Wilderness Waterway Questions

[Daniel Madrigal]

Hey everyone. I am planning on doing the wilderness waterway in March and I had a few questions for those who have done it. First of all, does anyone know of a good website for tides at flamingo? Salwatertides.com is not very accurate due to no close location. Next question is, does going flamingo to everglades city or vice versa matter? I was planning on going flamingo to everglades city. Last question is should I take deviations from the marked waterway? Perhaps to see some nicer areas or more wildlife or something. Thanks for all your help guys! 

[vivian]

OK, one more to share since you all brought up the Cuban espresso thing. I have been using that thermos filled with water and I package the following:

vanilla flavored Carnation Instant Breakfast
powdered non fat milk
Bustelo instant coffee

I package these in sealed packets per day serving. Just pour that hot water in your thermal cup and add the dry ingrediants. It's got all the calories and vitamins to get you going and tastes like a cafe con leche.

Agree with Esther on the mess after a few days of cleaning out Sedano sock drip. That is how my grandfather made coffee every morning for the family :-) Best espresso ever!

BTW the House of India stuff is awesome.

[yakmaster]

OK, so I have a problem with letting go...and with storage:

Bavaria Boote Rallye Single 14' glass with (new) rudder for tight tunnel work
Bavaria Boote Missouri 16' glass open cockpit tandem for guests (heavy as a house) Both BB's were made in West Germany...when there was a West Germany.
Seda Vagabond 14' kevlar for guests in tunnels
Nordkapp 17' outfitter layup (kevlar/glass) with integral skeg former everyday boat
Ches Light Craft 14' with rudder for wife or daughter
CD Storm tupperware 17' with rudder for all around (lives in my buddy's backyard on the water)

Mad River Monarch 17' kevlar single for expedition & for every day. I call it a Kanoe it looks like a sit inside kayak but it has a 10' long cockpit and you paddle single bladed. It gets you there & back & you can load & unload the kitchen sink! Kruger paddled a similar vessel 28,000 in the UCC. Comfortable as a lazy boy after paddling all day!

The Monarch replaced my Seda Glider which I used to use for expeditions. My wife made me sell it before she'd let another boat in the house

In the Keys, nothing over 14' fits in the garage:
CD Whistler (14' version of the storm above)
WS Pamlico
Hobie Mirage

But with that said... none of the above have run the full length of the WW with me @ the paddle. The monarch has done it over 20 times carrying its former owner.

The last time I paddled the WW, I borrowed a tandem sit inside WS Northstar. Excellent boat for the trip. My previous throughtrip was in an aluminum Grumman, lot to be said for the carrying capacity!

I only do the whole trip once every 20 years. It takes that long to forget enough to want to remember.

[Daniel Madrigal]

Ok so I have modified the trip again with everyone's advice. #1 due to our kayaks the most we will paddle in a day is 14 miles and thats the first day. #2 we will be checking out gopher creek and cannon bay. #3 we will stay at plate creek instead of lostman's ground site. #4 we will exit via Turner river instead of chokoluskee. Looks great, keep making suggestions for us! Thanks !

[Walt]

You should have a flexible itenerary. What are you going to do when you walk into the Ranger Station to pull your permit, and they tell you one or more of your requested campsites are full the nights you want them? Don't fixate on anything, there's plenty to do down there, and you can't see it all. You should have a PLAN-B, and a PLAN-C. Weather permitting, you'll have a great time A,B, or C.

[vivian]

Walt is right, have other plans available.The only thing that I would be mindful of is the tides in your planning so the alternative plans should be made in advance with tide info. That stretch from Sunday Bay to 41 would be exhausting if you don't have the wind/tides in your favor. You can always ditch and head into Chokoloskee Island should that be the case.

The only other advice is to do a practice run on an overnight trip. Load your boat up as if going on the through trip. Go out of E City ranger station and head out to Mormon Key or Panther Key. There are plenty of other island sites within this run where you could pull over and adjust gear or just camp if you find you can't make it.

[Terry]

Daniel -
Way back there some where on all these posts, you said this was to be a documentary.
Documentary production that I have witnessed would involve powerboats for equipment, at
least one houseboat for staff and actors and instead of posting to this website you would be
contacting the park service to find out about special use permits for helicopter operation for
all the winter months. A documentary is the interpretation of the Wilderness Waterway not
home movies of 'My Trip in the Everglades', it requires digging into historically data, a seasons
worth of on site filming, interviews, previous early trips and the outlook for the future.
The park needs a good 30 minute documentary of the Wilderness Waterway, a global
destination and one of ten must do adventure trips in the world, so this may be the way a quality
production gets started. The time could not be better with the 50th anniversary coming up in
2018 or there about.
The Wilderness Waterway was created as an inland route between Flamingo and Everglades City.
It was specifically to be inland so attention focused around the Nightmare. From the
Superintendent's Narrative and a chronicle written by Stokes, the first documented attempt was
made in 1966 by rangers Stokes and Allin. They called this a failure only because it wasn't already
there but they did establish the location of the inland waterway route. In 1968 work intensified
to open up the connection and by September 1968 Trusdell was putting in markers for
"The Wilderness Boat Trail". In November 1968 The Wilderness Society took an inland trip from
Flamingo to Everglades City and Truesdell's book went into print in 1969. Every WW tripper must
embrace Truesdell's guide, be skeptical of modern imitations. If there is a father of the
Wilderness Waterway it's Truesdell and he's still with us volunteering at a park out west.
The original campsites were Wedge Point, Canepatch, Broad River, Camp Lonesome, Willy Willy,
Onion Key, Watson's Place and Lopez River. Joe River Chickee (not the current one but a single
where the double is today and up against the mangroves), Shark River Chickee (which is the original!),
and Harney River Chickee (not the current one but a single on the side of the little island in Harney
River) were all built soon after the creation of the WW. Their construction may coincide with the
1968-1969 "marking" work. There were other campgrounds (yes, land sites) listed but not
directly on the WW: Hells Bay, Roberts River, North River and Banana Patch, there may be others.
Any documentary would have to take the original route and, especially since we still have them,
stay at original camp sites. The Nightmare not only needs to be included it needs to be the
center piece since they considered this the make or break point of the WW. Although the WW
never did go past the Lostmans Ranger Station it was a significant visiting spot, was the last of
the 4 remote ranger stations to be decommissioned and the building was still there as late as
2002. The magenta line on the nautical charts is in the original location except for the addition
of the alternative route around the Nightmare. Darwin needs to be a chapter, he watched WW
travelers go by in the very early years of the WW. The documentary must start and end
at the original locations, Flamingo and Everglades City and Stoffel's work in the 1980's to
enhance the WW and backcountry experience for visitors needs to be noted.

There you have it, if you want authenticity your route and stops are dictated. Make the
documentary that will be used for the 50th Anniversary.

[Daniel Madrigal]

Wow thanks Terry thats some really useful stuff! I am going to check out that guide by Truesdell.

[Jared E]

Wow, you know fall is in the air when the forum lights up with excitement like this!

Looking forward to hear how your trip goes Daniel.

Right now my priorities are a little different. I have two young boys and I won't take a large amount of vacation time to spend for myself. I am looking to do lots of small over night and mother ship trips. When my boys are older the three of us are gonna do the whole thing together for the first time. So as of right now I'm going to live vicariously through you all.

Hope to see you all out there during the upcoming season.

-Jared E.

[Daniel Madrigal]

I plan on doing a couple of overnighters to hell's bay, lulu or tiger key, maybe fakahatchee again, and a 2 nighter to east cape before I do the WW in March. Ill let everyone know when I am heading out!

[Daniel Madrigal]

The time is approaching! It seems like yesterday I posted this topic and got all this wonderful and great advice from everyone. It is just 32 days away! The final route is going to be Flamingo, Joe River, Graveyard Creek, Highland Beach, Rodgers River, Plate Creek, Darwin's Place with a trip down Gopher Creek, Sunday Bay, and then up Turner or Halfway to end the trip. Im doing an East Cape overnighter Feb. 26th with a fully loaded yak for a test run. I have also upgraded from a Hobie Revolution to a Current Designs Solstice GT. I know Keith will also be on the waterway that week and I look forward to sharing a chickee with him at least one night. If anyone else is going to be out there or would like to do an East Cape trip at the end of Feb let me know! Again, thank you everyone for your help. Can't wait to share my pictures with everyone and experience 8 days in the real Florida.

[yakmaster]

Never post camp preferences until you have them in hand!

 

Nothing's worse than getting to the VC a little late and having someone scoop you on the site(s) you wnated.

Always keep options open and have 1 or 2 alternatives for each stop, except for the big beach sites.

You always have the stories of the guys talking too much in line about which sites are best and then having the folks in front of the line say..."yeah that sounds good...we'll take it".

[vivian]

Excellent advice Yakmaster! Daniel your trip is going to be wonderful, as he said have some options just in case.