Everglades Canoe Trip January 2002

Joe River Chickee to Harney River Chickee

We awoke to an overcast but pleasant day. We had the good fortune of being able to plan a "sling shot" route using the tides. In the morning we quickly crossed the lower part of Oyster Bay and proceeded into the lower Shark River system. There we were swept into the gulf by the outgoing tide. We then proceeded across the calm Ponce De Leon Bay (the Gulf). The tide was at low ebb so we did not go ashore at Graveyard Creek (due to mud) but had a floating lunch.

While on the Gulf we saw a party of seven canoes heading south (who we later learned were from an Outward Bound school in Maine), a solo canoeist who had just come from Harney River, and a group who would be camping at Graveyard Creek that night. One of this latter party clued us in on the incompatibilty of kayaks and chickees - there is no good way to load and unload.

From there it was only a short paddle to one mouth of the Harney River. As our luck would have it, the river was flowing backwards and we had a lazy paddle to the Harney River Chickee. Al and I contrived a rope ladder and went in for a swim. We had to swim as hard as we could downstream to keep from being swept away by the reverse flow! The evening was windless and the bugs were intense. We played cards in the larger tent for an hour and hit the sack.