Lately… we’ve been using Taxi’s instead of Outfitters / Shuttles Services. We find they are more flexible on their schedules for pickup and drop-offs and are a lot less expensive. They will charge us about $40 on an average 20 mile run - where calls to outfitter seem to be about $80. When you have a group – it can help to share the cost as well.
We usually find the local Taxi Company where we are going to out and leave our car here. Then the taxi takes one of us back to the in.
When backpacking they take us to the start on a linear trail and then we hike back to where we left our vehicle.
Again, they will come at the time you ask (for the most part) and seem to give good rates.
Now … that’s been in Florida destinations. Just curious as to what other’s have experienced.
Good Idea for urbanized areas
But it will never fly in the hills of Oklahoma or Arkansas 'cause there ain’t no cabs. You can usually find at a local conveninece,liquor store (or just sleeping/fishing on the bank at the put in) folks who will gladly take the $40 (or less) to follow you to the other end and bring you back. DO NOT PAY THEM until you get back or you may look in your rear view mirror and your ride and your $40 might be gone.
Looooooong Way From the Ozarks
No taxicabs here but, as paddlinpals said, you can sometimes find a “Local” to do it. Used to use a teenager at Montauk State Park to run shuttles with my truck on the upper Current for $5 back in the '80’s. You might also try using P.net to find a local paddler to shuttle with. WW
Deliverance Country
... funny we watched this on the TV last night. And I can say that being from Louisiana ;-) {hanging head in shame about the LSU game}
Yes more for locations where you can do this. Hard on the AT and other areas that are more remote. A lot of people try hard to find shuttle connections, when a Taxi company can get you there as well.
It is a shame trust is becoming harder and harder to find in the good Ole' USA these days.
Fl E Glades
shuttle is about the only way to do the through trip. I think a cab would cost a fortune and not have the capacity for all the gear one would have to bring along.
I guess it would work for more urban areas.
Again … depends on the area
… we used one for Ocala National forest 2 1/2 day hike and we were able to load two backpacks and us for $40.
We are using one for our Suwannee Trip in November - just to transport a person back to the start and then take off back to our vehicle at the out.
We might use one for our Everglades trip to get a ride from Flamingo to the start of Hell’s Bay Canoe trail – haven’t investigated this yet.
It’s just a good option - when you have just two or three people and don’t want to take more then one car with you.
Gear would be left at the start with the others.
Now if you are alone - then leaving gear unattended I would never recommend these days.
hells bay
"We might use one for our Everglades trip to get a ride from Flamingo to the start of Hell's Bay Canoe trail -- haven't investigated this yet.
Are you driving down to Flamingo? It is not far from the campsite to Hells Bay trail. If I have another friend along with a car we leave one car at Hells Bay and the other at Coot Bay Pond so we can loop back without having to deal with paddling that trail twice.
There are no taxi services down at Flamingo.
The marina store at Flamingo can probably be a good source of info and maybe able to shuttle you there from the campsite.
There is parking at Hell’s Bay
So there is parking at Hell’s Bay and leaving a car there for an extended trip is OK. I hadn’t found any information on leaving a vehicle there and didn’t think there was parking.
We were actually going to by a cheap bike and have my husband ride it back and who cares if it’s there when we return.
We plan on having a campsite on Flamingo for when we return because we’re not sure of our last day and how long it will take.
Again – last trip we were suppose to get back in 2 hours - NOT. One guy had to drive all night to get to Orlando to make a 9am flight for work on Monday. He said he fell asleep so hard on the flight he said he woke up when the plan landed and thought the plan was crashing. That was one of the reasons we decided to try and make it back. I remember him sitting on Rabbit Key looking at no water and saying “*%$?@ … I have a flight at 9am tomorrow - Crap!”
Adjustment to new trip: Never make your last paddle day on a Sunday to be at work on Monday. We were all working off of pure adrenaline - that evening - CRASH!
We have our group meeting first week of November. This time we have 11 going instead of 9 and we didn’t have any Chickee’s reserved. I’m glad I’m on the chickee with 5 instead of 6.
But we’ve gotten some great tips from you and others on the board about setting up – so that has really helped.
Sounds like fun!
“We have our group meeting first week of November. This time we have 11 going instead of 9 and we didn’t have any Chickee’s reserved. I’m glad I’m on the chickee with 5 instead of 6.”
Those chickees sure are small and 3 is a tight fit on those platforms! With a group that size, you may have to consider the Cape and land sites if available. Also consider breaking up into two groups to make getting a site easier.
Yep, you can leave your car at the Hells Bay no problem. Take a look at the Coot Bay Pond option as well. Just don’t park on the grass…OR ELSE!
Yes , do the bike thing.
It is only about eleven miles from Flamingo to the Hells Bay put in.
There are spaces for about a half dozen cars on the put-in side, and you can fit some more on the opposite side.
You can leave your vehicle there overnight.
A neat trip is to leave a bike at Coot Pond, and then leave your car at Hells Bay put-in. Do a circular trip through Pearl Bay, Hells Bay, White Water Bay and then back to Coot Bay Pond Pond. - then one of you bike back to get the car.
If your interested in doing it, I can give you the GPS coordinates. - a portion of the route is unmarked, but we charted it and then did it.
We will be in that neck of the woods and doing it again sometime in March.
Cheers,
jackL
I would still pay extra to an outfitter
whenever practical, IF the outfitter is also doing social services such as controlling access to key put-ons and take-outs; is mediating conflicts between paddlers and landowners; etc. etc. Taxi services don’t do that.
In Georgia, outfitters play crucial roles such as I have described on the Broad, the upper Chattahoochee, the Chestatee, the Etowah, and the Flint. Those folks have suffered from our record drought. If we lost just one of them, we might have very serious access problems.
Of course, some outfitters don’t do squat, and deserve no special patronage. But in fact, in many states, river access would be much worse off if it were not for the outfitters who “live” along the streams.