Everglades Canoe Trip February 2006

Day 2

Rivers

The next morning was still breezy, but warmer. Unfortunately it soon became apparent that we were robbed during the night. Somehow the raccoons were able to crawl up under the over-turned canoe and flip the lid of our larder. We lost about a third of our supplies, mostly lunch stuff like bread, cheese and salami. The good news was that the dinners were untouched and I was able to salvage the granola for breakfast.

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Day 1

Day 2

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Day 4

We had a short trip down to the entrance of the Chatham River with the wind at our backs. The tide was with us and the wind began to shift to the west to help us along. We made a short stop at the Watson Place for the now traditional picture next to the cane caldron (see also the 2001 and 2004 trips). The majority of the day was absurdly easy, drifting up the river, which had reversed its flow. We ate lunch as we meandered toward our destination.

We finally had to paddle (just a bit!) to reach the Sweetwater Chickee. This short "river" is full of clear, fresh water and lots of gators. We saw a large one sunning himself near the chickee, and smaller one along the narrow creek upstream. We also confirmed that there is a hard limestone bottom at the river "source" that I suspect contains several springs. A great place to swim if you keep an eye out for the locals! We took a pass in favor of a bucket shower back at the chickee.