Monthly Archives: November 2010

Arbuckle Creek 11/19/10

Paddled Arbuckle Creek solo today. Put in at Istokpoga Park off US 98. Found the mouth of the creek without too much trouble. Started paddling upstream and found a private park with wild turkeys running around in it. Paddled past a fish/rv/horse camp and spotted a long-tailed monkey. Found out from fisherman further up the creek that it’s a family pet named Sam. On the way back, spotted llamas at this same property. A lot of the creek had open pasture on either side but some sections were bordered by cypress, pines, and live oak. Just past the railroad trestle, there were actual shoals. I had to portage around to get further upstream. Ran into more cows on the banks. Even though I gave them a wide berth they spooked easy and ran off. Turned around and was able to paddle through the shoals, only hung up a little on one shelf.  Inventory of wildlife seen: black vultures, osprey, hawks, great and little blue herons, ibis, cattle and great white egrets, turkeys, sand hill cranes, belted kingfisher, gators, cows, horses, long tailed monkey and llamas. Total time on the water was about 6 hrs.