The gentle Loxahatchee River in Eastern Florida is not a regular tourist destination. The river's watershed covers a 260-acre ecosystem and has been designated a "Wild and Scenic River" by the US federal government in 1985, one of two in Florida. The Loxahatchee empties into Jupiter inlet and then the Atlantic Ocean, sustaining a variety of threatened and endangered species. Jonathan Dickson State Park at the North end of the Loxahatchee River provides visitors hiking, biking, boating, swimming, camping, horseback riding, fishing, wildlife viewing, and riverboat tours. Whew! There's a lot to do at this State Park, and it is a "must-see" on my list of things to do around the Jupiter, Florida area.
Today my dear local friend Jenni offered to take us on an adventure down the Loxahatchee River like a local Floridian. Jonathan Dickinson State Park has many opportunities to see wildlife up close, including manatees, which are on the endangered animals' list. There is a fun way to learn lots of local history as well by paddling upriver to a deserted Florida trapper's cabin. This sounded like a lot of fun since my son has recovered from his encounter with a Portuguese Man Of War jellyfish the previous day.
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| Canoe Rental Center |
We decided to pack a picnic lunch for our canoeing adventure so we can eat on the go, so we popped into the grocery store to pick up supplies on the way to the State Park. Now, I have said it in previous blog posts-I adore going grocery shopping while on vacation. I love seeing all the local produce and getting fresh new food ideas. What I love about the USA is the varied selection of beer and wines they have in grocery stores. Also, a picnic lunch is a great way to save some money. See my blog post on Money Hacks To Save For Travel
Today's lunch selection will be single-serve bottles of California white wine, cheeses, grapes and ready-made sandwiches. Feeding four people for under $20!
Entrance fees to the park are $6 per vehicle for up to 8 people. There are a host of activities to pursue at Jonathan Dickinson state park, as I have mentioned above. Keep in mind when you choose these said activities, that there are alligator warnings all over the park! Apparently, there are alligator fences to keep the swimming area and the canoe routes gator free. After coming face to face with an enormous alligator in a parking lot at Sawgrass Recreation Park (see blog post), none of us were even remotely interested in swimming! Renting canoes sounded cool-and less like suicide, at least you can use your paddle as self-defence! Canoe rental prices at Jonathan Dickson State Park are $25/2 hours single or $30/2 hours double. $5 per every additional hour.
We rented two canoes; Jenni and I in one, and my son and his father in another. Life jackets on and maps in hand; it didn't take long for all of us to establish our paddling rhythm. In no time, we were gliding down the Loxahatchee River towards a strange historical landmark, Trapper Nelson's cabin.
We passed towering Cypress trees that were draped in reams of Spanish Moss and topped with immense Osprey nests. They looked like giants in furry winter coats topped with hats! Gliding past mangroves with their tangled roots, and logs jutting out of the water covered in little turtles that seemed to be doing yoga poses.
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| Approaching Trapper Nelson's Dock |
It didn't take long before a friendly paddling competition broke out between the two canoes. It was about a 3-mile paddle downstream to Trapper Nelson's dock. Trapper Nelson was the infamous "Wildman of the Loxahatchee." Nelson was a fur trader, animal trapper (and all-around weird dude) that established a homestead along the Loxahatchee in the 1930s. His cabin had no electricity or city water, and he lived self-sufficiently eating raccoons and turtles.
All that changed after WWII and Vince "Trapper" Nelson started a game farm and tourist attraction, using all his cash to buy up 1,000 acres of Loxahatchee Riverfront property. He had boatloads of well-to-do folks and celebrities from West Palm Beach at his compound, even had a movie star wife for a few years. Vince Nelson had become sick and paranoid in his last days, and his eventual death occurred under mysterious circumstances in 1968. The US parks board staff have found only one of his fabled stashes of treasure: a bundle of 5,000 coins stuffed up the cottage chimney totalling almost $2,000! There are rumoured to be more treasure buried somewhere on his property...
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| Foraging for lunch! |
You are free to wander around the property and see all sorts of exotic fruit trees Nelson had planted like Surinam cherry, Java plum and wild almonds. Inspect all the Trapper's animal pens for his exotic "pets," and poke through the cabins that have been substantially preserved by the State Park. We had this place to ourselves, and it was super eerie; at times, my skin felt like it was crawling! It felt like someone was watching you, and soon it was more than alligators I was fearing.
We had our picnic lunch at Trapper Nelson's and then hopped back into our rental canoes. We had a bit of fun trying to navigate against the current and around the riverboat guided tour that came around after lunch. Somehow it felt like our limbs had turned to jelly after some food and mid-day wine.
All that fresh air, exercise, adventure and sea air had made us tired. We had one stop on the way home, and that was PINDERS SEAFOOD. Pinder's is a must when visiting Jupiter, in my opinion. This marketplace has it all: fresh-caught seafood, ready-made take out and even an excellent wine selection. We grabbed some seafood chowder to take home as well as some conch fritters (the most fantastic thing I have eaten in a long while) and a lovely Italian white wine in a fish-shaped bottle.
That night I had strange dreams about The Wildman Of The Loxahatchee and where he hid his treasure! How many secrets were buried with the "Trapper" we will never know...
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