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Orlando Florida Today | |||||||||||||||||||
| Journey along the HeadwatersBy Austen Arnould Imagine paddling a swift kayak around the oxbow of the Kissimmee River or strolling along a quiet pathway carving its way through ancient oak forests. Imagine being able to do this on any day you choose. The Headwaters Expedition shows us how we will soon be able to do just that.
The JourneyThe team members, who came from a variety of conservation organizations, began on Shingle Creek (on the grounds of the new Rosen Shingle Creek Resort), traversed 140 miles by kayak and on foot and ended their journey twelve days later in Lake Okeechobee. This stretch of river is the headwaters of America’s Everglades and is in the process of becoming a passive recreation corridor that will follow the Kissimmee River and offer paddling, hiking and camping. Passive recreation describes activities that have a low environmental impact, including canoeing, hiking, photography and environmentally friendly camping. Why Paddle?As team members shared anecdotes about their trip during a recent follow-up conference, their excitement was evident, and while the stories they told were often amusing, many also had a certain poignancy.
One day, while the kayakers were making their way through a canalized stretch of the river (large sections of the river were converted into a canal in the ‘60s and ‘70s), a lock operator remarked that he had never seen a non-motorized boat come through. He asked the expedition with some incredulity, “Why are you paddling?” Expedition member and Dr. Phillips resident Bob Mindick was able to capture photographs that could be taken only from a kayak or canoeing. “The task that we have here today is one of partnership and opportunity. This is what the corridor is all about,” he says. Mindick’s slides told the story for him: turtles warming themselves in the sun, alligators among the reeds, deer vaulting into the underbrush, spoonbills hunting in shallow waters. These photographs attest to only a fraction of the beauty along the Kissimmee River corridor. Gift of NatureAn equally engaging aspect of the river is its human diversity. Fishing villages or fish camps with their distinctive local culture have existed for generations along the river, their American flags still hoisted high. One of the more mischievous members of the expedition snapped a photo of the signs on restrooms in one of these fish camps. The men’s and women’s restrooms were respectively labeled “Outboard” and “Inboard.” Julia Recker, Director of Osceola County Parks and Recreation, says, “In the Osceola section of the river, you can see more pairs of bald eagles in a day than you could in a week in Yellowstone National Park.” The Headwaters Expedition is symbolic of today’s enlightened attitudes towards conservation. Government agencies, businesses, community leaders and entrepreneurs are coming together to make it possible. They are dedicated to bring us experiences that we might not have imagined, and it is heartening to know that so many members of our community—our neighbors and our friends—are working to give us such a gift. Related Links:
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The Headwaters Expedition, initiated by Harris Rosen (whose Central Florida hotel empire’s success is equal to his commitment to conservation), recently sent a group of seven local professionals down the Kissimmee River all the way to Lake Okeechobee. 
