USGS Realtime Water Levels

[Amazon Bill]

Need to know the depth of the water in the back country? If you are looking for real time online water levels at the hundreds of governement water level/quality stations try this map site below. Then choose the station to get daily and historical surface water flow information. Lat/Long locations of each location, water elevations, tide changes, salinity, temp, velocity...Keep on Paddlin' instead of Walkin' in the mud.

Map to find sites near your chosen routes.

http://wdr.water.usgs.gov/nwisgmap/?state=fl

Main site

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/fl/nwis/current/?type=flow&group_key=...

 

[Terry]

The water stations show all the data you could possibly want, however,

follow this to get the best use from them:

Pick a couple of stations near the trails and routes you use, then record the

levels at the stations and the conditions on the trail each time you go paddling.

Once you build your own tables you'll find some stations are dead on, that is,

you can predict to the tenth of a foot exactly what the conditions will be like.

Others, particularly ones that have tidal influence, will only give you a seasonally

general idea of the conditions.  None-the-less these online stations take a lot of guessing

out of canoeing conditions.

[yakmaster]

By doing the logging you can also tell at which levels the trail is passable & which levels are a drag (pun intended). Numbers are just numbers, relating those numbers to the water under paddle/foot is the valuable information.

 

The tidal affected graphs tend to be much flatter across the seasons. The fresh water ones are where you see the real significant seasonal swings that allow for hiking on paddling trails at the end of the dry and paddling on hiking trails at the end of the wet!. My favorite way to see the Glades!

[Amazon Bill]

Thanks for the tips. Especially the logging of the real condition as compared to the station recorded numbers. I was thinking I need to pick up a waterproof log book. Maybe a field book like land surveyors use (hard back with sewn in pages). I am starting to understand the recording of water and wind conditions, paddle durations and navigation routes takes some preplanning to be able to record the data on the fly during the adventure. I picked up a 14"x16" waterproof map holder.

 

What type of log books or note recording paper systems do you guys use?

What type of pre-set up tables for logging your routes do you use?

[Terry]

The cheapest paper pad I can find, usually the un-used portion of a left-over spiral from

school kids.

I use a cleaned out plastic 5-gallon paint bucket that rides between my legs in the

canoe for a quick-grab storage container of maps, notepads, pencils, compass,

GPS, etc.  The top of the bucket becomes the chart table.  Keith put a piece of

plywood on the top of his bucket so it holds his weight as a seat at the campsites,

this also allows it to be used as a step stool.

The bucket is also where I store printed out pages from Goggle Earth with routes and waypoints

recorded.  When I have to get out of the canoe to throw it over the tops of

mangroves and other small trees (the part yakmaster loves)

I just snap the lid on tight and let it roll around in the canoe.

The only modification which I have not done yet is epoxy or bolt a small hook on

the inside for keys.   After a day of the bucket rolling around the keys always settle

to the bottom so I have to go fishing for them when I get back to my vehicle.

 

[Amazon Bill]

I just happen to have an empty 5 gal pool chlorine tab bucket with a screw down lid! I was too good to just throw out last weekend, now it has a new purpose and its free!   My son's been saving his half used English composition books which can become the new log books. EEN just saved me another $20! Thanks for the reality check Terry, some times the hype for buying new gear takes over when something around the house will work just fine. Back in the 70's we camped at Little Marco with not much more than a misquito net, boat, water food, knife, flashlight and fishpole.

[Thomas Van Lent]

Another good site for data is at the USGS EDEN (Everglades Depth Estimation Network), though it's mostly focused on depths in the freshwater Everglades.  The data site is at http://sofia.usgs.gov/eden/stationlist.php

 

I've actually spent quite a bit of time analyzing the water level data in the freshwater and estuarine areas of the Park.  The wind effects are nearly as important as the tides, especially in Florida Bay.   So, if you are doing your own correlations, be sure to note the wind speed/direction.    

[Amazon Bill]

In another year the  USACE Tamiami Trail Bridge Project opens and we can start watching the water level rise on gauges G3576 and NE2  when the embankment is removed from the Tamiami Trail's roadbed. I'd like to follow the water down from the Trail through Shark River Slough to the WWW. That interactive EDEN map makes it a breeze to find the sites!

[Terry]

Soon is the time, October is the month for slough trips.

Wait until after the first cool front and monitor the water stations.

Shark Slough is so big that it usually has enough water every year

although we could still use more this year before the cooler temps.

Start at L-67 and Tamiami Trail, you can park at the Francis Taylor parking lot

and walk across the highway.   Paddle down the canal a short distance and

break out to the west at 44.688' N and 40.415' W, head southwest staying in

the short sparse grass.   The airboat trail comes up to the west side of an

unnamed hammock at 40.05' N and 42.33' W.  When you break out of the canal you

will be tempted to head to Vulture Hammock but resist and make your way

to the top of the airboat trail.  Once you find the airboat trail you'll drop

south to an intersection where you will go west northwest to the big

intersection just north of Gumbo Limbo Hammock.   Main Street runs right

down the middle of the slough to Bottle Creek, the headwaters of Rookery Branch.

Main Street is obvious, it's used so much you won't even push it's all paddling.

Once you're in Bottle Creek just follow Rookery Branch down to Canepatch.

All of this route is very clear on GoggleEarth.

It's 34 miles and can be done in one day with an early morning start and dusk/dark

paddling in Rookery Branch coming into Canepatch about an hour after sunset.

One less worry is you don't need to get a backcountry permit since traditionally

issuing permits start on the Friday before Thankgiving Weekend, this year should

be 18 November.   The biggest challenge to this trip is the distance, you have to

make it to Canepatch otherwise you have to spend the night in your boat.  Camping

is only permitted in designated camp sites or with a Special Use Permit (not to be

confused with a Backcountry Permit).   Look around on this website there are a

number of posts about the Shark River Slough Canoe Trail.

A good bench mark prerequisite would be a completed WW trip, with that

experience, reading the other posts, studying the aerials, and good planning you'll

be ready to go.  Make sure you have good reliable base support for car shuttling and

a float plan.

 

[Keith W]

What he said, with a small drop of common sense added to Terry's advice: While you could do it in one day, don't assume that you will. Plan on sleeping in your boat, even if you don't. Bring extra food and water, and you'll want something to keep the bugs off you just in case you do get stuck out there. I built a skeeter bar for my skiff expressly for that purpose, but I was planning on spending more than one night in the Slough on my trip. It wouldn't hurt to bring a PETT with you either. I did.

Better yet, maybe it's about time somebody applied for a special use permit to camp on one of the derelict research platforms. They're certainly not serving any other useful purpose except to keep a small amount of bird poop out of the water. It would be worth the $100 to me just to say I did. I'd put that one in months in advance, and be ready to argue the case with the NPS bureaucrats, but I bet it could be done.

[Terry]

Of course you can start Shark Slough anywhere but the L-67

entrance makes a bunch of sense.   The yellow route is the best from L-67, the

red route would be better but even though it looks good from the aerials it has

not been explored.  The yellow route uses a wide open break in the vegetation

along the west side of the canal.  Yakmaster mentioned starting at Grossman

Hammock (what is incorrectly called Chekika Hammock).  This is interesting, it

stays on airboat trails but it's longer making an already very long day longer.

It has been introduced to the park to allow the concessionaire to take slough paddlers

down to the parking lot/airboat ramp near Shark Tower.  This would be an excellent

starting point and would provide a mechanism for the park to monitor slough trips.

Showing the concessionaire a standard backcountry permit and paying his fee

would start the slough traveler not only right on Main Street but would provide the park

with a float plan and access for the event of an evacuation.  Slough paddlers would

jump at this starting point since it not only shaves off some miles but the miles it cuts are the

most timely ones.  Having to find your way from L-67 across grass to the start of the

airboat trial is many times slower than paddling flat out on Main Street.  That extra hour or

two is real nice to have when it's lights out down in Rookery Branch.

If more paddlers start traveling the slough and express interest in starting at Shark Tower

it could become reality.

[Esther Luft]

So is a launch from Mitchell Landing a doable approach?  I realize the first section is pretty mucky but what's a bit of mud?  There is an old house on Cocoanut Hammock.  What do you all know of it?

 

 

[yakmaster]

It's not mucky. There's a thin layer of mud in the pond, but with a firm bottom under it. Once you get past the pond, it's pretty solid footing till you get to the "deep" water. Deep being a VERY relative term!