Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area (Glades County)

Up the Creek in the Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area
By Patti Powers
(as first published by Airboating Magazine Sept/Oct 2017 issue)

In the 1970s, it was a place to escape, a haven in the middle of nowhere. Sugar sand paths traversing an untouched landscape and cut by a 40 plus mile winding creek as rich with history as it is with wildlife.
Fisheating Creek is the only body of water that flows freely into Lake Okeechobee, unobstructed by locks or any other man-made obstacles. Most of the area around the creek is uninhabited, except for the two tiny rural communities of Palmdale and Lakeport.
Up until the late 1980s, camping was permitted on both the east and west side of U.S. 27 in Glades County. Escaping to the "creek" with friends from my hometown of Miami, was a welcome treat. And for many years, we explored the creek by foot, canoe and horseback.
In the late 1980s, access to the creek became the subject of a legal battle between Lykes Brothers, who owned the property around the creek, and the State of Florida. As part of the legal settlement, the State of Florida purchased a little more than 18,000 acres. Today, camping is permitted only on the west side of U.S. 27 (in Palmdale), in a campground owned by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission as part of the Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area.
From State Road 78, turn west off Banana Grove Road to reach the Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area in Lakeport. This is one of my favorite spots in Glades County as it boasts tons of wildlife and great opportunities for photographs. From the Lakeport entrance, a four mile hiking trail leads to Fort Center, an archaeological site, thought to have been inhabited by people as far back as 1000 BC.
Airboat access to the creek is by permit only and is limited to about a five mile run from the mouth of the creek in Lakeport to just before Cowbone Marsh. With the low water level in Lake Okeechobee the beginning of August, we had no problem passing under the concrete bridge from Lake Okeechobee to the mouth of the creek.
A stunning view awaited as we rode through an area where the water was wide, narrowing around tight turns and once again opening up. Sandbars extruded in places from the banks and shallow water made for some tricky navigation.
It had been years since my husband, Bob, the captain of our boat, had fished the creek. Somehow, he managed to follow the main creek and keep from going off-route into its many tributaries. It was such a pleasant ride, no people, no trash, no houses, just the sky, the water, the land and the wildlife whose terrain we were clearly intruding upon.
Cabbage palms scattered the banks and further back into the bright green marshy fields. And that sky, it seemed to disappear into the land separated only by the distant hammock of trees. Low hanging and fallen trees could be seen along the creek but did not hamper our ride. The dirty colored sand banks along the creek revealed the varying levels of the orange stained water over the years, marked by contrasting layers of sand.
Alligators were plentiful in the creek, sunning along the banks and bothered little by the growl of the airboat motor; though the wading birds took flight to escape the intrusive noise. The creek's banks were welcoming and we could have stopped and explored a little by foot. But it somehow felt wrong to invade this pristine landscape by leaving footprints where people did not really belong.
So we sat in silence on the boat, taking it all in, appreciating the efforts of the State to conserve this beautiful creek and the land surrounding it. And as we sat quietly, a doe and her two fawns sprinted through the woods.
We are already making plans to visit the area again and perhaps explore the trails by foot. If you want to get "up the creek" by airboat, you'll need a permit. Stop by the FWC office in the WMA in Lakeport and fill out a form, providing information about your boat. That's it. But keep in mind, unless you unload on the west side of SR 78 directly into the creek, you'll have to go under the bridge from Lake Okeechobee to get into the creek in the WMA.
Fisheating Creek, just as spectacular now as I remember it from the 1970s. A journey worth taking either by land or water. And bring your camera!
More information about the Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area can be found at: http://myfwc.com/viewing/recreation/wmas/lead/fisheating-creek/.