Kayaking in the Keys

Our Everglades expedition started at the Gulf Coast Visitor Center in Everglades City. Permits are issued day-of and we showed up to get one around noon. Not only were many of the Keys taken that night but the ranger, Jacob Trusty, had informed us that the tides would start rolling in making any trek out to an island much more difficult. He was very helpful with plotting out a trip that was still worthwhile.

After getting the permit, the first leg of our trip was about a 5 mile trek to the Lopez River campground. Finding the campground was quite tricky because it was nestled in some very thick mangroves along the banks of the Lopez River. The bugs that night were pretty terrible. It was a mix of mosquitoes and no-see-ums. but we had packed along Bounce dryer sheets and ample bug spray to ward off the bugs.

In order to catch the tides going out, we woke up at 4.30 am the next day to start paddling around 5.30. While we were packing the kayaks, there was a school of shrimp feeding on the banks nearby. They were pretty cute. The second day of kayaking was much easier since we had started right at high tide allowing us to basically be pulled out from the shore by the tides. That morning, we were greeted with a hefty downpour and some thunder. Neil requested that we anchor next to a key and ride out the storm for a bit- if things got worse we would have turned around. Ultimately, we decided to at least make it out to Rabbit Key for lunch. At that point, the bad weather was gone and we were set to finish the 10 mile journey out to Pavillion Key.

That night was calm. They key was large enough that we were able to camp away from others on the edge of the island. We hung up clothes to dry on a makeshift clothes-line we created with our paddles but the humidity decided otherwise. Because we were headed in the next day we decided to have a leisurely morning in order to try catching the incoming tides.

We woke up and got ready a little too early on the third morning but it didn't turn out to be a huge mistake. Initially, we headed north, parallel to the coast, and stopped for lunch near jewel key. There were some raccoons eating on the key but these raccoons were unusually small compared to the ones we had encountered on college campuses. After a long lunch we worked our way back to the ranger station. Managing the labyrinth of mangroves was difficult even with two maps and a GPS but we found our way back to the station.

Things we learned: Everything stays wet when you are kayaking in Florida.
Distance: 24 miles?
Net elevation gain: ZERO