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! 

[Daniel Madrigal]

Kayaks

[vivian]

If you are in performance touring kayaks you can make good time and then should consider Watson River chickee on night one working your way towards Canepatch, Harney, Nightmare, Highland. If they are plastic SOT kayaks it will be harder especially with 8 days worth of water/food/gear as the boat sits lower in the water and it is harder to move. You might then want to make the first days lower mileage days until the food/water weight is reduced. Packing light would be a good thing if you are in SOT kayaks.

[Connie Mier]

Vivian is right, the route she is suggesting would be an excellent way to do a through trip. Also, concerning Charley Creek, at that time of year, it is typically impassable and/or you have to time it just right with the best tide situation. Your best bet is to get into gopher creek from the backcountry (Cannon Bay).

What exactly do you intend to videotape? How do you envision this project? I only ask out of interest as a photographer who tries to capture the best of the Everglades with still photos. Not sure how I would go about doing the same with video. I'd be interested to know how you are approaching your project, if you are willing to share of course.

[Terry]

Let me spell this out for you guys: The best Wilderness Waterway Trip.
(Dan - Aren't you glad you opened this can of worms, we'll bicker over this forever.)

Day 1: Enter at Hells Bay Trail launch, spend the night at WATSON RIVER CHICKEE
Day 2: Labyrinth, south fork of Shark River to CANEPATCH
Day 3: North Creeks, North Harney, Nightmare to BROAD RIVER CAMPSITE
Day 4: Cutoff, Cabbage Creek or Broad River to WILLY WILLY
Day 5: Zig when the WW zags to stay off the WW to PLATE CREEK BAY CHICKEE
Day 6: Charley Creek to PAVILION KEY
Day 7: TIGER or PICNIC KEY
Day 8: Wiggle the 10,000 islands to Blackwater River, exit at Collier Seminole State Park

If you prefer more inside make Day 6 SWEETWATER BAY CHICKEE. If you want to
cut the trip short go up Turner River to exit at Tamiami Trail or BCNP Seagrape VC.
The northern part (north of Lostmans River) is best for going outside since there's more
small keys and islands to wiggle through and get protection, also this sets you up for
maximum avoidance of the giant cyst at the end of state road 29. If you want to
add a day, break up this northern part by stopping at another beach between Chatham
River and Tiger Key or, if on the inside, stop at another one of those chickees like
Sunday Bay.

All this depends of careful planning of tides, the tides must be with you, but it can be done,
I've done this trip solo in an open metal canoe.

[Kim Gass]

I have a Garmin GPS and it has tide tables for many inland areas too. I found it quite helpful. What was not helpful was the winds last year in March. Forty mph every day(we had an anemometer). We got around that by paddling by night..starting at five in the morning. Sometimes we got to camp before the prior occupants were even up.

Those big bays can wreak havoc even in a sea kayak. Chevelier hates me and Oyster isnt much better. I like the route through House Hammock Bay better from Watsons to Lopez. Not many motorboats as its pretty shallow.

I prefer Plate Creek over Lostmans Five..though the former is a chickee the latter can be a swamp if it rains, though there are tent platforms.

[Daniel Madrigal]

We will be in open kayaks. I have a hobie so I can pretty much cut through wind, and rain, and pretty much anything. The other two going so far have regular open kayaks with no rudders or anything so we are going to have to keep the milage low.

[Daniel Madrigal]

I want to just get a lot of footage of the glades cause I have HD capability now and I want to make a documentary about the whole trip from start to finish since we have never done it before. I am going to try to submit it into a couple of film festivals if it comes out good and try to get the word out there that there are other things to do in south florida besides south beach. I have been photographing in the everglades for a few years but don't have any video as of now so I just think it would be great to shoot the trip!

[vivian]

Yep, keeping mileage low is good idea for at least first part of trip especially if you are using a Hobie and your friends are in open SOT's without rudders. But this is good as you will be able to spend more time filming. I fish and find it nearly impossible to really work shorelines, etc when moving camp dailly. Only when mileage is cut to 8 -10 per day or basecamping is it even possible.

As Kim points out the winds last year were challenging to say the least. I had many wind routes planned and used them on every trip. Something I have always observed and hopefully others will chime in:

Winds typically die down from 5 - 8:30 am
Winds start gusting from 9:00 am - 4 pm
Winds die down from 4 pm - 7 or 8 pm and then start up again.

I think it is to allow bugs to feed when most of us are on land eating breakfast or dinner, lol!

[Esther Luft]

Vivian is 5,000,000,000% correct. It is so that the bugs can feast on us while we try to feast : )

Do yourselves a favor, take float bags with you. Forward and aft. Open sit-ins sink very rapidly when water comes over the side, especially when loaded with camp gear.

How are you set for pack gear. You will need dry bags. I would avoid the very heavy or rubbery type bags. They seem strong but stick and make packing difficult and occupy a lot of dead space. Also, water, are you ready to haul what you needs?

How much kayak camping have done? Last time we went down the waterway we encountered what would be the perfect video clip for How NOT to Travel in the Back-country. Three guys in a canoe with a huge Coleman tent, inflatable mats, Sterno cans, Lipton soup cans, flip top gallon size water jugs, hefty backs for storage, wearing jeans with shorts on top. Did I mention is was cold and windy? No, they did not make it all the way. One guy had to be taken to a hospital for stitches, the only one that knew anything about canoeing, We found the other two at South Joe, scrapped up, scared and lost. They wanted to follow us in that night. We dis-swayed them, Wayne provided first-aid, cleaned and dressed their wounds, We dis-swayed them from following us in as they were in no shape and the conditions were awful and getting worse. Their plan was to head in during peak wind in the morning with opposing tide. Hopefully they paid attention.

[Daniel Madrigal]

lol thats a pretty funny story. I have become a much better packer over time. So far I have been on 4 camping trips in the everglades. I have plenty of storage and my hull can easily carry the amount of gear I am taking. My kayak has a hole in the body where the foot pedals go so when water comes in it goes right back out. The sealant is also excellent, my gear has never gotten a drop of water. http://www.hobiecat.com/kayaks/mirage/revolution/ This is the Cadillac of sit on tops! This is the list of gear I will probably take at this point.

[vivian]

Esther, when I got back from my New Years trip, I drove to visit a group of my friends that were camping at Flamingo. Two of them were on their way to Shark River via Joe River in their powerboat. They found the canoers that were injured and called the rangers for a rescue. They had to get them out before that storm hit. I was glad to be on land and my other paddling buddy Alex was also home safe. That was a nasty and dangerous weather system that hit the area. What a small world!


Daniel, the Hobie Revolution is less than 14' long? Your camping list needs tweaking if you are going to do this through trip on that type of kayak. From an initial look I can already tell you are bringing way too much in terms of clothing and not enough of the right kind of clothing. Your fishing gear includes casting nets which are not necessary when a small box of lures suffice. You will find out there is not enough time for fishing/photographhy and paddling to the next destination on a through trip if you intend to make it in less than a week.

A cooler with dry ice is impractical and not necessary.

Are you sharing a tent with friends or are you each bringing a tent? Sharing cooking gear/fuel?

Although many companies list their boats as the best on the water, most are designed specifically for either fishing or just short day trips. I've been that route and can tell you very few if any of the SOT on the market can handle a gear load of 8 plus days and be safe in adverse conditions. In the Hobie line the Adventure is the only one I would do the trip in. The Revolution would be good for a 3 - 4 day trip.

I just want you to be safe and have a good experience out there. Most of the people posting here are better paddlers and have more experience than me. Hopefully they will put there two cents.

[Daniel Madrigal]

Yes I know the fishing gear is extra as well as the cooler. Im taking a hand reel and a couple extra lures. And with most of the dried food im taking I wont need a cooler either. I was even thinking about ditching the stove but I would want one incase we catch some fish. In terms of clothing I guess I could take like two pairs and wash them. The clothes I have are columbia fishing shirts and pants that dry off very quickly and don't pick up too many scents. What would you suggest? We will all be sharing 1 tent and all of our cooking gear so we have 3 kayaks to split everything into. What do you think?