On Saturday the 21st of January I picked my long time paddling and backpacking partner Bruce up at Palm Beach International Airport. We reminisced about past adventures, and talked of trips to come on our way back to my home in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
For the next two days we would check our gear for duplication, do our shopping, dry our meals and plan our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice of routes through the 10,000 Islands area / Wilderness Waterway.
Tuesday morning we were up at 4:00 am and on the road heading south at 4:30 for the three hour drive to Everglades City. The most interesting part of the drive is turning west to cross the Everglades on the 4 lane highway known as Alligator Alley. The River of Grass is absolutely breath taking, when bathed in the early morning golden light. Traveling across this highway brought back fond memories of my youth as a Boy Scout and traveling then the two lane highway flanked by canals on our way to Big Cypress for a weekend camping trip.
Everglades City is the northern most jumping off point for the 100 mile long Wilderness Waterway and the location of the Gulf Coast Visitors Center where you file your trip plans and pay your fees. Unlike traveling the BW of Quetico they allow no reservations and everything must be done in person. Arriving at the Visitors Center at 7:30 a half hour prior to their opening and only one party ahead of us gave us a good chance for getting our primary route choice. To my surprise our choice for the 1st nights stop was booked as was the 2nd, so we resorted to our 3rd choice which would take us to Mormon Key an eighteen mile paddle. After paying our party usage fee of $10.00, and a camping fee of $2.00 a night each, we headed to the Ivey House to pick up Bruce’s rental and do some gift shopping for the families. There was no real rush because we planed on catching the high slack tide at 11:00 from the Ivey Houses private launch area and use the out going tide to push us out into the Gulf of Mexico about a 10 mile paddle.
Unlike most of our trips we stuck right to our schedule and took our first strokes at 11:00 in the slack tide down the canal under the bridge and out into Chokoloskee Bay.  We cross the bay and take the last cut out. As you entered the cuts that will take you out into the Gulf of Mexico you need to be very careful keeping your eye on the mangrove keys and your map it is very easy to get disoriented if you are not familiar with the area.
Our 1st stop will be Turtle Key at the very edge of the gulf, Turtle is a non designated camping area but is perfect spot for lunch with its sandy beach.
  (You need to Login or Register   (You need to Login or Register
  (You need to Login or Register   (You need to Login or Register
After lunch we still have another 8.5 miles of paddling to reach Mormon Key which will take us over two four mile sections open gulf water into a 14 mph head wind.
We finally make land fall at Mormon Key just before 5:00, and have the beach to ourselves. Mormon Key got its name from the first known white settler Richard Hamilton and one of his two wives who settled there in the late 1800’s. We get busy setting camp, and I start dinner of caramelized onions, brazed pork chops, Cuban black beans and jasmine rice, while Bruce finds firewood.
  (You need to Login or Register   (You need to Login or Register
After dinner we enjoy a platy around a beach fire and talk of tomorrows paddle to Highland Beach.
flp