Kayaking Myakka River State Park

Anne and I met at Myakka River State Park at 9:30 am this morning. We left her car in the parking lot by the exit point of the river and put her kayak on top of mine in the back of the truck. We then drove my truck to the launch site by the concession building. We launched at 10:11 am and paddled down river 6.5 miles in 3 hours 22 minutes. We went up a few side channels because the trip is not very long.

The weather was beautiful and sunny. Along the way we saw 89 alligators. Some big and some small but all scary. 

The scenery along most of the river is bland because of the lack of trees. There was a nice current with us and a wind to our backs. This was a very easy paddle.

Most of the alligators we saw were on the bank sunning themselves.

We saw a few birds, a turkey, a deer and some wild boar. There were some beautiful scenery views where there were trees.

We encountered a few canoeists and kayakers. We also saw a lot of buzzards in the trees and flying around.

More alligators and the view of the Canopy Walk tower.

We passed under the bridge where people were looking at the alligators. Just past the bridge we stopped by the parking lot to stretch our legs.

We could only see a couple of alligators from the bridge. Here is Anne with the warning sign and the people by the bridge helping us shove off.

We ran across these two kayakers just down river from the bridge.

The scenery here was beautiful and lots more alligators.

We finally arrived at the Clark Road bridge. Another group of kayakers were in this area.

When we got back to the exit point there was a big birthday celebration going on there. And another alligator in the water by where we exited.
 
We exited the river here and loaded Anne’s kayak on her car and locked mine to a tree while we drove back to the launch site to get my truck. On the way out we saw this deer. Thanks for the picture Anne.