A Week in the Florida Everglades

[forager]

Earlier this month I went with my friend Michael on a week long kayaking adventure through the Florida Everglades. It was more of a paddling than fishing trip since we had to cover a lot of ground each day, but we still managed to do a little fishing. The video from the trip is in the attached link. It's the longest video I've ever made, and I put a lot of work into the editing. If y'all could give me some constructive feedback on the longer video editing I'd appreciate it. I tried to keep it short and action-packed enough for my fellow ADD peeps though..lol. Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FmJnK8 ... wMjswKdxJw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks!

[Earl]

Way cool trip and video. It is on my list. Really enjoyed your video and that big tarpon from the chest view shot jumping and popping that line. I missed your put in name and what was the total miles paddled and did you carry all your fresh water or did you filter from the glades?

I am sure it was tough going with that single blade. Yep, it sucks to have to do a 10 mile jog after a long day but it is worth the price.

Thanks for the great report and inspiring me to make that trip as soon as I can make it happen.

SYOTW,

Earl

[Mythman]

Cliff,
I enjoyed the video...........even being long. I am not a video person, because often I wind up watching stuff I am not interested in.............not the case with your video. You say you didn't get to fish enough, but it sure looked like plenty of fish were available.

Thanks for sharing..............you ask for editing input and my only suggestion is to break the video up into each day and that way one doesn't have to spend 20+ minutes at one time viewing. That does not mean I didn't throughly enjoy your trip and video.

[larry long shadows]

I for one loved it I never watch long videos.. but enjoyed it till the end.. You are in great shape to run 10 miles after that trip... I can only dream of a trip like this.. If I did make a trip like this after I was finished I would sell all my gear and never yak or fish again for the rest of my life.. I could live on the memories alone..Thanks you so much for sharing ..you are blessed YoungMan ...

[Hirsch]

Great video and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The only think I might suggest is breaking it into a daily log and add a bit more of the camps themselves.

[forager]

Thanks for the kind words and feed back guys, I really appreciate it. Good idea on the segments, I'll probably go that route next time if I make a video of longer length, same goes for more details on the camp sites.

Way cool trip and video. It is on my list. Really enjoyed your video and that big tarpon from the chest view shot jumping and popping that line. I missed your put in name and what was the total miles paddled and did you carry all your fresh water or did you filter from the glades?

I am sure it was tough going with that single blade. Yep, it sucks to have to do a 10 mile jog after a long day but it is worth the price.

Thanks for the great report and inspiring me to make that trip as soon as I can make it happen.

SYOTW,

Earl

Our put in was the trailhead of the Hell's Bay canoe trail, and round trip was around 80 miles give or take. We had to carry all our fresh water since we were in very brackish/salt water during the whole trip, and wouldn't have been able to filter it. Water was by far the heaviest thing we had to carry. I highly recommend visiting the park if you ever get the chance, it's a very cool place. I'm already wanting to go back to do the wilderness waterway.

[smokedcuda]

Great video, looks like a trip of a lifetime. Showed some solid navigation skills through the mangrove jungle and I bet that flyin tarpon haunts your dreams for awhile. I would have had to break that 10 mile jog into 5 day segments alone. Thanks for posting, that looked like a ton of fun.

[larry long shadows]

I curious how much water did you take ...and what kind of food did you take TIA...

[BlackRifle]

Bravo.. Music was pretty cool also!


I admire the fact you put in so much effort to get out there and get into the thick of it!

[Earl]

Cliff, curious why you guys did not park your truck at Flamingo then hike your 10 miles at the beginning of your trip? I am pretty sure they allow overnight parking there.

Earl

[forager]

Thanks BlackRifle and smokedcuda!

And parking at the Hell's bay put in wasn't the initial plan, we kind of had to wing that part on the first day. The initial plan was to launch first thing in the morning at Flamingo and paddle to Hell's Bay Chickee from there, and then finish the trip at Flamingo. But life happened and we weren't able to launch until around 1:30ish and weren't sure if that would give us enough daylight to make it to the chickee. The park ranger suggested the Hell's bay canoe trail, since it was only half the distance and would give us plenty of time, so ultimately that's what we ended up doing.

Cliff

[Yakety_Yak]

Cliff... that was an excellent video (all except losing the tarpon part, lol). Thanks for sharing this wonderful trip with everyone! I, for one, really enjoyed it. I'll have to go on one of these trips with you some day. Until then, I will have to settle with going to the rigs with ya. Great job!

[forager]

Thanks Blake! Ain't nothing wrong with a rig run!

[68rouge]

I've seen a ton of kayak videos.. And this one ranks among one of my favorites. Loved the whole vibe. Did you ever see what was getting off of your lines in that cove?

[forager]

I've seen a ton of kayak videos.. And this one ranks among one of my favorites. Loved the whole vibe. Did you ever see what was getting off of your lines in that cove?

Thank you very much! We never saw what they were but 99% sure they were sharks since we had seen several in the area while paddling.

[hookdem]

Awesome trip Forager! I find it hard to keep cams rolling on a day of fishing, you were able to go a week and had footage to keep the story going the whole way. For a long video, it flowed well and because of the variety of angles/shots/actions, it didn't drag on at all. I think as mentioned, a bit more footage/photos/b-roll during the camps could have given you easy transitions between the days and give the viewer more closure to each segment and a "there with you" feeling to really grasp how much time passed. I like how you narrated through the breaks and how you added the maps, both helped to drive the story forward. Looks like you had two cams? i really liked the chest cam view, that shot in the cove with the big hookup and the sun at the back was awesome. Kudos on having a spare paddle, that would've been a tricky situation that far into the trip.

and, woof
10mi hike, after 80mi paddle ended with a single blade, before a 20hr drive... Proof that we don't kayak camp because its easy.

[forager]

Thank you for the kind words and feedback Hookdem! I'll definately try to include more of that if a make another longer video. And I had three cameras rolling most of the trip. A contour roam2 in front and behind, and then the sony action cam on the chest mount. The chest mount is nice, but my arms/hands were blocking the screen in a lot of the footage I took so I think I'll go with a head mount next time.

And no it ain't easy at all, which is one reason it's so rewarding!

[SAHunter1983]

Awesome adventure Cliff LMAO was talking to sombody named clint while typing! That Tarpon broke my heart!

[Texjbq85]

Very nice. Video done very well, you never had one shot that lasted to long or to many similar shots back to back so it was enjoyable to watch throughout. The maps and narration between days also give you a sense of where you are/went/going to a degree.

What was your avg daily mileage?
What was the avg temp?
I'm not that knowledgeable about the Everglades, I assumes it brackish to all saltwater? What is the freshwater situation? Are there places to pump or did you have 5 days worth in the hull?
Do you have a solar charger for the camera batteries or did you just bring that many?


Really jealous, looks like an amazing trip.

[forager]

Awesome adventure Clint! That Tarpon broke my heart!

Cliff**….come on Tod. Haha but thanks man.

Very nice. Video done very well, you never had one shot that lasted to long or to many similar shots back to back so it was enjoyable to watch throughout. The maps and narration between days also give you a sense of where you are/went/going to a degree.

What was your avg daily mileage?
What was the avg temp?
I'm not that knowledgeable about the Everglades, I assumes it brackish to all saltwater? What is the freshwater situation? Are there places to pump or did you have 5 days worth in the hull?
Do you have a solar charger for the camera batteries or did you just bring that many?


Really jealous, looks like an amazing trip.

Thanks! Mileage varied, longest day was over 20 and shortest day was 10, but I'd say 13-15 would be a good average.
Temperature was perfect, high 70s in the day and low to mid 60s at night. We had one "cold front" come through which got it down into the mid-50s one night but it was back in the 70s later that day.
Yes your right, we were in very brackish to saltwater the entire time so we had to pack all of our water with us. We had 6 gallons/person which was just the right amount. There are no places to pump to my knowledge, at least not in the part of the park we were at.
And no I didn't bring any solar chargers, but I did have an extra battery for my sony action cam. I ended up not needing to use them though. Since most of our day just consisted of paddling and not fishing all I really had to do was turn the cameras on for a minute or two a few times throughout the day so I had some footage from the entire trip. If I had been hard-core fishing the entire week that may have been a different story, but all the cameras have good battery life.

[jackh]

forager- awesome video and cool adventure. I watched some of your others on your youtube channel as well. Hit me up sometime and lets go camping.

[Yakety_Yak]

I never get tired of watching this video!

[My Fishing Buddy]

Cliff, awesome video, Man. You mentioned posting a video but I didn't see it previously. Blake told me about it while we were at ACK demo day today. Excellent video man, excellent. You just added another trip to my bucket list.

80 miles is a long paddle. Then to add a 10 mile job..............you are the man.

Like others, I'd like to know how much water you boys took?

Is it possible to do the trail but a shorter trip/fewer days. I love those chickees. That looks cool to camp on.

I liked everything about the video. I especially like the map/logistics footage. I would have loved some footage of the meals and water containers/consumption. More footage at night would have been coolio to. That fish fighting in the dark was over the top.

[Yakety_Yak]

The tarpon was SWEET!! Awesome stuff man!

[Coastal Country]

Have to try that one day, looks awesome