Cross Creek

Lochloosa Lake approaching Cross Creek

 

Our recent sunset paddles at Cross Creek have been fantastic - bald eagles, gators and lots of water birds. This trip takes place about 1/2 hour south of Gainesville. 

 

The cost is $50 per person. ($39 for "wanna go" members). With your own boat it's $35 per person. ($25 for members).

Calendar of Tour dates: www.adventureoutpost.net

 

 



Approaching the bridge

Description

 

Cross Creek is a charming little thread of water connecting two of north Florida's most beautiful and storied lakes, Orange and Lochloosa. On it's brief, mile-long run, the slow flowing creek meanders lazily under a nearly complete canopy of oak, maple and moss-draped cypress. On the downstream end, Orange Lake is a vast, open expanse, famous for it's "floating islands." In the past, it was a world-famous bass lake, but water levels and water quality issues in recent decades have reduced the fish populations greatly. Levels have come up, but there's still a long way to go.

 


On the north end of the creek, Lochloosa Lake has fared a little better. The shoreline close to the creek inlet is much more accessible than that of Orange Lake, where wide marshes keep us nearly a quarter of a mile from the treeline. There are plenty of marshes on Lochloosa also, but in many places, you can paddle right up to the sandy, cypress lined shore. The lakes shore is an fantastic unbroken forest of cypress and granddaddy oaks, maples ashes and others, with the only houses seen (after leaving the Creek) being in the far distance.

 

I like to do this as a "sunset paddle," not only to enjoy the many roosting and nesting birds that fill the trees at the end of the day, but also because of the beautiful, wide open vistas that make the perfect backdrop for the area's beautiful sunsets. Marjorie Rawlings knew them well. "The sun at the horizon came into its full glory and the west was copper, then blood-red, blazing into an orgy of salmon and red and brass and a soft bluish yellow the color of ripe guavas. Northeast and south faded instantly to gray, timid at having usurped the flame of the sunset. Then suddenly the west dimmed, as though a bonfire charred and dimmed. There was only a bar of copper. All the sky, to every point of the compass, became a soft blue and the clouds were white powder, so that in the end it was tenderness that triumphed. I went home to sound, cool sleep." (MKR, Cross Creek. p. 289).

 



 

Sunset on Orange Lake

Even on those days when the Big Girl (Mama Nature) offers a more dramatic end to the day, we still come away feeling far richer for the experience. On summer afternoon, the day could end more like another afternoon Rawlings described - "The air is so still that even the restless Spanish moss hangs motionless. Although the sun is hidden the atmosphere is stifling. Then an impalpable breath stirs. The tallest palms in the east grove bend their heads, the moss in the hammock lifts as though a silent hand moved through a gray beard. There is a sibilant sound in the pecan trees, the grayness thickens, and rain marches visibly across palms and orange trees and comes in at the gate. Sometimes it is a gentle shower, sometimes a rushing flood. After it has passed, the air is as fresh and clean as April and the night will be cool for sleeping. The sun strikes through the wetness, there is likely to be a rainbow, and the palms are rosy in the evening light." (MKR, Cross Creek. p. 285)

 

Regardless of how it goes - clear, cloudy or wet - the only thing that could end a day better, would be to go home after the trip, curl up in bed with a Rawling's book (sunsets are best served with the book "Cross Creek") and let her magical descriptions of the places and wildlife you've just experienced lull you to sleep.

 

 

Glossy ibis

Wildlife

 

There's hardly a more scenic setting in north Florida to enjoy Bald eagles, osprey, several species of duck, egrets, herons and, of course those two amazing fish catchers, cormorants and anhingas. Watch the shoreline carefully and you might be lucky enough to spot a reptile or two - maybe an alligator, snake or turtle. On summer evenings, we're usually treated to a deafening chorus of frogs - a "boys choir" of males hailing from several species, as we pass an active breeding site.

 

 

History

 

Prehistoric Indians found this an ideal area to live, and left plenty of evidence to attest to this fact. Near the north shore of Orange Lake, one of the State's oldest burial mound complexes is found near an interesting village site surrounded by earthworks.

 

By the time Europeans began their exploration of Florida, the main village of the powerful Potano tribe was situated a short distance from the ancient earthworks. Life changed for the Potanos in 1539, when Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto led his expedition through this area. The chroniclers of his expedition mentioned Potano but fortunately the soldiers didn't stay long enough to create the kind mischief which highlighted much of their journey. In the mid 1500's, the Potanos withstood several raids from French and then Spanish soldiers, fighting alongside some of the Potanos Indian enemies. Eventually the Potanos were forced to relocate their village to the San Felasco hammock, north west of Gainesville.

 

Several decades later, another band of Indians moved onto the abandoned Orange Lake site. The area was now at the southern fringes of an expanding system of Christian missions being established by Spanish monks. It's believed there was a mission briefly established here at this village, but it didn't last long.

 

During the late 1800's, several small steam boats conducted business on these waters - mostly carrying lumber, oranges and produce. The most active "port" seems to have been at the small community of Lochloosa on that lakes eastern shore.

 

By far the most colorful chapter in Cross Creeks past began with the arrival, in 1928, of the famous author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. For nearly 25 years, until her death in 1953 of cerebral hemorrhage, she captured the essence of rural life in this area. Her writings brought Rawlings worldwide acclaim (and a Pulitzer Prize in 1939 for The Yearling) and inspired people around the world to dust off their atlases and search for this tiny hamlet. Today, her enchanting words still cast their magic, inspiring thousands of people every year to visit her home, now a quiet and appropriately "off-the-beaten-path" State Park with scheduled tours. (For park info, call 352-466-3672).

 

 

 Questions or reservations: e-mail - riverguide2000@yahoo.com , or call   (386) 454-0611