basically a kayak at the Gardner boat ramp that we could use for a half a day.  Also, she told us the Peace was very dried up in that area..which we found hilarious when we actually got to our destination (and not true).  We finally found an outfitter to help us out.  Off the Wall Adventures in Lakeland rented us a kayak for the day that we picked up with our own trailer.  John and I have our own kayaks, and we put our two boys and their friend on our Ocean Duo tandem.

Our friend with his son at the launch point

It was cold when we got up - 40 something degrees in Lakeland.  Normally way too cold for me to venture out, but the forecast called for upper 60s and no wind, so I decided to layer up and make the best of it.  I spent the night before at Sports Authority looking for quick dry pants for women - not to be found.  Apparently all they carry is running/exercise gear.  I ended up borrowing a pair from my husband that I wore with my board shorts.  A combination of too many Christmas cookies on my part and my husband being trim and fit meant the pants almost fit me.  A quick dry, long sleeve turtle neck, quick dry long sleeve button down, hat and sunglasses covered me up sufficiently to keep my cold weather whining to a minimum.  The kids are pretty hardy.  My oldest is going through some tough guy phase or something and it can be fifty degrees out but he swears 'It is not cold'.  We made him wear a sweatshirt.  

It was our friends first time on a kayak so my husband provided a little bit of instruction.  We put my oldest in the back and my youngest in the middle and their friend at the front of the tandem so he could get his first paddling experience as well.  We launch from a boat ramp that we call the Gardner Boat Ramp but you can't find 'Gardner' in most GPS - officially it is located in Zolfo Springs, FL.  The road going down to the ramp is called River Road.  It's on South 17.  There is a field of ever changing crops - at least the few times I have been I have seen squash, dried up crops, and this time it looked just like an empty field.  There is a concrete boat ramp but also a big, sandy beach perfect for launching kayaks.  

Ready to go!

We paddle upstream a short distance to an inlet on the right called Charley's Creek.  The current was moving at a decent pace.  The water was a little higher than we expected, especially after the nearby outfitter told us it was dry.  My husband kept an eye on the kids and made adjustments a few times.  My oldest and youngest quibble often, even while paddling blaming one or the other if they go off course.  I heard and saw a Belted Kingfisher, but couldn't get a picture.  A beautiful hawk was perched atop a skeleton tree.  Warblers flitted about.  I was at the front of our party and I could see ahead in the distance a group of cows on the banks to the right, and a group of them standing in the water.  Every once in awhile, a cow would appear from the top of the bank and run down a hill, chasing off the other cows.  The location is so remote and beautiful.

We put my youngest in front in the middle of the way up the Creek.  He really gets into the paddling. 

The 'island' I like to stop and look for shark's teeth and fossils had a large cow residing on the banks.  He made me a little nervous so I asked my husband to go ahead of me.  We ended up paddling a bit past the cow to the next bank to get out.  Eventually the cow moved on..I didn't actually see where he went.  We spent  some time digging in the gravel with my husband's home made screening systems.  We are both fans of gold rush so we pretended like we were miners. 

I always pack a lunch for our kayaking day trips.  Since we had guests, I packed extra food.  Hard boiled eggs, peanut butter, apple slices, pretzel chips, cheddar cheese, clementines, oatmeal raisin cookies, goldfish crackers, and several different types of snack bars and Z bars for the kids.  We found a wonderful little picnic spot high up on the bank, a flat grassy area.  The presence of cows was obvious with all the cow patties around..other than that, it was a wonderful sunny spot to sit and eat.  We watched some white pelicans flying high overhead and warmed up in the heat, temps getting up to the 60s finally.

The trip back downstream to the beach is much easier since it goes with the flow of the current.  You can just float downstream if you want.  As we loaded the kayaks up to go back downstream we noticed one of the kids' paddles was missing.  We couldn't find it for anything..so I took the kid watch on the trek downstream while my husband kept his eyes peeled for the missing paddle.  He found it downstream stuck in some branches so we lectured our kids about responsibility.  My oldest paddled solo downstream because of the missing paddle.  All in all, it was a wonderful, clear day, hardly any wind and despite the cold start, warmed up nicely.  We found a decent amount of small shark's teeth and a very interesting looking tooth we guess to be a horse tooth.  Still on the hunt for the giant megalodon tooth!