Day 5 Plate Creek Chickee through the nightmare and out to Graveyard Creek Camp

To say day 5 was a challenge would be an understatement. We left the Plate Creek Chickee about 8:30 after our friends Whale and Private Ham got underway. Getting on an off a chickee was harder than anticipated. That said we passed them and didn't even see them. We got to the Nightmare on what we thought was perfect timing. The tide was high and frankly we had fought it on the Broad River to get there. The Nightmare is named because you have to navigate it during high tide. On low there is no water and you get the chance to wait with gators, mangrove roots, and bugs for it to come back in. That said the water was right and we started. It was slow going and Morgan did most of the navigating from the front seat. With our Amas (outriggers) folded in the boat was still very wide. Towards the end of the Nightmare, Whale and Ham caught up and tried to clear teh way for us as we were starting to get stuck. When we excited the Nightmare I thought the worst was behind us. No one talked about Broad Creek and I hadn't even really put much mind into it. So we started began to go back inland in the Everglades and the Broad proved equally challenging. Whale and Ham tried there best to help but night fell and so did the tide. We found ourselves stuck on a log with nothing to do. We sent "okays" every hour on the hour and would check on the water level using a mark on roots. Hour 1... falling. Hour 2...still falling. Hour 3.... still falling. How is the possible I thought! When the bugs left the cold set in and Morg and I broke out our Mylar poncho and Mylar sleeping bag cover. Thank God and Chief for them. Additionally things go bump and splash in the night and at one point something large moved behind me and all I could get out was "Morgan, turn on you headlight."Frankly with all the crunching of the Mylar every beastie knew our location for a quarter mile. Hour 4 and we were floating. The water which had left us 1-2 feet high on a log came in very quickly. So we began to move forward. We estimate we made 30 more yards and we got to an obstacle that was impossible. I exited the boat with a hand saw to try and cut 8 inch logs...ha! A decision had to be made and to Morgan's surprise I decided to turn around. We made our way out to the Gulf and sailed Graveyard Creek Camp. It was so late, maybe 3-4 AM and we were mentally and physically beaten.

On further review, had we waited for the tide to come in more we would have been able to make it through that last obstacle. I say last because Whale and Ham reported that to us in Flamingo. That said the idea of being stuck was really troubling. We both talked about a video we saw from Penguin Man who was stuck for 12 hours. The tides in this area are strange and the next high tide might not be high enough. I am good with the decision because at this point I can still remember my mental state but I do regret not completing something I set out to do.

Approximate Distance: 38 miles