2/16 River Trip to Trapper Nelson Cabin

This is my last full day here at Jonathan Dickenson State Park, so I decided to take a river trip.  I have taken it before, but it was a pretty nice day, so worth doing it again.  It's about an hour-and-a-half long, with a half hour of that being a stop at an old homestead owned by Trapper Nelson. Here comes the boat!

I knew I would see wildlife along the way, and here are a couple of osprey parents on their nest.

And, although it is hard to see, here is a manatee! 

And a baby alligator.

And another manatee, but this one was easier to see because the sunlight was right.

Pretty river just before Trapper Nelson's cabin!

Trapper Nelson was a man born in 1908 who was out of work during the Depression, so bummed around the country looking for work.  He ended up here in Jupiter and spent two years there before deciding he did not like city life.  (Not that Jupiter was much of a city back in the 30s.)  Anyway, he bought a large piece of swamp land along the Loxahatchee River and packed out to it by boat. 

This sign explains some things about Trapper Nelson. 

 

He lived in this "chickee" until he got tired of the bugs and built a cabin.

 And here is his bed, or at least what is left of it.  Apparently, he was married, but his wife left him after two years of living out here.  Wonder why?

He kept a log of the hurricanes he survived on this corner of his original cabin.

Actually, the only real difference between this older cabin and his more "modern" one, is size, but he did apparently rent it out to tourists occasionally.

 
No pictures on the way back and no animals either, as the clouds had moved in and it was getting colder, so I just enjoyed the ride.