# Everglades camping



## secretsquirrelflyfishing

I suggest camping in the 10,000 islands panther key area. No permits or other government nonsense to worry about. The outer islands are beach sights and in spring the outer islands and the second tier islands should be good fishing. You can still boat into the back country but there will be less bugs on the beach sites. Check out the Everglades park sight you need to take a boating course and pay a daily fee inside the park.


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## manny2376

1 chickee per night, yes. You can pull permits at either end of the park. Call ahead and get the latest rules/regs 

beach sites are much better IMO. Pavilion, picnic, or new turkey. Outside of the park: white horse or panther. You’ll need permits for islands inside the park, but they’re multi-day. I would stay away from the interior ground sites unless you really want to be that deep. They’re buggier and can be wet sometimes. 

feel free to DM me for any specifics, been camping out there for years.


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## Backcountry 16

secretsquirrelflyfishing said:


> I suggest camping in the 10,000 islands panther key area. No permits or other government nonsense to worry about. The outer islands are beach sights and in spring the outer islands and the second tier islands should be good fishing. You can still boat into the back country but there will be less bugs on the beach sites. Check out the Everglades park sight you need to take a boating course and pay a daily fee inside the park.


X2 you can camp anywhere you want and no rangers coming into your camp. Start at panther key and head north plenty of spots my favorite is hog key if you have a small skiff there is a cut you can access from the back and your boat is protected if the gulf pics up. The fish don't know they're outside the park either.


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## TieOneOnJax

If you were to camp north of the park at one of those spots where would you recommend launching from? Looks like you’d have to run along the outside a bit if you launch from Choko. Prob not a concern for most but I have a Shadowcast 16 and it might get sketchy when loaded down with camping/fishing supplies and two people. Am I mistaken?


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## Backcountry 16

TieOneOnJax said:


> If you were to camp north of the park at one of those spots where would you recommend launching from? Looks like you’d have to run along the outside a bit if you launch from Choko. Prob not a concern for most but I have a Shadowcast 16 and it might get sketchy when loaded down with camping/fishing supplies and two people. Am I mistaken?


Port of the isles or goodland.


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## jglidden

This should be able to answer your initial questions : https://www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/wilderness-trip-planner.htm

Depending on what you will be targeting, you may want to look at a beach site if you want to camp a few nights and not have to move your stuff each night. If you have some range with your skiff, you can still run to the inside.

Mormon Key - Just outside the mouth of the Chatham 
Hog Key - Just north of Lostman

Inside ground sites are great too but typically highly sought after and can be hard to get a permit for.


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## Seawoods

I prefer camping in the Flamingo area and I've stayed at several of the sites. Also, navigating around Flamingo is easy compared to Chokoloskee. A lot of people stay at the campground at Flamingo, and that has a lot to recommend it, especially for a first trip. If you want to camp away from the campground, Middle Cape is excellent, provided it is not windy. As for the chickees, I've enjoyed several around Whitewater Bay, but I would avoid Oyster Bay. CanePatch and exploring around there was a fun adventure.


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## Backcountry 16

Backcountry 16 said:


> Port of the isles or goodland.


PM me if you want a few spots there if you're coming down camping port of the isles would be best for your shade more protected water to run


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## verystrange

We did this trip 2 years ago and stayed on chickees and had a blast. Oyster Bay, Watson River, Joe River, South Joe River were all very easy to find, accessible and close to great fishing. Lights at night drew bugs in, we would set a small LED decoy light as far away from us as possible and never had problems. One day some people in a canoe thought they would make it to oyster bay from flamingo after leaving at noon, but only got to South Joe River before dark and shared the double chickee with us but wasnt an issue. You can easily run back to flamingo, fuel up, pull the boat out and put in in the ocean side to fish the outside if you'd like. We kept like 30 extra gallons of fuel in jugs in the back of the truck to refuel.


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## jglidden

DECOY LIGHT?!?!?!? Mind=blown

@Pierson


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## verystrange

Jglidden give it a try! Tie it off to the mangroves or the far side of the chickee or your boat and then dont use any other lights. Definitely helped


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## sotilloa1078

Just camped this week. The chikees out front are covered in bird crap. Ended up at the campground in flamingo. Which was a blast!


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