• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Florida Hikes logo

Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides

  • Trails
  • Maps
  • Guidebooks
  • Search
  • Hike
    • Scenic Hikes
    • Loop Trails
    • Dog-friendly Hikes
    • Hikes for Kids
    • National Parks in Florida
    • Florida State Parks
  • Bike
    • Major Bike Trails
    • Paved Bike Trails
    • Off Road Biking
    • Biking Articles
  • Paddle
    • Canoe & Kayak Rentals
    • Paddling Destinations
    • Paddling Articles
  • Camp
    • Cabin Rentals
    • Car Camping
    • Primitive Camping
  • Florida Trail
    • Plan your Hike
    • Best Scenic Hikes
    • Best Backpacking
    • Section Hiking
    • Thru-Hiking
    • Trail Updates
  • Travel
  • Hike
    • Scenic Hikes
    • Loop Trails
    • Dog-friendly Hikes
    • Hikes for Kids
    • National Parks in Florida
    • Florida State Parks
  • Bike
    • Major Bike Trails
    • Paved Bike Trails
    • Off Road Biking
    • Biking Articles
  • Paddle
    • Canoe & Kayak Rentals
    • Paddling Destinations
    • Paddling Articles
  • Camp
    • Cabin Rentals
    • Car Camping
    • Primitive Camping
  • Florida Trail
    • Plan your Hike
    • Best Scenic Hikes
    • Best Backpacking
    • Section Hiking
    • Thru-Hiking
    • Trail Updates
  • Travel
Ellen Peterson and the Scrub-Jay

Hiking to Happahatchee

A conservationist and a Floridian who truly made a difference for Florida, Ellen Peterson, founded Florida’s Sierra Club chapter in the 1970s and fought to keep Fisheating Creek open to paddlers. She leaves behind a sterling legacy for our state.

December 5, 2011    Sandra Friend

167 shares
Happahatchee sign
Conservationist Ellen Peterson left behind a legacy of a nonprofit center in Estero

Under the dense canopy of live oaks and tropical vegetation, we walked a well-worn path. Hapahatchee, the “Happy Place by the River,” had more than its usual share of visitors on Saturday, people from creative and environmental walks of life throughout Florida gathering in celebration and memorial of a life well lived, a Floridian who truly made a difference for Florida, Ellen Peterson.

I first met Ellen during the annual Muck About at Clyde Butcher’s Big Cypress Gallery, where she was always an honored guest. I’d slip out of the swamp leading another string of gleeful and wet newbie hikers, and Ellen would be sitting in a chair by the fire ring, serene, surveying all. She was soft-spoken, but firm. Few people in Florida have tangled it up against the powers-that-be like Ellen did.

Chickee at Happahatchee
Ellen’s service was held in the big chickee at Happahatchee

Founder of Florida’s Sierra Club chapter in the 1970s, Ellen had a rich and colorful background, something she shared one evening at length with a bunch of us gals camping together for a kayak-and-hiking trip. It was my fault – I wanted to interview her for a project I was working on. The interview never aired, but the stories are priceless. An adventurer at a time when it still wasn’t “proper for a woman to do that,” she’d wander around Florida swamps after she was done with her day teaching school. One story she told us was about running into Tom Gaskins cutting cypress knees at Kissingen Springs, a spring near the Peace River that once flowed 20 million gallons of water a day.  By the 1950s, this spring was no longer flowing. Ellen took note.  She didn’t take kindly to the destruction of her Florida, our Florida.

Ellen Peterson
Niki Butcher, me, and Ellen along the St. Johns River in December 2009

Ellen is perhaps best known for her successful battle to keep Fisheating Creek open and clear for public use, a long and drawn out process over decades for which we reap the benefits today – even though the battle of natural flow into Lake Okeechobee still isn’t over, more kayakers are enjoying South Florida’s most pristine waterway than ever.

Ellen Peterson and the Scrub-Jay
Ellen Peterson and the Scrub-Jay, Lyonia Preserve

Niki and I joined several hundred other guests at Happahatchee, Ellen’s Happy Place, to celebrate her life. Original folk music, memorials from friends, the release of white doves into the blue Florida sky, the people of her many circles – from students to journalists, conservationists to New Age leaders – gathered in honor.  An uplifting, beautiful tribute. But the best surprise was yet to come.

Brenda led us into the Happahatchee Center. “You have to see the memorial wall! They used your picture!”  Niki and I looked at each other. We’re not sure which one of us took it. It was my last day spent with Ellen, although I didn’t know that would be the case at the time, and I’d guided our little group on a hike at Lyonia Preserve. The photo was of Ellen beaming at having a scrub-jay perched on her head.

Happahatchee  memorial
Ellen’s memorial wall at Happahatchee

We miss you, friend.  Florida is greater for your life’s work.

Learn about the Happahatchee Center in Estero, Ellen’s final legacy.

Category: Articles, Memorials, Southwest FloridaTag: Estero, Fisheating Creek

Reader Interactions

Have an update? Contact us.

Primary Sidebar

Our Newest Books

The Florida Trail Guide

The Florida Trail GuideOur definitive guidebook to planning backpacking trips on the Florida National Scenic Trail, now in its fourth edition. Full data charts and maps. B&W, 356 pages. $19.95 + tax & shipping.

Order Now


Florida Trail Hikes

Florida Trail Hikes 2nd edition coverFifty of the best day hikes, overnights, and weekend trips on the Florida Trail. Full hike descriptions and maps, full color. 376 pages. $24.95 + tax & shipping.

Order Now


Discovering the Florida Trail

Florida Trail mini coffee table book cover of trail into palm hammock
A visual journey the length of the Florida Trail, covering more than 1,500 miles from the Everglades to Pensacola Beach. Hardcover, 196 pages. $24.95 + tax & shipping.
Order Now

Florida Trail Apps

Farout GuidesFarout Guides Comprehensive logistics and offline maps for the
Florida National Scenic Trail (1,500 miles), the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail (108 miles), and the ECT Florida Connector (92 miles).

Recent Articles

Mangrove tunnel with paddlers

Exploring the Pioneer Paddling Trail

Amid mangrove swamps along an old pioneer route in Kings Park, the Pioneer Paddling Trail offers an intimate look at a forgotten wild corridor on Merritt Island.

Broad path in pine flatwoods

Florida Trail Orlando Future Corridor

In a long-term effort to nudge the Orlando corridor of the Florida Trail closer to suburbia, discontinuous federally-designated fragments of trail east of the airport offer enjoyable day hikes.

Footer

FIND A TRAIL OR PARK

NORTHWEST FLORIDA
Apalachicola. Apalachicola National Forest. Blackwater River State Forest. Blountstown. Bonifay. Bristol. Cape San Blas. Carrabelle. Chattahoochee. Chipley. Crawfordville. Crestview. DeFuniak Springs. Destin. Ebro. Eglin Air Force Base. Fort Walton Beach. Freeport. Gulf Islands National Seashore. Madison. Marianna. Milton. Monticello. Mossy Head. Navarre Beach . Niceville. Panama City Beach. Pensacola. Ponce De Leon. Port St. Joe. Quincy. Sopchoppy. South Walton. St. Marks. St. Marks NWR. Tallahassee. Vernon. Wakulla. Wewahitchka

NORTH FLORIDA
Alachua. Amelia Island. Baldwin. Branford. Bunnell. Cedar Key. Chiefland. Crescent City. Dowling Park. Ellaville. Fernandina Beach. Flagler Beach. Gainesville. Green Cove Springs. High Springs. Jacksonville. Keystone Heights. Lake Butler.Lake City. Live Oak. Mayo. Macclenny. Micanopy. Olustee. Orange Park. Osceola National Forest. Palatka. Palatka-Lake Butler Trail. Palm Coast. Perry. Salt Springs. St. Augustine. Starke. Steinhatchee. Suwannee River Wilderness Trail. Suwannee Springs. Talbot Islands. Timucuan Preserve. Trenton. Welaka. White Springs. Williston

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo

MULTI-REGION
Big Cypress Swamp. East Coast Greenway. Everglades National Park. Florida National Scenic Trail

CENTRAL FLORIDA
Apopka. Belleview. Brandon. Brooksville. Bushnell. Canaveral National Seashore. Christmas. Chuluota. Clearwater Beach. Clermont. Coast to Coast Trail. Cocoa Beach. Cross Florida Greenway. Crystal River. Dade City. Daytona Beach. De Leon Springs. DeBary. Deland. Deltona. Dunedin. Dunnellon. Frostproof. Geneva. Inverness. Kenansville. Kissimmee. Lake Mary. Lake Wales. Lakeland. Largo. Leesburg. Longwood. Melbourne. Melbourne Beach. Merritt Island. Merritt Island NWR. Mims. Mount Dora. New Port Richey. New Smyrna Beach. Ocala. Ocala National Forest. Ocklawaha. Orlando. Ormond Beach. Osteen. Oviedo. Palm Bay. Ridge Manor. Sanford. Silver Springs. Spring Hill. St. Cloud. St. Petersburg. Tampa. Tarpon Springs. Titusville . Walt Disney World. Weeki Wachee. Winter Springs. Withlacoochee State Forest. Withlacoochee State Trail. Yeehaw Junction

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
Bradenton . Charlotte Harbor. Ding Darling NWR. Englewood. Estero. Fort Myers. Immokalee. Naples. Pine Island. Port Charlotte. Punta Gorda. Sanibel Island. Sarasota. Venice

SOUTH FLORIDA
Arcadia. Basinger. Big Cypress National Preserve. Big Cypress Seminole Reservation. Clewiston. Everglades City. Fisheating Creek. Lake Okeechobee. Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail. Lake Placid. LaBelle. Lakeport. Moore Haven. Okeechobee. Pahokee. Port Mayaca. Sebring. South Bay

SOUTHEAST FLORIDA
Big Pine Key. Biscayne Bay. Biscayne National Park. Boca Raton. Boynton Beach. Coral Gables. Davie. Delray Beach. Northeast Everglades Natural Area. Florida Keys. Fort Lauderdale. Fort Pierce. Hobe Sound. Hollywood. Homestead. Islamorada. Jensen Beach. Jupiter. Juno Beach. Key Biscayne. Key Largo. Key West. Marathon. Miami. Ocean to Lake Greenway. Overseas Heritage Trail. Palm Beach. Port St. Lucie. Redland. Sebastian. Stuart. Vero Beach. West Palm Beach

  • Trails
  • Parks
  • Beaches
  • Gardens
  • Springs
  • Ecotours
  • Attractions
©2006-2022, Sandra Friend & John Keatley | Disclosure | Site Index | Work with Us | Advertise with Us
Terms of Service and Privacy Policy | Florida Hikes PO Box 93 Mims FL 32754| Contact