Jim called Friday. Our conversation led to a Saturday morning trip to scout the East Bay River north of Navarre and Mary Ester, Florida.
As I proceeded to our meeting spot I crossed Yellow River on SR87. Looking back, our Yellow River takeout parking lot for Boiling Creek was underwater. Streams were still very high from recent rain. East Bay River, however, being mostly feed by steephead seeps and swamp drainage, appeared to be about normal.
We met at the McDonalds parking lot in Navarre and drove east towards Mary Ester. Just past the 98 West Package Store we turned left [north] on an Eglin accesses road. The paved road stopped after a mile at a radar station. We continued straight [bearing left] on a dirt road another half mile to a bridge. Just over the bridge on the right was a put in.
Jim had been scouting the East Bay River but lacking a saw stopped at a tree spanning the river a couple of miles upstream. So Jim suggested we bring saws to cut our way through. He knew there was a 4X4 accessible spot but was stopped by this a downed tree from reaching it. He also knew of a bridge further upstream.
Off we go upstream against a 2 mph current. This was a beautiful little creek sized river. The river did not appear to have much traffic. We paddled upstream and trimmed a couple of trees along the way. Since his last trip, someone else had trimmed his obstruction tree.
We stopped at his 4X4 road access and looked around. We decided to see how far upstream we could make it. So we started again until reaching the confluence with Live Oak Creek. Live Oak Creek is the same size as East Bay River but it is a clearer tea colored instead of East Bay River’s coffee color.
We made it four tenths of a mile up Live Oak Creek before we turned around due to an obstruction which would have required a chain saw to cut through. Live Oak Creek is a very pretty little creek. Returning to its mouth we turned left and continued upstream on East Bay River.
We followed East Bay River to an upstream Eglin Bridge. We stopped and looked over the spot for a put in for later paddles. We continued upstream but a few hundred yards up we stopped due to obstructions. We decided a fun paddle would be to put in at this bridge and paddle downstream.
We ate lunch and then returned DOWNSTREAM. Enjoying the current, we were back in no time. However, we had two notable events.
First, I saw my first ever alligator in the wild. That log floating in the river had two eyes and swam with us for a few yards. Jim was between me and the gator. As I was trying to get a picture he submerged in the coffee colored water so as not to be seen again. We guessed he was about six feet. Jim had the better view.
We thought we were getting close to our take out when we heard what must have been trucks crossing our bridge. No, three jet skis that put in at the SR87 bridge had zoomed upstream. They could have easily swamped us but they slowed down. The “river” is too narrow for those kinds of wakes. They stopped at our take out and talked with us for a while before we both left.
Here are the gps coordinates of both our bridges:
N30 25.891 W86 46.330 Bridge Downstream
N30 25.778 W86 44.332 Bridge Upstream
We plan on going back to explore some more on the East Bay River and Live Oak Creek.
I ran a track on my Garmin topo map and from the Downstream bridge to SR87 bridge is about 8 miles. I would also like to explore the possibility of going further on Live Oak Creek.
As I proceeded to our meeting spot I crossed Yellow River on SR87. Looking back, our Yellow River takeout parking lot for Boiling Creek was underwater. Streams were still very high from recent rain. East Bay River, however, being mostly feed by steephead seeps and swamp drainage, appeared to be about normal.
We met at the McDonalds parking lot in Navarre and drove east towards Mary Ester. Just past the 98 West Package Store we turned left [north] on an Eglin accesses road. The paved road stopped after a mile at a radar station. We continued straight [bearing left] on a dirt road another half mile to a bridge. Just over the bridge on the right was a put in.
Jim had been scouting the East Bay River but lacking a saw stopped at a tree spanning the river a couple of miles upstream. So Jim suggested we bring saws to cut our way through. He knew there was a 4X4 accessible spot but was stopped by this a downed tree from reaching it. He also knew of a bridge further upstream.
Off we go upstream against a 2 mph current. This was a beautiful little creek sized river. The river did not appear to have much traffic. We paddled upstream and trimmed a couple of trees along the way. Since his last trip, someone else had trimmed his obstruction tree.
We stopped at his 4X4 road access and looked around. We decided to see how far upstream we could make it. So we started again until reaching the confluence with Live Oak Creek. Live Oak Creek is the same size as East Bay River but it is a clearer tea colored instead of East Bay River’s coffee color.
We made it four tenths of a mile up Live Oak Creek before we turned around due to an obstruction which would have required a chain saw to cut through. Live Oak Creek is a very pretty little creek. Returning to its mouth we turned left and continued upstream on East Bay River.
We followed East Bay River to an upstream Eglin Bridge. We stopped and looked over the spot for a put in for later paddles. We continued upstream but a few hundred yards up we stopped due to obstructions. We decided a fun paddle would be to put in at this bridge and paddle downstream.
We ate lunch and then returned DOWNSTREAM. Enjoying the current, we were back in no time. However, we had two notable events.
First, I saw my first ever alligator in the wild. That log floating in the river had two eyes and swam with us for a few yards. Jim was between me and the gator. As I was trying to get a picture he submerged in the coffee colored water so as not to be seen again. We guessed he was about six feet. Jim had the better view.
We thought we were getting close to our take out when we heard what must have been trucks crossing our bridge. No, three jet skis that put in at the SR87 bridge had zoomed upstream. They could have easily swamped us but they slowed down. The “river” is too narrow for those kinds of wakes. They stopped at our take out and talked with us for a while before we both left.
Here are the gps coordinates of both our bridges:
N30 25.891 W86 46.330 Bridge Downstream
N30 25.778 W86 44.332 Bridge Upstream
We plan on going back to explore some more on the East Bay River and Live Oak Creek.
I ran a track on my Garmin topo map and from the Downstream bridge to SR87 bridge is about 8 miles. I would also like to explore the possibility of going further on Live Oak Creek.
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