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The Everglades! Florida's greatest treasure, it's finest natural resource, annndddd and underfunded drained dump in places. Mosquito and meth head infested hell, or bastion of natural beauty? Let's Find Out! I found out through extensive googling that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission offers FREE CAMPING on the l-5 levee within the Everglades WMA. http://myfwc.com/viewing/recreation/wmas/lead/everglades/things-to-do/ This is the right mixure of free and adventurous to appeal to me, so I shot them an e-mail to confirm, just in case the info was out of date. Here was their reply. quote:Everglades WMA is open to public access, and should be open as normal during your trip in February. Camping will only be allowed Friday-Sunday during that time. You are allowed to camp along the south side of the L5 levee provided you are not blocking the road/safely away from road traffic. There are good places to pull off and camp as you mentioned along the levee, especially on the powerline pads on the south side of Holey Land WMA. Nice. And thanks to satellite imagery via google maps, I can clearly see several well-worn spots along the levee where others seemed to have camped along the canal. I plan to take my newly completed Adventure Truck down to the levee on a weekend, and camp for a few days. I hope to get a line in the water, have a campfire, maybe do some touristy stuff and go airboat and horseback riding, do some hiking, and just have a good old time with my boyfriend (who is new to camping). Now, something that does concern me is the lack of information on the camping. Google and youtube only show me people off-roading, fishing, and illegal shooting ranges. Fun. Has anyone else gone boondocking in the North Everglades? Any tips or experiences? Am I doomed to be kidnapped by the gatormen and sacrificed to dark swamp gods? What is the LD50 of Repel 100?
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Feb 7, 2018 01:49
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 19:03 |
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Grats, you get to chill in one of the emptier (of GPS carrying types) zones around. https://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#9.73/-80.74715/26.24419/gray/all Satellite suggests the nasty boys like to shred it with their atvs tho
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Feb 7, 2018 06:37
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Epitope posted:Grats, you get to chill in one of the emptier (of GPS carrying types) zones around. Hoping it will be nice and secluded. But for saftey, I'll be checking in and out with FWC. Still too close to civilization for good night sky, but hopefully no road noise! I'm actually concerned that the power lines will be buzzing, but oh well. I can't have everything. OHV and offroad seems to be accepted and not heavily policed, so long as they're not mudding or racing. I'm actually hoping those at trails are hikable, I'd like to trek in a bit on foot, just to see what it's like. Probably flooded now, but worth a look. I'm not anti-off road, but this certainly is a symptom that florida needs more OHV parks and challenge courses. Plenty of former industrial land scattered around the state that we could revamp into road courses and trails. The canals also look primo for some fishing and crabbing. Hoping to catch something we can throw on the fire!
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Feb 7, 2018 14:29
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You should try camping IN the everglades... I'll dig up pictures, but here's one already on my imgur from kayak camping in the Dismal Swamp, along the Roanoke River:  They set up rentable platforms in the swamp and you just paddle out and camp out on platforms among the mangroves while you paddle down the river. It's probably one of the coolest trips I've been on, and I know they have similar stuff in the everglades.
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Feb 7, 2018 22:43
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OSU_Matthew posted:You should try camping IN the everglades... One day! This is just a quick weekend trip, but that does look cool. They also plan to install some of those in the estuary and river system in the waters off Jax. I wanna try canoe camping some day.
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Feb 8, 2018 17:33
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I have escaped the Everglades not too worse for wear! I've got bug bites, a bit of sun burn, and a fair bit of dirt in the truck, all fine souvenirs from a winter weekend in the River Of Grass. The boyfriend caught fish, saw wild alligators, rode a horse and an airboat, slept in a truck, and a bunch of other firsts for him. He was a real champ and loved it all! Full write up and photos on the camping forthcoming. I am happy to report it is very possible, quite safe, and extremely awesome to wild camp and boondock in the Everglades.
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Feb 19, 2018 03:20
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 19:03 |
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Cool! Glad to hear it worked out for you! I'd love to see what all you wind up doing and where you stayed.
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Feb 20, 2018 13:00
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