The Stevie ECT Everglades Alternate
Why Doesn’t the ECT Go Through Everglades National Park?
Technically, it might… I’m not exactly sure if the ECT sneaks into the park near its perimeter or not. Visually, the trail seems to just skirt around its edges. It doesn’t take too long to figure out this mystery. The Everglades is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, but it’s probably not feasible to have a hiking trail through it since it’s mainly wetland. There is, however, a water route through the maze of mangroves, mud flats, and interconnected bays and rivers. Being so close, I felt it’d be a shame to not get to experience this unique area.
I started looking into it.
The Everglades 99-mile Wilderness Waterway
After a significant amount of research, I connected the dots and have a plan! Rather than stay on the official ECT “red line,” to the ECT Connector Trail section, I hope to jump in (maybe carefully step into) a kayak, cross Florida Bay, and embark on what’s known as the Everglades 99-mile Wilderness Waterway. In total, I expect this will be about 145 miles (120 miles of water travel and 25 miles of walking) in comparison to the 132 miles I would otherwise take via the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail and the ECT Connector Trail.
In the map below, the blue squiggly line is my paddling route, the 8 purple squares are campsites, and the yellow line is a road walk that will tie me back in to the ECT right at the start of the Florida Trail. The campsites are all located in Everglades National Park, which I already reserved through recreation.gov. Most of them are elevated platforms out in the water called chickees, but a few are ground sites on low-lying islands.
I’m not that experienced of a kayaker, so I’m counting on my planning and navigational skills to do this. About 15 years ago, a group of my buddy’s did a remote multi-day canoe trip together in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. That might be my most similar experience to this. As far as kayaking goes, I’ve paddled random short day sections of lakes and rivers before, but nothing of any length.
A few weeks ago, I bought a used kayak. The river had to thaw during a warm spell before we could launch, but I finally got out just days before setting forth. Karl the kayak floats! And handles like a dream (whatever that means)! Our outfits alone give away our lack of experience though. This little outing with my dad and brother was a ton of fun. I’m happy to have at least got this chance to become familiar with my new seafaring craft, even if it would’ve been nice to do several more and longer “test” runs.
Despite all I’ve planned for this, it still seems like there’s so much I don’t know. There are so many things that can impact how this part of the trip will go. The best laid plans of Stevie and Sumi have sometimes been known to go awry afterall. I may have to make some game time decisions depending on the weather and marine forecasts, but overall I feel good about the plan. I have a few big reveals still to announce about the kayak journey that I intentionally left out.
Think of this post as a teaser trailer for what’s to come. I think telling the tale as it happens should be fun!
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Comments 2
This is such an awesome idea. Definitely a worthy side quest, imo. Excited to hear how it matches up against expectations.
Best to you on your journey… keep the words flowing