Planning a 10-day canoe trip in the Everglades: Part 1

Each year over the holidays I take a very long paddle trip with friends into the Everglades. I am in my solo Wenonah Vagabond, while my friends are in various paddle boats including solo canoe and kayaks. Last year, 4 of us took 9 days and paddled from Chokoloskee Island to Camp Lonesome and back. This year, we'll be out there 10 days. It may only be me and Vivian (she in her solo canoe) or we may have one other person. Since most of our campsites for this trip are chickees, space for additional paddlers in our party is very limited.

I thought it would be interesting to blog my planning process as we prepare for our trip as early as August (4 months prior). Our camping season begins in November, thus some of the preparation includes preparing for the camping season in general, including a 3-day trip over the Thanksgiving holiday. Planning a 10-day trip through the Everglades takes time, even when you already have all the gear and previous experience paddling the Everglades. A person who has never been or may not have all the camping equipment for such a trip will have more to do before embarking, so I will try to think of that person as I write these blog entries over the next couple months and provide information that may be helpful for them.

Around the month of August, we begin to think of our trip route. Why so early? This is more out of anticipation for our camping season than necessity. But, knowing our route early will give us time to think about it and make the necessary preparations ahead of time (i.e., replacing certain gear and supplies). In August, I start to close the chapter on summer and begin thinking of the explorations we will take during the winter months. In actuality, we had been thinking of this trip for a couple years, but now it was time to think about the daily routes, campsites and mileage. Because we could afford 10 days, we factored in a 2-day stay at one of the campsites, right about half way through the trip. This is a nice way to segueway into the final portion of a long trip and gives us time to relax and explore a backcountry area that we would not otherwise have time to do.

At this point, you need a map that will show you the entire route you wish to take. I recommend without reservation a marine chart (waterproof charts are easy to find on line) along with your GPS map sources. Google Earth map is also very good, especially for the more remote backcountry areas of the Everglades. Some of the map source software allows you to create the route and then convert the map to Google Earth, which is what you see in the photos below.

If you use GPS for planning your route and devising way points, you should also relinquish to the fact that you must have a marine chart as well as a compass with you on your trip. In addition to the routes for the GPS, I write the compass bearings on my marine chart for several sections of the route. If you plan to do a trip along the entire Wilderness Waterway, you'll need 2 marine charts to cover the entire area. Do not think you can go without maps and/or GPS when on the marked Wilderness Waterway. This is for 2 important reasons; one is that the markers can be as much as a mile apart when crossing a very large bay (such as Sunday Bay) and unless you have binoculars and know the approximate location of the next marker, you may find yourself way off course, wasting precious time and energy; and two, campsites are not specifically located on the waterway and you must often take a detour to get to one.

If you are not familiar with the Everglades, purchasing Johnny Molloy's book, A Paddler's Guide to the Everglades is an excellent first step. During the early stages of planning, learning about the Everglades is an important component of preparation. Molloy's book gives detailed descriptions of routes and campsites and provides significant information requiring essential gear and equipment. Basically, his book provides all the information you need with the exception of maps to paddle the Everglades. He does include GPS waypoints for each campsite.

For our trip, we planned our routes accordingly (mileages are approximations):

• Day 1: Leave from Coot Bay Pond to South Joe River chickee, 9 miles
• Day 2: South Joe River to Oyster Bay chickee, 10 miles
• Day 3: Oyster Bay chickee to Graveyard Creek campsite, 8 miles
• Day 4: Graveyard Creek to Harney River chickee, 6.5 miles
• Day 5: Harney River chickee to Canepatch, 10 miles
• Day 6: Canepatch, explore the area
• Day 7: Canepatch to Watson River chickee (through the labryinth route), 15 miles
• Day 8: Watson River chickee to Roberts River chickee (through the cutoff route), 7.5 miles
• Day 9: Roberts River chickee to Hells Bay chickee, 7. 5 miles
• Day 10: Hells Bay chickee to Coot Bay Pond, 8 miles or Hells Bay Trail, 5 miles

Give or take a few miles and also depending on our mileage during day 6, the total is about 80 miles. For us, this is not a strenuous trip, in fact, only one day of paddling exceeds 10 miles. In comparison, our trip last year included 2 days with 18 miles and most days were between 10-15 miles.

We always consider contingency routes or campsites. Because this is the busiest time of year, I always purchase the camping permits one day prior to launching. I make a special trip to the rangers station to do this. There are some sites that are quite popular and it is always possible that some will be filled when trying to get permitted. Thus, another advantage to having some short paddle days planned is that you may have to change it up and paddle longer distances if a particular campsite is not available. For instance, if we cannot get South Joe River chickee, our contingency campsite is Joe River, another 5-6 miles. Another advantage of taking care of the permits the day before is that we can launch as early as possible. The ranger station does not open for permits until 8 am. In our world, we like to be on the water not much later than that.

If you are coming in from out of town and are renting kayaks or canoes from one of the outfitters, plan an extra day to get your bearings, maybe purchase supplies, etc. Unless you are planning a loop trip, shuttling must be figured into the equation and part of your early planning. For instance, if you plan to paddle the entire Wilderness Waterway, you have one day of driving either before or after your trip. In a car, the two ends are about 150 miles apart.

For this trip, we do not need to consider shuttling, with one exception. If we leave Hells Bay chickee on the last day and take the more protected Hells Bay Trail route, we will need to get back to our car located at the Coot Bay Pond launch site. With another car, we can park one car at Coot Bay and shuttle the other to Hells Bay Trail on our first day. But if we only have one car, we will have to hitchhike from Hells Bay Trail to get back to our car on the last day. This is the worse case scenario and would only happen if the weather is so bad that crossing Whitewater and Coot Bays is risky. Hells Bay Trail route is very protected and shorter. But, we'll worry about that when and if we get there.

Below are a few of our routes for this trip, created in Google Earth.