I have installed map pins to show my actual route but have put all pictures and verbiage in this blog... Enjoy, I did :)).
Picked up my back-country permit on Saturday April 2nd; booked all my planned locations except for the Joe River Chickee which is under construction (picked South Joe River as an alternate which will make a long second last day)
. I have built a distance chart below that gives you a good idea of trip legs, and how leisurely a paddle it will be most of the time assuming favourable winds and tides. As you will see in the pictures, we (Cindy, Zach and I) visited the orchids again; thanks to Zach's keen eyes we found a new spectacular endangered Cow-Horn Orchid.
Up early on Sunday April 3rd,I launched from Coot Bay Pond on a high tide with little wind (rah,
since it helps paddling in Tarpon Creek). Crossed Coot Bay and paddled down Tarpon Creek before the wind pounced on me in Whitewater Bay which is huge and usually lives up to its name. I plodded across the wind the rest of the way until reaching the Lane River which winds eastward about three kilometres to Lane Bay. Mangrove protection from the wind meant I arrived at the Chickee around 13:30. I just got the tent erected and tied down before the wind increased from 10+mph to 20+mph and didn't settle down until sunset. The stars were spectacular that night with no moon or Miami lights. It is so relaxing just pondering the mangrove scenery, the lack of man-made noises, watching Ospreys fish and reading good books. When trekking, I always awaken before dawn and begin paddling at sunup; this has the advantage of usually beating the stronger winds created by the hot days (subsequently creating large white-capped waves). However, on this Monday April 4th, the waves met me on Whitewater Bay; the wind both helped and hindered my paddle to the Watson River Chickee and was blowing around 20+mph when I set up camp around 14:00
. On the way, I dissected Midway Keys. The nice part about Chickee living is that during good weather, no tent fly is required since the roof absorbs the heavy morning dew.
On Tuesday April 5th, I played hide from the wind by trying to stay in the lee of the keys. Because of the higher winds (started at 20+mph by 08:00), I didn't want to try meandering though the mangrove creeks to find the Shark River; supposedly there is a “more” direct route if you don't get lost – but it is easy to go in circles for hours since every way looks the same and can easily produce dead-ends. So I stuck to the marked Wilderness Waterway going through Cormorant Pass and the Shark Cutoff to eventually setup camp at the Shark River Chickee at 13:30; an hour before a huge lightening storm blew rain horizontally (I had time to install the fly) across my small abode. After the storm the wind vanished and I had a quick early dinner before a new hatch of a million No-See-Ems arrived ahead of the sunset mosquitoes which vanish quickly after dark
. The stars were nice between the nighttime clouds.
On Wednesday April 6th, I had a short leisurely paddle along various tributaries of the Shark River to Graveyard Creek where I encamped. I got to see a five+ foot shark (Sand variety I think) chase its prey up to a beach and devour them in a huge surge of water right at the beach edge. After a quick lunch, I paddled up Graveyard Creek at low tide amongst the feeding Tarpon (3-5 feet) and Snook (2-3 feet). I eventually ran out of steam due to previous hurricane debris blocking the creek about 3.5 km up. That night after being driven into my tent by a billion No-See-Ems that seemed to like my mosquito repellant, I exterminated a thousand inside the tent while reading and viewing a glowing red fire somewhere south of Ponce de Leon Bay. The next day I paddled up the coast to Harney River which gave a respite from the wind and was a comfortable day. The wind kept the No-See-Ems at bay until after dinner when they invaded in force; after two evenings of these critters, my arms and face looked like I had Chicken Pox. Some low percentage managed to infiltrate both the tent and bug jacket mesh :(.
Broke camp early at dawn on Friday April 8th for my longest day of paddling, about twenty-five kilometres. I headed directly across Ponce de Leon Bay where most Everglades rivers drain. The wind was low creating just a little chop but the tide was against me all the way up to Oyster Bay
. The wind started to pick up crossing Oyster Bay on my journey up the Joe River. I had a quick lunch at the Joe River Chickee (under construction but nobody working – government lockout?). Up to this part of the trip I have seen numerous large fish (Sharks, Tarpon and Snook), many turtles (different species that I can't identify), two porpoise, one Manatee but no Crocodiles. With the speed of the fishing boats, the poor Manatees don't stand a chance in any collisions; perhaps the park should impose speed limits on channels and rivers where they normally feed. The paddle up the Joe River was against a strong 20+mph wind but the mangrove edges prevented the creation of large waves. When I arrived at the South Joe Chickee, the wind was so strong that I could not erect the tent – so I just read “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” (Belated thanks Aaron, let me know when you would like to trek Cairo to Casablanca – after the wars hopefully) with a lovely scotch while resting my sore arms and watching the fire west of the Chickee (on my return, I found that this was a prescribed ten thousand acre burn to help remove exotic Brazilian Pepper from the Coastal Prairies); the other fires I saw were smaller lightning generated ones
. After sunset, only two mosquitoes arrived :)). That night, there were many great bio-luminescent glows in the water – these were likely squid.
Up again at dawn on Saturday April 9th, I had an easy paddle east into the sun for the remainder of the Joe River (this was my first time on this river), then back through Tarpon Creek (tide helped) and across Coot Bay arriving at my starting point, Coot Bay Pond, around 10:30. After loading my gear, I headed for the Glade Hut to have a delicious coming home feast with Cindy (Prime Rib, Yorkshire Pudding, mushrooms, potatoes, asparagus and gravy – yummy and this is becoming a tradition I enjoy after living on trekking rations).
Erik Too handled his first hundred+ kilometre trek admirably in varying conditions and is extremely stable in the wind and waves (but a little slower than my original speedy Erik) with lots of cargo capacity – definitely a keeper, the larger cockpit opening makes entry and exit a breeze.
Our time in the Everglades is soon coming to an end. I will revisit the orchids before leaving but will be running around preparing for my return to Canada for two to three weeks (visiting family and friends, taxes, voting, doctor, dentist and a bit of bridge) before leaving to explore Washington, British Columbia, The Yukon and Alaska.
Tidbits:
07 Everglades Kayaking
Saturday, April 09, 2011
Coot Bay Pond, Florida, United States
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2025-02-11