Canaveral National Seashore Island Hang Planning

**Gumbo** · 01-25-2011, 20:52

Looking at the calendar, March 24-27 is going to be the best time for a long weekend at Canaveral National Seashore. Anyone else interested in joining Tim and I that weekend?

Here is a link to give you an idea of the campsites. They are all primitive island sites with no amenities (but fantastic views).

http://www.nps.gov/cana/planyourvisi...camping-02.pdf

Due to the how reservations work we will have to choose an alternate campsite in case the one we want is already reserved. I've reserved there before and it's never been an issue though.

Sometime before then, Tim and I will be going for a day trip to scout a few of the sites we have not visited and set priorities for camp selections. Anyone wanting to come kayak with us is welcome to join us scouting.

**zukiguy** · 01-25-2011, 21:05

So I'm guessing this is a paddling/tenting trip. I don't remember seeing a lot of trees on the barrier islands.

**Gumbo** · 01-25-2011, 21:15

Nope. It's a hanging trip!

There are trees to hang from. Not on every campsite but I can name four that you could easily hang on.

Sites 6,8,9 and 11 are able to support hangers. Maybe not 50 hangers, but 8 to 10 easy peasy. Of these 6 is my least favorite and 9 and 11 are favorites!

**islander** · 01-25-2011, 21:19

Wow!

That was fast. Let me look at the calendar

**Gumbo** · 01-25-2011, 21:24

Well for us all of April is out due to other commitments. February I have guests nearly all month. Livia's brother is coming to visit from Italy.

I hope you can make it Islander. If not I'm sure there will be other trips! I'm still wanting very much to go do the upper Suwannee, but I'm thinking the warmer weather will work, since there are ceiling fans in the river camps.

**MedicineMan** · 01-25-2011, 22:17

Just stay firm on the March 24th dates and I'm there.
It is my off week and most group hangs stangely happen on my work week.

**Gumbo** · 01-25-2011, 22:24

Originally Posted by MedicineMan

Just stay firm on the March 24th dates and I'm there.
It is my off week and most group hangs stangely happen on my work week.

Excellent! Those dates won't change. It's the only time my husband really has free between now and Easter.

**pabu boy** · 01-25-2011, 22:34

we might be able to make it.
we have done plenty of camping in the general area and have seen most of the islands first hand.
good hammock sites can be found, but you may want to bring the small tarp as it can get tight.
the surrounding area offers awesome red fish and trout fishing.
there are some smaller islands not far from there that are technically free first come first serve but dont expect much privacy on the weekends.
the islands in the nat seashore are pretty private but a decent amount of boat traffic can be found there.

the only bad thing about these sites is they are only able to be reserved a week in advance, but with plenty of islands that shouldnt be a problem.

**zukiguy** · 01-26-2011, 06:53

Ah, now looking at the PDF I recall taking a group of scouts there about 3 years ago. I believe we stayed at #5 (Government Cut). I did hang a hammock on that trip, one of my first.

Unfortunately the thing I remember most was that previous campers didn't build/use a latrine or even a cathole. About 60' up the trail behind the tent site was a field of excrement and loose paper blowing around. It was disgusting. We spent a good hour doing cleanup.

We had a big group (5 canoes of scouts) and so when we showed up on the island and the tent site was maybe 20'x20' we had to do some consolidating. Everyone had brought their own tent. Lucky for me I just slunk off into the trees and hung my hammock.

**Gumbo** · 01-26-2011, 09:09

Site 5 from what I understand is often used by the locals as well since it's very near the boundaries of the Seashore. I recall reading somewhere else that particular site was not as clean as others. I never scouted that site for this reason.

Last year in May/June Tim and I scouted the camps on the western side of the bay. Of the six sites we visited, we found three sites that looked better suited for hanging. Even with the GPS I could not find site 7. I still want to scout sites one and two on Orange Island because I like their location on the map as they allow for a nice paddle in any direction and are not placed on the main waterway.

My last visit to the Seashore I saw 2 mating horseshoe crabs swim between our kayaks and a pod of five dolphins swam within 6 feet of me. That was just a short day trip.