Camping Blog
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2019
Everglades National Park
December 7 - 10, 2019
Total Distance: 16 miles
December 7, 2019
Distance: 5.5 miles
This was my first kayak camping trip. We went through Hell's Bay first, going past the Lard Can to the first chickee. Weather was good for it, tiny bit of intermittent cloud cover and not too hot. The views were gorgeous, the entire place was dripping in bromeliads with bright flower stalks.
The chickee at night was silent - bizarrely so. It was also pretty warm so I got to test out the tent without the cover and just the mesh inside for the first time. It was wonderful but kind of creepy at the same time. I had dreams all night about creatures coming out of the swamp to climb the chickee stairs.
December 8, 2019
Distance: 5.5 miles
We packed in our camp and loaded up the kayaks to head back to the entrance to Hell's Bay. It was a smooth, chill ride. We camped out at Flamingo campground for the night.
December 9, 2019
Distance: 2.5 miles
We headed out of the gulf kayak launch and paddled up the beach. Despite being only half the distance we kayaked in Hell's Bay, it was so much more exhausting. The water was more rough (not by much, it was a calm day), there was a lot of wind, and the water was very shallow so it was difficult to avoid hitting the bottom for much of the trip. We did pull into a spot to rest where we found a huge mound of clam shells, presumably from otters, but sadly we didn't see any. But we did see a small black-tip shark hunting in the shallows.
The campsite was beyond beautiful. We were only about 50 feet off the water and there was a massive saltwort prairie behind us, then the beach stretched out on either side. After the sun set we were treated to an incredible firefly show, there were hundreds of them right ouside our tent.
The weather was colder at night, it was down to the 60s or 50s. Despite this, there was still a LOT of mosquito activity at night and getting up to pee resulted in me getting savagely bit on the ass. I had more freaky dreams about sea monsters crawling out of the water towards the tent.
December 10, 2019
Distance: 2.5 miles
The paddle back to the kayak launch was killer and we were racing against the tide. We finally made it there, only to have a little old man in a canoe pass us by. He was going twice our speed despite going against the current. It was a reminder that technique is king when it comes to pretty much any skill.
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