Got smacked :-(

[Jeremy Clark]

Good evening,

As you all know the weather in the Everglades can shift quickly. Our plan went pretty well, only an hour late after driving 14 hours, buying 2 kayaks along the way at 0300. The permit was pulled at Everglades city, and everyone loaded up for the drive to Flamingo. Stopped by Wal-mart in Florida city for water and last minute stuff. We were paddling up the buttonwood canal by 3:45 pm.

Things looked good until we got into Whitewater bay just before sunset. The wind was still up, but we all made it across to the little islands, regrouped and found our headlamps. We weren't planning on a night paddle. One of us was assigned to keep us on a 270 heading. The winds died down, the dolphins were fishing, and we did pretty well until we fell into the sucker hole on the North side of the Joe river about 1/2 mile from where we were supposed to turn North. It took another 15-20 minutes to find the real Joe river again and we were on our way.

The rest of the night was pretty easy getting into the South Joe river chickee at about 9:25pm. Too tired to cook dinner, we grabbed some snacks, pitched the tents, and got some sleep.

The next day was a pretty unevent full trip up to the Joe river chickee. However one thing was amiss, The NW winds from the previous day had shifted N, instead of WNW or W. Time to check the weather. The forcast was for two more back to back cold fronts in the next week. Resulting in a forcasted 15-20 mph winds from the North for the next week, with gusts to 25mph. 3-5 foot waves on the Gulf. We all agreed that we could carry on to Everglades City, but more than half of our group didn't want to get up real early to beat the winds.

So, plan B, paddle back to Flamingo, figure out how to get our vehicle from Everglades city, and spend a day in Key West.

You guys know what happens next. The N winds from the previous day were now ENE at 10-15 gusting to 20. 1-2 foot waves on WW bay. We left Joe river at 07:45 and pulled into Flamingo at 7:35pm, completely spent. We only swamped one kayak, check the hatch seals when buying a used boat.

It took us 26 hours to get our vehicle back from Everglades city. 1.5 hours to get our stuff unpacked from our boats and repacked into our van. We spent 2 nights in Flamingo, then headed for Key West.

Some of you might throw the sissy flag, but watching the fishing boats rock and roll in Florida bay confirmed to us that we made the right choice. Great veteran's day parade and some Key Lime Pie and we were headed back home.

In hindsight, we had 2 12-13 foot boats in our group that had trouble tracking straight in the wind. We had 2 new to us boats that didn't have skirts or hatch seals. We managed to completely swamp one of them in 1-2 foot waves, mostly 1's. I don't think we were outfitted properly for any thing close to 3-5 footers. We spent a week away from home, $150 each, didn't sleep indoors, and had a great adventure. The only thing we didn't do was make it to Everglades City.

Let the Flames begin.

JRC

[Jay]

Vivian - I just looked at his North Watson Route and compared it to my trip and what you have plotted. With the exception of the last couple of miles.  He went a bit further west and actually got into the Watson.  I stayed a bit east to have easier access to the Watson Chickee for lunch.  Then off to the Labyrinth and Shark River Chickee for the night.   You guys are going to have a great trip!

So to the on-topic part of the post.  Weather forecasting beyond a couple of days is sketchy....especially in November and December.  Try and plan several trips and make the best call the night before or morning of departure.  At each stage of the trip, re-evaluate the route and change if you need to or hunker down.  You don't want to go swimming unplanned if you don't have to.

[vivian]

Thanks Jay, appreciate you helping me out with that route. I hope there are a fish or two along the way :-). Also think planning these protected routes might be a good idea this season. I predict lots of cold fronts and high winds unfortunately,

[Terry]

Here's the way I do Old Camp Route and North Watson Route but there's so much in there that the possiblities

are endless. Take a bunch of good mapping and I carry redundant GPS's.   I like starting the WW at

Hells Bay Trail and spending the first night at Lane River Ckickee.  The second day is through the Maze,

Old Camp Route and North Watson Route to Watson River Chickee.  The third day is through the Labyrinth,

up Shark River using the south fork to Canepatch.  This uses single chickees and all backcountry to

maximize remoteness and solitude.

[Alan Gibson]

Hey, I want to go with Terry.........looks great. Any time for fishin?

[Jeremy Clark]

You guys have me embarressed to have gotten distracted by the sucker hole on the North side of the Joe river. I don't know if wecould do that whole route but some of the shorter sections look like they would be interesting. Apparently, I need to work on my navigation skills. I have gained some valuable insights from you guys, and you guys get to discuss your upcoming adventures. Keep the ideas coming.

[vivian]

Terry, where does the name "old camp route" originate from? Was there an old hunting or fishing camp this route led to and who did it belong to?

Jeremy, you could spend a lifetime exploring these areas and never see it all.

[Terry]

Yes, the old North River Camp, as in a ground site, one of the original campsites when the WW was

established, is along that route.  It's shown on my map.   Many of the older chickees replaced ground sites.

Lane Bay, Hells Bay, Roberts River, North River were all ground sites.  Posts from the dock are still visible at the

Hells Bay Campsite, modern canoers paddle right past it and don't know it when they go from Hells Bay Chickee

to Lane Bay Chickee.   These were all moved to chickees in the mid-70's.   A later ground site that we lost,

not replaced by a chickee, is Wedge Point.  Wedge Point was a blessing for fools that stayed on the

magenta line through Whitewater Bay.   Beach sites?:  Look at the mouth of Lostman River, South Lostman

was a excellent spot to camp ( an atoll with a beach) all the way up until they de-classified it in the 1990's.

Just north of South Lostman is the old ranger station, have you ever walked around in there?  Prime

real estate for a ground site, if ever there was a good spot for a backcountry campsite this is it.

Mow it with a lawnmower and you've got a large flat grassy high elevation site.   Speaking of midway

on the WW, next time you're going up Rodgers River from the mouth at Highland Beach examine the

west bank of the river on Key McLaughlin.  Unbelievable.   Ain't no wonder developers were anxious in pre-park days to

get in there.   Gee, interesting, the deer are common on Highland Beach, there's so much elevation in there you

need oxygen.

Let's hope the East Everglades camps get turned into backcountry camps someday.

vivian said:

Terry, where does the name "old camp route" originate from? Was there an old hunting or fishing camp this route led to and who did it belong to?

Jeremy, you could spend a lifetime exploring these areas and never see it all.

[Terry]

Okay, you got it, tomorrow, Saturday 23 November, we're 'paddling' at Pahayokee to look for a route to

Main Street.   If this can be established we'll have an exit off Shark Slough when traveling down from

Tamiami Trail and a backdoor entrance to Rookery Branch, which means one day trips to Canepatch.

How cool is that?   Leave the fishing gear home but bring all your navigational gear, eat your Wheaties,

wear heavy pants, strong shoes, small light boats are best and be at Pahayokee at 07:00.

Alan Gibson said:

Hey, I want to go with Terry.........looks great. Any time for fishin?

[vivian]

Excellent, I knew you would be able to give us the historical on these routes.  Thanks!  I am old enough to have camped on the mouth of the Lostmans what a beautiful place.  The ranger station has always been a rest stop and yes, seen deer.  After the recent hurricane we went back in 2010 and there and other than a few pots and pans, broken cot it is nothing like it was.  I wrote a blog post about that trip, the pictures show the before and after aerial and also some pictures of the site.

 

http://beachcamper.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00:00...

 
Terry said:

Yes, the old North River Camp, as in a ground site, one of the original campsites when the WW was

established, is along that route.  It's shown on my map.   Many of the older chickees replaced ground sites.

Lane Bay, Hells Bay, Roberts River, North River were all ground sites.  Posts from the dock are still visible at the

Hells Bay Campsite, modern canoers paddle right past it and don't know it when they go from Hells Bay Chickee

to Lane Bay Chickee.   These were all moved to chickees in the mid-70's.   A later ground site that we lost,

not replaced by a chickee, is Wedge Point.  Wedge Point was a blessing for fools that stayed on the

magenta line through Whitewater Bay.   Beach sites?:  Look at the mouth of Lostman River, South Lostman

was a excellent spot to camp ( an atoll with a beach) all the way up until they de-classified it in the 1990's.

Just north of South Lostman is the old ranger station, have you ever walked around in there?  Prime

real estate for a ground site, if ever there was a good spot for a backcountry campsite this is it.

Mow it with a lawnmower and you've got a large flat grassy high elevation site.   Speaking of midway

on the WW, next time you're going up Rodgers River from the mouth at Highland Beach examine the

west bank of the river on Key McLaughlin.  Unbelievable.   Ain't no wonder developers were anxious in pre-park days to

get in there.   Gee, interesting, the deer are common on Highland Beach, there's so much elevation in there you

need oxygen.

Let's hope the East Everglades camps get turned into backcountry camps someday.

vivian said:

Terry, where does the name "old camp route" originate from? Was there an old hunting or fishing camp this route led to and who did it belong to?

Jeremy, you could spend a lifetime exploring these areas and never see it all.

[Alan Gibson]

Terry said:

Okay, you got it, tomorrow, Saturday 23 November, we're 'paddling' at Pahayokee to look for a route to

Main Street.   If this can be established we'll have an exit off Shark Slough when traveling down from

Tamiami Trail and a backdoor entrance to Rookery Branch, which means one day trips to Canepatch.

How cool is that?   Leave the fishing gear home but bring all your navigational gear, eat your Wheaties,

wear heavy pants, strong shoes, small light boats are best and be at Pahayokee at 07:00.

Alan Gibson said:

Hey, I want to go with Terry.........looks great. Any time for fishin?

Sounds great.....but i best be careful what i ask for right? LOL.........
I'm game for tough sledding but my little solo is in Michigan and the barge (expedition) is not something I would want for tight tricky spaces. Let me get my feet wet with a few trips and then I will pester, grovel and beg to tag along on some of those "backcountrys behind" trips. How cool would that be?

[Jay]

Jay is - envious -  as he sits in a hotel room in Los Angeles.  Would love to hear of the progress - Pahayokee to Rookery Branch.

Terry said:

Okay, you got it, tomorrow, Saturday 23 November, we're 'paddling' at Pahayokee to look for a route to

Main Street.   If this can be established we'll have an exit off Shark Slough when traveling down from

Tamiami Trail and a backdoor entrance to Rookery Branch, which means one day trips to Canepatch.

How cool is that?   Leave the fishing gear home but bring all your navigational gear, eat your Wheaties,

wear heavy pants, strong shoes, small light boats are best and be at Pahayokee at 07:00.

Alan Gibson said:

Hey, I want to go with Terry.........looks great. Any time for fishin?

[SteveS]

You most definitely made the right choice. I had to pull the rip cord on a solo through paddle a few years ago. Got into some bad weather, over exerted myself, drank up a lot of my water trying to stay hydrated. Got a little hypothermic and dehydrated and started peeing blood. Decided to head back north instead of going south. Hitched a ride in with Jason from Capt Wright's outfit. Just as I got off the water, a severe storm came through which most definitely would have caused disaster especially considering due to permit issues, I was about to head to the outside.

Live and learn. You can always make it back to try another day.