South Joe River Chickee - 99 Mile Wilderness Waterway - Everglades National Park

Nestled back on Joe River, which runs along Whitewater Bay in Everglades National Park is a beautiful camping chickee. The name really says it all… South Joe River Chickee was my destination for this past weekend as it was the closest from Flamingo into Whitewater Bay and could be made into a two day one night paddle / camping trip. Like my Hells Bay canoe trip, you need a permit for going into the backcountry and I had picked mine up at the Flamingo Visitor Center the day before while I was there for work. This is about a 9 – 12 mile trip (one way) depending on the route you take and can be strenuous if windy. It isn’t recommended for beginners which made it all the more exciting for me as I usually don’t paddle on huge bodies of water, which Whitewater Bay and parts of Joe River are.

I took along all the standards: tent, sleeping bag and pad, cooking stuff, change of clothes, a deck of cards of course, lots of food, lots of water… by the way its recommended for all paddlers to take one gallon of water per person per day. Also it really isn’t smart to get out on this wilderness waterway without charts, which can be bought at the Flamingo Marina. The chart for this trip just happens to be the same as Hells Bay – Number 11433 in case your planning for this same trip. South Joe is a double chickee with toilet, combine that with proximity of Flamingo and you can probably reason out that it is a popular spot. Luckily though we had the chickee all to ourselves Saturday night, I was puzzled at first but understood why on Sunday as we paddled back towards Flamingo… but I’m getting ahead of myself… back up.

My friend Amanda and I left late morning with our canoe packed and sunscreen on. Our launch point was at Coot Bay Pond along the Main Park Road, right up the road from the Flamingo Visitor Center. While crossing Coot Bay we got to see some huge flock of birds that decided we were too close and took off in a thunderous roar of wings. It was really neat seeing the effect of that many birds flying off all at once.

After Coot Bay and through the Buttonwood Canal, we entered into Whitewater Bay… it was truly impressive. This body of water is huge and in a canoe, it feels like you are crawling across the water at a snails pace but it was a beautiful sight. We had the wind at our backs and the paddle was no problem at all up to this point and beyond as we traveled northwest up Joe River towards the chickee. We made it in about 3 or 4 hours… I’m not sure, neither of us took a watch or wanted to know the time while away from civilization. 

If you make this trip, keep your eyes open for the many types birds in South Florida. We ran across this huge osprey nest with a juvenile still in it who was making a fuss because we were floating by.

The wind kept up all night and into the next day but a breeze is nice at night because when the sun goes down, that’s when the no-see-ums and mosquitoes come out but with the breeze, it kept them away for the most part. Here is what camp looked like:

We did some fishing from camp and caught a speckled sea trout and a couple other small fish we couldn’t identify. Had dinner and played some cards, its just a very peaceful, calm and quite place in the backcountry that you don’t get anywhere else. We were also kept amused by the hundreds of jellyfish floating around the chickee. These little guys seemed to like it around the area and we captured a couple to take a closer look.

Sunset wasn't too impressive but it was still better to experience it away from all lights and in a quiet setting. We had some neat clouds and pink coloring that made it nice.

Here is another view from our chickee, you can see with the water that there was a bit of wind making some waves, the second day (Sunday) was much worse.

After a good nights sleep and an awesome breakfast, we set off for home pretty early. The wind had picked up as the sun got higher in the sky and we struggled just to get out of our bay. For those of you who are contemplating this journey, heed my words… check the weather forecast before setting out! Amanda and I fought for 7 or 8 hours against waves that were occasionally tall enough to get into our canoe. We took breaks every mile and a half or so but boy was it a tough paddle at what I figure was a little over half mile an hour. The canals were of course calm and protected by trees but all parts of the open water had waves that constantly wanted to take us back to the chickee as we paddled southeast. We wouldn't have made it back before dark had a nice couple in a Carolina Skiff with 40hp motor not stopped to ask for directions. They had got turned around in the massive bay and I was happy to trade directions for a 2 mile tow towards home. They were very nice and had no problem towing the canoe for a bit back into Coot Bay. We carried on from there and made it back a lot earlier than I had expected, and it was a good thing too because after so much hard paddling and trying to keep the canoe straight in that mix of wind and waves, my shoulders were about dead. Looking back on it now I still had a great time in a beautiful place, but I would make sure wind conditions were better next time I venture into Whitewater Bay or the areas around it.

Canoe Trip into Hells Bay - Everglades National Park

Well January is about shot and February is ready to begin anew.  It has been a busy month for me.  I haven’t been able to do any really cool trips lately.  Between my two week vacation flying home to upstate New York and work once back in Florida, I haven’t found any time to get out and enjoy myself in the backcountry.  However, I was thinking of dedicating this post to an overnight canoe trip I went on here in South Florida Christmas Eve and into Christmas day of this past 2012, so just over a month ago.

Hells Bay… its quite a name.  Hells Bay is a beautiful flat water bay on the outskirts of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness in the southern part of Everglades National Park.  This was my first experience inside a mangrove forest and it was truly a maze ing (amazing and a maze to navigate).  The destination was a trip along the 6 mile wilderness canoe trail back into the bay where a Double Chickee campsite resides.  This may be a new term for some people, the Hells Bay Chickee looks like this:

Pretty cool huh?  Chickees are what you tie your canoe to and setup a tent on for the night.  Its exposed, it’s cool, and it’s a few feet off the water.  Back to the trip…

Being a ranger in Everglades, I felt it was my duty to get out and explore this particular area seeing that it is a well visited overnight spot.  I was working most of Christmas week and had already scheduled my vacation for January so, with most of my friends gone on vacation and no family in the area, my lone buddy (Colin) who remained and I decided to head out Christmas Eve and spend the night and Christmas morning out on this Chickee in Hells Bay.  First things first, I just packed like any typical overnight canoe trip, a couple small dry bags and a cooler is really all ya need, nothing special.  The cooler was by no means necessary but I thought I’d have a couple cold beers while paddling under the hot Florida sun.  

Now the entrance to this wonderland is pretty far south into Everglades National Park and if you’re contemplating this trip, here is what you will need to know.  First you have a fee at the park entrance station to get into the park… unless you come in before the ranger is on duty, then it’s free.  You WILL however need a backcountry permit and the place to get that is at the end of the road, all the way south at the Flamingo visitor center.  You will be passing the trailhead on your right along the way south so take note of where it is for your return.  There is a fee for the permit, you fill out the information and hand the ranger some money, and you are on your way, it’s pretty simple… make sure you listen to everything the ranger has to say, they have good information, even if you think you know it all.  For up to date details on hours, fees, alerts and directions… I refer you to the excellent government website www.nps.gov/ever.  Also to note, for your safety its important you get yourself a nautical chart.  These are sold in Flamingo at the marina and in other places in the park including the Ernest Coe and Gulf Coast Visitor Centers.  The chart you’ll need for Hells Bay is Chart No. 11433.  The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness is 1,296,500 acres, so get yourself a map so you don’t get lost among the millions of mangroves!

Now that I got all my ranger safety messages out there, I will continue on with the story of my trip.  Colin and I drove down and got our permit, grabbed our park canoe, and parked along the road at the trailhead by 10:30am.  After loading up the canoe and launching, we enjoyed the next few hours of navigating through beautiful mangrove tunnels and forest mazes, and through huge expansive shallow bays.  Again this is a six mile trip one way into Hells Bay so make sure your prepared with enough water for the entire trip and have all the proper sun protection including sunglasses… that sun reflecting off the water is bright!  The mangroves were so cool though, turning left and right and making some dead stops just to turn the canoe to the odd angle in which we had to traverse was an amazing canoeing experience that I’ve never encountered elsewhere in the country.  There were some sections we could really get the big boat moving but in the end we usually had to slow down to turning speed to avoid crashing inside the thicket of branches.  It was of course a learning process for us and being in the front of the boat, I have a nice little scar on my left arm that still lingers, to prove that point.  Even crashing through the vegetation was fun though and as we laughed our way like a pinball from one sharp corner to the next, we were constantly on the lookout for the next piece of PVC pipe sticking out of the water.  You see, the National Park has placed these pvc pipes on all the corners marking which way the trail goes.  Most of the time you really don’t see them until you are at the corner.  I thought it was well marked though with only a couple spots that could use some clarification, but like several other canoeists, we made it just fine with what was out there and it was half the fun being in the front of the boat to lean forward and scout out the next pipe in order to yell LEFT or RIGHT to signal which way my partner was to turn us… and fast!  Most of the time, like I mentioned before, the turns are so tight and with negligible room, the directions I gave were almost always at the last moment to control our turn without scraping through the branches, but we saw it as a challenge to work on our timing… and of course we liked going fast.  There is nothing like it though and we thoroughly enjoyed the trip back to Hells Bay!  With our trip in I had begun feeling that backcountry buzz that you get being in the wilds, learning new things, laughing with a friend, and enjoying the quiet among nothing but birds, fish, and gators.

 It was an amazing night out there, perfectly quiet and serene.  Colin and I made some dinner with my camp stove, and settled in for a night of playing cribbage, fishing off the platform, and listening to the subtle sounds of the wildlife.  Over certain periods of time, all you could hear were fish jumping and splashing, making a racket all around you on the raised platform, even underneath the tent!  I was lucky that night, sunset was stunning, which isn’t that uncommon in South Florida.  We had pretty good timing with the moon too, it was pretty bright and lit up the night fairly well.  Next in line to join the symphony was the owls which echoed across the bay for what seemed like miles.  I couldn’t tell how far away this bird was because the sound seemed to carry on forever.  Around 2:00am I woke up to a chorus of alligators making this deep, throaty, prehistoric growling noises from all over the bay including along the bank of mangroves that align the chickee 25 feet away.  It was fascinating listing to these monsters communicate all around me and amazing that they were so loud.  Overall, an awesome night.  After dark, the mosquitoes made their appearance but we were playing cards in the tent by that time and they didn’t really affect the camping.

The paddle home was similar to coming in, only went by a little quicker because we had a better idea on which direction to travel most times.  We exited the wilderness and dropped the park canoe back off.  It was a Merry Christmas indeed, I went home and was well satisfied… I had got my much needed fix of nature and backcountry.  Writing about it now makes me think I should start planning my next expedition to a new location.





Lets Get This Blog Started... Again

Hi everybody and thanks for reading.  I've been excited to re-start this blog for a while now.  I have been a National Park Ranger for a while now and relaying information about nature is the part of my job which I enjoy the most.  Being an “Interpretive” ranger, I give advice on hikes and camping trips to do, all the while meeting awesome people from around the world. 

                My hope is that this blog will open up a whole new audience for me to meet.  I plan on discussing some past trips I've done and some future adventures I’m gearing up for.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out and contact me.  Let me know if I’m missing out on something really cool or if you have questions about why or where I went to a certain place. 

Since leaving the Land Surveying profession, I've become a bit of a “gear junkie”.  When funds allow, I love buying new outdoor gear to use and try.  Let me know what works for you and give me advice if you have something better than what I’m using.  Hopefully I’ll get a chance to share some insights I've had concerning the gear I've tried and use on a regular basis. 

Just a little background for you, so you know what my future posts will be concerning.  The past two years have been a whirlwind of adventures and exploring.  I left my job as a Land Surveying Tech and joined the wild world of the National Park Service in the Department of the Interior.  I've had the time of my life!  These past two years have allowed me to live in five new states and work in five awesome parks.  Right out of the gates, I moved to Maui in the state of Hawaii to work at Haleakala National Park for 4 months.  Afterwards I drove across country from my home in New York to live and work at Pipe Spring National Monument in Northern Arizona for 3 months.  Moving from there led me to a position in New Mexico at Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument where I was surrounded by the Gila wilderness for another 3 months.  Up to this point, I was strictly in either a volunteer or internship position… not making any “real” money.  I expanded my application outreach and landed a paid government job at Olympic National Park in the state of Washington.  So… after the Gila, I drove North and enjoyed exploring the Northwest corner of our great country for almost 4 months.  And lastly, after driving back across country to NY, I decided to take another internship as the Assistant Volunteer Coordinator in Everglades National Park where I am writing this from.  I have been in Florida for almost 3 months now and have been enjoying the warm weather as opposed to winter in the Northeast.  While I have traveled a good amount and gotten to see some neat places in the US, the most experience I have is in Upstate New York where I grew up.  Fishing, canoeing, camping, hiking… it can all be found in the wilderness that is the Adirondacks and Catskills.  I’m looking forward to maybe moving back this coming summer if I can find a position.  The search continues…

Thanks for reading.  Now that I have some background out of the way, I’d like to start writing about  some awesome hikes I've done around the country and share with you the buzz I’ve always found while exploring… and I’m not talking about black flies.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Update - National Park Service and Traveling the Country

Hi everybody.  Wow, its been a long time since writing on this blog.  For that I apologize, but what a wild ride it has been!  Let me fill you in, so hold on because this ride goes fast...

My last posts had to do with my SCA position on Maui: Haleakala National Park interpretive ranger, so I will begin there.  My internship ended and I flew back home to Northern NY.  Prior to leaving however, I had set up my next two National Park positions in southwest USA.  My reasoning behind that was to get away from the snow belt of NY and to see a new part of the country.  I had never been to AZ or NM and it just so happened that there were a couple volunteer positions open in those states so I said, hey, why not... you only live once right?

I began my trip by driving across country to Northern AZ where I would spend the next three months as a living history interpretive national park ranger for Pipe Spring National Monument.  I did a lot of truck stop hopping, sleeping in my car, and visiting new areas over the course of a week and a half before making it to my new home in AZ.  Mammoth Cave National Park was one of the more memorable stops along the way.  You see, I decided to flee the cold and head straight south and then head west as I was spending most of my time in my car, day and night.  That plan didn't really work out but because I distinctly waking up, turning on the car, and seeing that the temp. outside was exactly 0 degrees F but I still had a fun time along the way.  I got to hike several miles underground at Mammoth Caves with paid guided tours and spent a very enjoyable day at a State Park in Oklahoma.  Further, I stopped at Capulin Volcano National Monument, NM, and then went into CO to discover that my newest favorite National Park was Great Sand Dunes National Park.  While spending half a day at the park, the scenery was overwhelming.  I decided to climb the tallest sand dune I could find and enjoyed just a tremendous view from the top overlooking a sandy, hilly, mountain vista!  That night, after my climb, I slept in my car on some BLM land up the road.  I woke up to a strange scraping sound coming from the front passenger seat.  Come to find out, I had a mouse decide to move in and share some of the food I had stored up there.  Well I didn't like the idea of a mouse climbing on me that night but I didn't have much choice, the temp. was very very cold and my tent was packed away under a ton of stuff so I just tried to put it out of my head and ignore the noises of munching and squeaking coming from the front of the car and moving around through my ventilation system.  The next day I stopped and got some traps and got the little bugger the following night.  I spent a very enjoyable few days with my Aunt and Uncle in Pagosa Springs, CO.  Uncle Doug took me up in his plane, I got to do some laundry, and just flat out have a nice relaxing time with my family!  Thanks for your hospitality again!  I left and stopped at a couple National Monuments going into and through UT.  Capitol Reef National Park and Cedar Breaks National Monument were very fun and beautiful stops along the way and ending at my destination of Pipe Spring National Monument in northern AZ.

At Pipe Spring, I worked with some great people and helped interpret some really cool resources.  A couple weeks of training had me ready to work the visitor center / museum, and give guided walks through a historic building.  I had a lot of fun at the monument was situated in a great location.  From Pipe Spring, I got to visit all sorts of cool BLM lands and choke canyons, Bryce Canyon National Park, North Rim of the Grand Canyon at a couple different places, and one of my favorites... Zion National Park.  This was the months of November, Dec., and January.  Visitation during those months are very limited and the weather was kind of cold in the High Desert, but I loved the area and would move back there for the cooler months again if the opportunity presented itself again.

Well thats the end of my story for tonight.  I have a whole year after that to catch up on as well and working at three other parks afterwards.  Obviously I skipped a lot of trips: hiking and exploring on my way out and while in AZ but message me with questions if you are interested in some of those places I mentioned.  I will continue again soon hopefully.  We have a BEAUTIFUL country, go out and see it!