Little Big Econ

Last week Barry-O and I took a quick paddle down the Econlockhatchee River dropping in at the Little Big Econ Canoe Launch. It was a typical hot summer day without a breeze and thunder already booming by early afternoon. We headed south and found the river to be quite narrow in most spots with the need to go over or under trees that were blocking passage. This situation was amplified by the low water levels due to our ongoing drought conditions. Within an hour into our paddle the thunder started booming a bit more consistently and the sky became dark so we decided to turn around and head back. At about the half-way point of the return trip Barry-O got a little too close to a 12 foot + gator, unintentionally but still too close, and the gator bolted into the water. It's a widely-known fact that gators can move extremely fast in short bursts and will also whip with their tails as a defensive tactic. Either way, one could be knocked off their board pretty easily by a gator of that size and that would not be good. The gator came into the water with a huge splash and went under, heading my way, or at least in my general direction, to get away from Barry-O. You could say we were both a little FREAKED-OUT by the encounter with the gator and picked up the pace back to our vehicles. We made it back the rest of the way without incident and breathed a sigh of relief and laughed about it over beers and tacos before heading home. Not bad for hot summer afternoon in central Florida!

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