Karen and I always enjoy your engaging, low key presentation. Been friends of several squadron members (Ron Hoddenot, David Heckman, etc and have camped with them at Cayo Costa. You really bring it to life! Thanks for all you do! Larry Whited
Thank you so much! I've been sick and haven't been able to get out for over a week and I was feeling a bit bummed. This comment was great to read and I'm glad you like my videos, I'll be making pleanty more. Maybe I'll even see you on on a sailing trip with the WCTS folks some day :)
I did Gum slough in July of 1974. I was canoeing upstream when a big fat water moccasin tried to block my passage. I had a frog gig on a 4 foot bamboo pole. I buried the gig in the snakes back. The snake swam to shore and using it's mouth pulled the gig out. That night the mosquitoes were so bad that I completely zipped up my sleeping bag , it was July it was hot and humid. In 1974 there was one cabin on the west side of the river and a really nice cabin on the head springs. The owner of the head springs had a grass runway and flew up from Miami where he lived. Rumor is that some DC 3s loaded with weed used that runway
lol, your moccasin story reminds me of my time in Arkansas when my dad, me and my friends would go out into the swamp using gigs to hunt them too. Never had one "self Rescue" from us though :). And those DC3's were pretty awesome planes, I'd imagine their cargo area could hold quite a bit :)
What a trip! Could have been titled “Gum Slough Slog” … with all of the effort it took to come home. Reminds me of a 2-night trip my wife and I had on the Blackwater River in North Florida … had to cross a damned up place in the river where a cedar tree had fallen and then caught any debris going downstream. High banks forced us to go through/over the mess, rather than around it. If one of us had fallen onto on one of the cedar tree spikes, it’ll been a seriously bad day. You do some crazy stuff, so be as careful as you can! I enjoyed this one a lot and thank you for taking us along!
oh, I like that name :). I'll have to check out the Blackwater River. I'm planning on doing the 'Itchetucknee to Santa Fe to Suwannee River' run soon. Finding trips in the panhandle area would be great too, so something like the Blackwater River would be awesome. I'm glad you and your wife made it through the down tree and I'll continue to be as careful as I can. Thanks for watching and commenting
Love the adventurous route of this video. Awesome underwater footage of the alligator. I dislike the time change as well. That deer is sad to see. Not only suffered a gunshot wound but died in the water. I'm not against hunting, but I wish the hunters got him. Hopefully, at a minimum, the gators get to eat it. Great video. Watched the whole video like I do all of them.
with that deer, I posted a picture of it and its location on the Florida Hunters Page on Facebook. hopefully the hunter that couldn't find it, was able to get to it in time. Thanks again for watching and I'm looking forward to your next one
Thank you, but my days of this type of adventuring are in jeopardy. My knees did not appreciate all the climbing and the next day they were hurting pretty good. I'll keep pushing until I can't though :)
Great video and lots of adventure. Yesterday at Thanksgiving, we were talking about the Viking genes from my side of the family. I said you must have inherited a lot of them. You should talk to Kelli about some of the Viking heritage she discovered. Very interesting
Great video… just watched it and subscribed this morning. I did Gum Slough (1st time) around 1980 with several friends in canoes… (before Garmin, GPS. All Trails, or cell phones). Camped up there but the real experience didn’t start until the way back… when my partner, her 10 year old son and I decided to head back on our own… (big mistake). We got lost, as many people do and ended up not getting back to Turner’s Fish Camp until late that night. The boy was so scared by the animals crashing around near us and all the dead ends that he remembered it the rest of his life and actually became a scout master and would take his scouts out and always tell that story… I have a video of a couple of years ago that ended much better… lol another “wild” spot that you might challenge is called Dobb’s Hole on the Withlacoochee… lot’s of portages but truly wild Florida. Green Swamp area. A tip for trips like that is a folding camp saw… not for the trees but for the smaller branches that can make it easier getting through downfalls…
That's a great story. I'm glad he continued to love the outdoors after a trip like that and I'm glad he had such a good story to tell his troop. I'll check out Dobb's Hole and see about doing that run in the near future, sounds like it's right up my alley :) Thanks for subscribing and I'll definitely have to invest in a saw soon, there's been a few trips that one would have come in handy
I've always thought that getting "spooked" while camping alone was part of what makes it exciting. But I was in the Midwest - this jungle stuff is different!
It sure does add a different experience to the trips, for sure. I both like it and dislike it all at the same time. Always worth it after surviving the night though :)
Kasey, so glad you liked the adventure of gum slough !!! Awesome video ! Like I told you me and my father did the trip several times in my youth . I could really show you some fishing techniques for all your Florida kayaking trips ! I will guarantee you allot of successful bass fishing ! Since you live so close to me maybe we could do breakfast and I could show you some really good bass fishing techniques for some great shore lunches . I would love to go on a slough trip , but I couldn’t do the overnight deal lol….. One of the craziness wildlife adventures I had was a bobcat jumping on a family of Turkeys crossing the river . Totally ambushed them lol…. As I said , great show x10 !!! Brought back many memories with me dad who passed away a few years ago ! Forgot to tell you that a small saw really helps on the slough trip !
Someone needs bring a chainsaw out there and at least cut enough room to get by . Not good hurting yourself on a trip . Old man Drake would cut the gum trees on purpose to stop everyone from getting through. I always wondered if the state bought the land from him and his family ! There used to be a Boy Scout camp near by the spring .
yes, thank you so much for recommending this trip to me. It was way different than I expected and such a great trip! I really wanted to capture it well for you, and I'm glad to see you liked the video. It was such a beautiful trip and it was fun coming back down "the path less traveled" too. Your story about the bobcat ambushing the Turkeys would have been awesome to witness first hand. That had to be a cool experience! Doing a meet up breakfast would be awesome and I'd love to get those fishing tips/tricks from you. message me on facebook and we can set something up: facebook.com/casey.woods.96
@@sailingslowmotionKasey I don’t have facebook, but I’m retired and can meet you at your convenience date and time in Spring Hill at any location. Or I can send you an email that I’m ok with posting so you wouldn’t have to show an email on utube . Breakfast is on me . I will bring a few lures and show you how to rig them . I also have some more kayak trips you might be interested in .
@@sailingslowmotion Kasey I don’t have facebook. I’m retired so if you could just let me know a time and place to meet at your convenience. Maybe meet in Spring Hill ? I can also send you an email that I’m ok posting on utube , so you don’t have to put an email on the channel. I will bring several lures and show you how to rig them ! The breakfast is on me as well. I have a few more ideas for trips for your channel.
I've tried several times to get to the spring over the years in my tunnel boat with no success and Yakin' the trip is a lot more than I want.....LOL.....Interesting sights to see in the swamp!!😎
With the tunnel boat you should load up a good chainsaw and some rope and cut/clear a path for everyone :). Thanks for watching and commenting, it was a pretty fun trip
Wow, that's wild that there was a path wide enough to fit through. Even with it flooded, it was hard to get a 14' kayak back there around/over and under the fallen trees
@@sailingslowmotion I think all the downed trees from the near misses of Debby, Helene, and Milton would be why I wouldn't want to do it just yet, or, maybe a trip in with an electric chainsaw would be in order. Then my attitude would change LOL
I've done the lower Hillsborough out to Tampa Bay and it was a good run. I've heard the upper river is pretty good too and hope to experience that trip in the near future
@@sailingslowmotion Sounds great and great video!!! I've never paddled down the Gum slough yet. I grew up maybe a mile from the Hillsborough River Dam. Oh i have some stories of some of the adventures I've been on. Hell I've even swam in the sinkholes off Morris Bridge Road. Do you know where I'm talking about? Plus there's two more sinkholes where Fletcher Avenue turns into Morris Bridge Road. One of them is directly in between the north and south bound lanes of I-75
Karen and I always enjoy your engaging, low key presentation. Been friends of several squadron members (Ron Hoddenot, David Heckman, etc and have camped with them at Cayo Costa. You really bring it to life! Thanks for all you do! Larry Whited
Thank you so much! I've been sick and haven't been able to get out for over a week and I was feeling a bit bummed. This comment was great to read and I'm glad you like my videos, I'll be making pleanty more. Maybe I'll even see you on on a sailing trip with the WCTS folks some day :)
I did Gum slough in July of 1974. I was canoeing upstream when a big fat water moccasin tried to block my passage. I had a frog gig on a 4 foot bamboo pole. I buried the gig in the snakes back. The snake swam to shore and using it's mouth pulled the gig out. That night the mosquitoes were so bad that I completely zipped up my sleeping bag , it was July it was hot and humid. In 1974 there was one cabin on the west side of the river and a really nice cabin on the head springs. The owner of the head springs had a grass runway and flew up from Miami where he lived. Rumor is that some DC 3s loaded with weed used that runway
lol, your moccasin story reminds me of my time in Arkansas when my dad, me and my friends would go out into the swamp using gigs to hunt them too. Never had one "self Rescue" from us though :). And those DC3's were pretty awesome planes, I'd imagine their cargo area could hold quite a bit :)
What a trip! Could have been titled “Gum Slough Slog” … with all of the effort it took to come home. Reminds me of a 2-night trip my wife and I had on the Blackwater River in North Florida … had to cross a damned up place in the river where a cedar tree had fallen and then caught any debris going downstream. High banks forced us to go through/over the mess, rather than around it. If one of us had fallen onto on one of the cedar tree spikes, it’ll been a seriously bad day. You do some crazy stuff, so be as careful as you can! I enjoyed this one a lot and thank you for taking us along!
oh, I like that name :). I'll have to check out the Blackwater River. I'm planning on doing the 'Itchetucknee to Santa Fe to Suwannee River' run soon. Finding trips in the panhandle area would be great too, so something like the Blackwater River would be awesome. I'm glad you and your wife made it through the down tree and I'll continue to be as careful as I can. Thanks for watching and commenting
Love the adventurous route of this video. Awesome underwater footage of the alligator. I dislike the time change as well. That deer is sad to see. Not only suffered a gunshot wound but died in the water. I'm not against hunting, but I wish the hunters got him. Hopefully, at a minimum, the gators get to eat it. Great video. Watched the whole video like I do all of them.
with that deer, I posted a picture of it and its location on the Florida Hunters Page on Facebook. hopefully the hunter that couldn't find it, was able to get to it in time. Thanks again for watching and I'm looking forward to your next one
Great video, Casey!! Nothing like choosing adventure over easy. 😂
It was definitely a physically challenging route but also worth it. I'm sure I was one of only a few that have done that route recently
Your balance is awesome! As I have gotten older I find my balance getting worse. As always I love watching your venture's!
Thank you, but my days of this type of adventuring are in jeopardy. My knees did not appreciate all the climbing and the next day they were hurting pretty good. I'll keep pushing until I can't though :)
Great video and lots of adventure. Yesterday at Thanksgiving, we were talking about the Viking genes from my side of the family. I said you must have inherited a lot of them. You should talk to Kelli about some of the Viking heritage she discovered. Very interesting
will do, I feel like I have the Viking drive to explore and if they looked anything like Hollywood portrays them, I kinda look like one too :)
Great video… just watched it and subscribed this morning. I did Gum Slough (1st time) around 1980 with several friends in canoes… (before Garmin, GPS. All Trails, or cell phones). Camped up there but the real experience didn’t start until the way back… when my partner, her 10 year old son and I decided to head back on our own… (big mistake). We got lost, as many people do and ended up not getting back to Turner’s Fish Camp until late that night. The boy was so scared by the animals crashing around near us and all the dead ends that he remembered it the rest of his life and actually became a scout master and would take his scouts out and always tell that story… I have a video of a couple of years ago that ended much better… lol another “wild” spot that you might challenge is called Dobb’s Hole on the Withlacoochee… lot’s of portages but truly wild Florida. Green Swamp area. A tip for trips like that is a folding camp saw… not for the trees but for the smaller branches that can make it easier getting through downfalls…
That's a great story. I'm glad he continued to love the outdoors after a trip like that and I'm glad he had such a good story to tell his troop. I'll check out Dobb's Hole and see about doing that run in the near future, sounds like it's right up my alley :) Thanks for subscribing and I'll definitely have to invest in a saw soon, there's been a few trips that one would have come in handy
@@sailingslowmotion actually lol it’s Dobes Hole on the Withlacoochee river. I’m in my 70’s and mis-remembered…
I just watched your video on it, I think I'll try and do that one next :)
I've always thought that getting "spooked" while camping alone was part of what makes it exciting. But I was in the Midwest - this jungle stuff is different!
It sure does add a different experience to the trips, for sure. I both like it and dislike it all at the same time. Always worth it after surviving the night though :)
Kasey, so glad you liked the adventure of gum slough !!! Awesome video ! Like I told you me and my father did the trip several times in my youth . I could really show you some fishing techniques for all your Florida kayaking trips ! I will guarantee you allot of successful bass fishing ! Since you live so close to me maybe we could do breakfast and I could show you some really good bass fishing techniques for some great shore lunches . I would love to go on a slough trip , but I couldn’t do the overnight deal lol….. One of the craziness wildlife adventures I had was a bobcat jumping on a family of Turkeys crossing the river . Totally ambushed them lol…. As I said , great show x10 !!! Brought back many memories with me dad who passed away a few years ago ! Forgot to tell you that a small saw really helps on the slough trip !
Someone needs bring a chainsaw out there and at least cut enough room to get by . Not good hurting yourself on a trip . Old man Drake would cut the gum trees on purpose to stop everyone from getting through. I always wondered if the state bought the land from him and his family ! There used to be a Boy Scout camp near by the spring .
yes, thank you so much for recommending this trip to me. It was way different than I expected and such a great trip! I really wanted to capture it well for you, and I'm glad to see you liked the video. It was such a beautiful trip and it was fun coming back down "the path less traveled" too. Your story about the bobcat ambushing the Turkeys would have been awesome to witness first hand. That had to be a cool experience!
Doing a meet up breakfast would be awesome and I'd love to get those fishing tips/tricks from you. message me on facebook and we can set something up: facebook.com/casey.woods.96
@@sailingslowmotionKasey I don’t have facebook, but I’m retired and can meet you at your convenience date and time in Spring Hill at any location. Or I can send you an email that I’m ok with posting so you wouldn’t have to show an email on utube . Breakfast is on me . I will bring a few lures and show you how to rig them . I also have some more kayak trips you might be interested in .
@@sailingslowmotion Kasey I don’t have facebook. I’m retired so if you could just let me know a time and place to meet at your convenience. Maybe meet in Spring Hill ? I can also send you an email that I’m ok posting on utube , so you don’t have to put an email on the channel. I will bring several lures and show you how to rig them ! The breakfast is on me as well. I have a few more ideas for trips for your channel.
I've tried several times to get to the spring over the years in my tunnel boat with no success and Yakin' the trip is a lot more than I want.....LOL.....Interesting sights to see in the swamp!!😎
With the tunnel boat you should load up a good chainsaw and some rope and cut/clear a path for everyone :). Thanks for watching and commenting, it was a pretty fun trip
Wow thanks for the video nice Deere someone was missing it
You're welcome and thanks for watching. That deer will forever be someones story about the one that got away
Great video. Wish I was there
It's a real adventure out there. I think it's going to get harder as the water levels drop but I'll do it again :)
Incredible
Thanks man, this was a fun one :)
I took my 16 ft skiff with a 40hp outboard to the end of the springs last year. It was a pain to get to the end but was worth the adventure
Wow, that's wild that there was a path wide enough to fit through. Even with it flooded, it was hard to get a 14' kayak back there around/over and under the fallen trees
I've always wanted to do Gum Slough, now, not so much lol
Lol, if you stay on the main run, it's not too bad , it would still be a full day paddle though
@@sailingslowmotion I think all the downed trees from the near misses of Debby, Helene, and Milton would be why I wouldn't want to do it just yet, or, maybe a trip in with an electric chainsaw would be in order. Then my attitude would change LOL
Yes, having a saw would change the trip dramatically! Would be a fun day going back in there just to clear a path for everyone
...In my opinion...the Gum Slough spring run, is the best "primitive" paddle in the state...I never tell anyone about it...
😂😂😂
Hillsborough river where i grew up
it's the best one that I have done as well. others might have better aspects to them, but Gum Slough has it all
I've done the lower Hillsborough out to Tampa Bay and it was a good run. I've heard the upper river is pretty good too and hope to experience that trip in the near future
@@sailingslowmotion
Sounds great and great video!!! I've never paddled down the Gum slough yet. I grew up maybe a mile from the Hillsborough River Dam. Oh i have some stories of some of the adventures I've been on. Hell I've even swam in the sinkholes off Morris Bridge Road. Do you know where I'm talking about? Plus there's two more sinkholes where Fletcher Avenue turns into Morris Bridge Road. One of them is directly in between the north and south bound lanes of I-75
Hurricanes got it good it seems. When was this trip filmed?
Yeah, they sure did, I filmed this at the end of November 2024 (after the rough hurricane season)