"Where The Wild Things Are"

On February 25, we left Big Pine Key after 50 days with our friends. It was an unusual winter for weather and mild sicknesses, but we enjoyed our time there. We send them all our love and hugs!

We headed for the Everglades National Park and specifically the Long Pine Campground. 

The Long Pines

And our site #5

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There are some daunting issues confronting the south Florida area. Water can be easily identified as the major one. The Everglades are the largest wetland in the world and the quality and quantity of water flowing through this river of grass is critical. Water flows in a wide path from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay Covering about a million and a half acres that make up the park. 

Critical agricultural enterprises are also visible right up to the border of the national park. Rain run-off can and does carry nutrients and other chemicals, dumping them into the water shed of the Everglades. The result is a changing ecosystem. But where should these crops be grown, and where will some people find the work they need?

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We were also told some sobering facts about the Burmese Pythons. It is believed that 50,000-100,000 of these snakes live in the Everglades. The are apparently very smart, excellent survivors and difficult to locate even during the hunts planned to specifically destroy them.  For example, it took the naturalists in the park a decade to even find the first nest.  

Now, about 25 years later since their illegal introduction in this area, the native mammals have been almost totally eradicated. (95-98%) The park does not even need raccoon proof trash cans anymore and one rarely sees roadkill driving through the area.  The rabbits and squirrels are literally gone too. 

These few comments are only the tip of the iceberg about how this park may be impacted by many factors in the future. It important to learn as much as we can and work on behalf of this amazing National Park.

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Over the past five years we have been coming here for a few days after leaving the Keys. This year we decided to make a two-week visit of camping and exploring. I want to show you the results of some of our adventures:

The main road from the Coe Visitor Center to Flamingo is roughly 40 miles. There are many side roads to travel that lead to trails, boardwalks, special unique flora and fauna areas, and one lead to our campground.  One place near Long Pine is called Royal Palms and is the site of the trail heads for the Anhinga Trail and Gumbo Limbo Trail - and a spot we visited many times.  

One day on the Gumbo Limbo trail we had our first of many snake encounters.  As far as we can say this is a Rat Snake that I think has just eatien. It was between 4 and 5 feet long.

The Anhinga Trail gave us many chances to see and hear alligators (roaring as mating season began) and of course some wonderful birds, butterflies and plants.

The male Anhinga

    

American Bittern

The Green Heron

   The Double-Crested Cormorant

The Great Egret

The Purple Gallinule

 

And this White Peacock Butterfly...

 

The amazing Quill Leaf

And the Fine-Leaved White-Top Sedge...

And the invasive Tilapia fish building a nest.

This is a start to sharing with you the things we saw and learned during the past two weeks.  I also want to show you some of the birds at our site and the snakes on our road, as well as more surprises we encountered along the trails. I will stop here and send this one off and then start part two! They seem to send better in smaller posts!

I do want to say that we shared a very special two week experience here in the Everglades.  We enjoyed the deepest quiet, the amazing surprises of nature, and the pure thrill of experiencing  wilderness! More to come...