In February, I finally checked off a goal that I’d had for several years…spend a night on a chickee in the Everglades.
In Everglades NP, you’ll find more water than land, which means the best way to explore the park is by boat. Because of this, there aren’t many great places to pitch a tent for the night. This is where the chickees come in. “Chickee” is a Seminole and Miccosukee indian word that means “house”. It is basically a covered shelter with open sides and a raised platform. Chickees in the Everglades however, are located out in the water to provide backcountry boaters a place to stay for the night.
Logistically the trip takes some planning…you have to get permits, pack just the essentials and all your water and either own or rent some kind of boat. And during most of the year, the Everglades are simply too hot and buggy to really be enjoyed. But in the months of December-February, the temperatures are very mild and with the lack of rain and humidity, the bug count is way down.
As I prepared for this trip and mentioned it to friends and coworkers, many people kept saying it sounded crazy. I was offered a gun. Someone gave me an emergency fire starter kit consisting of steel wool and 9V batteries in a waterproof box. I was advised to use my paddle to poke up in the rafters of the chickee for snakes. It seemed like everyone was imagining giant pythons hanging from the mangroves and gators jumping out of the water and into the kayaks. After weeks of discussion, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.
On the Friday before the adventure, I made a special trip all the way down to the Flamingo Visitors Center to get a backcountry permit for Saturday night. Permits become available no more than 24 hours in advance. I was afraid that if I waited until Saturday morning before we started the paddle, the spot I wanted would already be taken (I wanted to stay at the Hell’s Bay site which only has two chickees).
I was glad that I made the extra trip! I arrived at the visitors center about 10-15 minutes before it opened. There was already one group in front of me waiting to get a permit (albeit for another site). A few minutes later a couple of guys showed up behind me also looking to get a spot at Hell’s Bay for Saturday. I’m sure that if I had waited until Saturday I would have lost my opportunity. Who knows, maybe even getting there 30 minutes later would have changed my plans.
Our route from the Hell’s Bay put-in was about 5.5 miles, which would only take around 3 hours. Taking this into consideration, I didn’t want to start paddling first thing in the morning and then spend the whole afternoon just sitting on the chickee. So, my friend Lauren and I had a leisurely morning, enjoyed a big Mexican lunch in Florida City before entering the park and finally reached the put-in between 1-1:30 pm.
I wish I’d taken a picture of our gear in the kayak because by the time we got all of it in the boat, I wasn’t quite sure that I would fit! Fortunately, with a little strategic placement, we were both able to squeeze in.
The first couple miles or so of the trail is a winding maze through the mangroves. It is slow going and challenging. The trail was so narrow that for the majority of this section, Lauren and I took apart the paddles and each used a half as an oar. We slowly made our way, ducking and turning, our eyes constantly peeled for both the trail markers and any signs of wildlife.
We were both surprised by the lack of animals, seeing only an occasional bird or fish. After a solid hour and a half in the maze, the mangroves opened up and the scenery changed completely. Coming out of the mangroves, the narrow trail turned into a giant body of water stretching as far as we could see. It was speckled with clumps of mangroves here and there. In this open water, currents and wind could easily become an issue, but we were fortunate to have a beautiful and calm day.
Without the twisting paths through the mangroves to deal with, we were able to pick up the pace and paddled the remainder of the distance in an hour and fifteen minutes. And finally our home for the night came into view…one of the two 10′ x 12′ Hells Bay Chickees.
We had about an hour left to spare before sunset, so we unloaded the gear and set up the tent. We relaxed on the chickee, enjoying our simple but extremely satisfying dinner of crackers with pb & j.
In the fading light, it was so peaceful…much different than the picture my friends and coworkers had been imagining!
As the sun went down, we made our way into the tent before the bugs started attacking us. At this point it was probably only 6:30 pm or so…way too early for bed! What was there to do but play a few games? Probably to the dismay and annoyance of our chickee neighbors (50 feet away and already tucked into bed), we passed the time playing Uno, Scrabble and the always classic “I Went to the Grocery Store…”.
Once we turned our flashlights off, we were amazed by the number of stars in the perfectly clear sky. To my chagrin, as I looked to the northeast, I could still make out a faint glow on the horizon…even this far out into the backcountry, there was no escaping Miami!
As we settled into our sleeping bags, we quickly realized it might be a long night. Even with a sleeping pad, the woods planks of the chickee didn’t make for the most comfortable bed. Nevertheless, I still managed to fall asleep, enjoying the sounds of the suddenly active creatures who had been missing in action during the daylight hours.
After sleeping for what I thought was a few hours, I was suddenly startled by a loud noise. The guys in the other chickee were catching sharks in the middle of the night. In my blurry and half-asleep state, I saw movement on the platform. A second later a camera flash went off and a 4 foot long shark was illuminated. Now that wasn’t the wildlife I had been expecting to see on this trip! The guys ended up catching a couple more that night.
We naturally woke up with the first light of the day. Our backs were stiff and it took some stretching to be able to start moving around comfortably. We ate a quick meal and started packing up in order to take advantage of the cooler morning hours while we were paddling in open water. A couple last pics of our chickee and we were on our way back.
Although gator sightings may have been lacking on this trail, there was an abundance of air plants to be admired. Every clump of mangroves was filled with different species of bromeliads and air plants, many in bloom. I’d never seen that many naturally occurring together before. It was really beautiful!
It was another great day and the 3 hour return paddle went quickly. We both agreed that although the portion through the mangrove passage was slow work, it was definitely our favorite portion to paddle. We liked having our skills put to the test and finding the hidden trail markers tucked around the bends was a lot of fun. After this awesome weekend trip, I’m excited to do some longer paddling adventures through the ‘Glades.
p.s. Later that day I realized that the reason we probably didn’t see alligators was because we were in the saltwater portion of the Everglades! Although they can (and do) go in it, they must have regular access to fresh water which probably wasn’t readily available in that portion of the park.
alison's adventures in wonderland 