Blue Goose ~ Day 234

January 16, 2015 ~ Collier-Seminole State Park, FL to Everglades National Park (Flamingo), FL

Well, it really is much nicer to wake up in a campground than a parking lot. The sky begins to lighten at 0600, although the sunrise isn't until 0700 which is when people begin stirring. The clean and relatively warm bathrooms are not used much as most have RVs. I made coffee since I had real cream and sat and read for an hour before starting out east on the Tamiami Trail. The other cross-Everglades route is I75 to the north a.k.a. Alligator Alley and has a toll.

Fortunately, much of the Everglades is protected - and the Tamiami Trail runs through the Fakahatchee Strand, Big Cypress Preserve and the Everglades National Park. If the land were not restricted for native flora and fauna (and us), agriculture and retirement homes would keep eating away at this "river of grass." The changes are rather abrupt, especially on the east, from land disturbance to Everglades. Alligators bask on the sides of the canals. There are "Panther Traffic" signs and reduced speed areas. A ranger told me 20 of these cats had been killed by cars last year and only 100 are estimated to live in the Everglades. Anhingas perched high in trees and on wires; egrets, herons and ibises moved through the watery grasses. A small portion of the Ten Thousand Islands NWR borders the highway with several points of kayak access and a trail on which I walked a short distance. Another refuge (Florida Panther NWR) is just north of Interstate 75 but has no public access.

Green Heron - Kirby Storter Wayside - Everglades NP - FL

I did find the Kirby Storter Wayside where Maria, Richard and I stopped for a couple of hours three years ago. It's deceptive in that from the highway it looks like a small picnic area, but there is a 1/2-mile boardwalk that goes into a beautiful swamp. I saw warblers and all the waders, including a Wood Stork which feeds by swinging its half-open bill through the shallow water and mud. It finds food tactilely - when anything touches the bill, it immediately snaps shut.

Wood Stork - Kirby Storter Wayside - Everglades NP - FL

Small alligators and larger turtles and a Green Heron were in the pool at the end of the boardwalk, as were a White Ibis and Great Egret, lovely in the dark dense flora. Woodpeckers worked the trees if one was patient enough. It felt like Eden.

Decision time for me: I had planned to visit Esther and Ger in Miami, but also wanted to go Flamingo, the  town at the end of a 49-mile road into the lower portion of Everglades NP, so I finally decided to go there before Miami. Esther had agreed to go Key West with me but a Flamingo side trip would be way too long to do on the way.  

I took the first road south to Homestead / Florida City and, after a few more miles of farmland (and orchids and vultures), I entered the park. It started as miles of open land with scattered dwarf silvery bald cypress trees and the occasional slightly higher hammock. The elevation is generally 3-4 feet but it only takes a few more feet to totally change the vegetation to a complex mix of ferns, mahogany, evergreens, gumbo-limbo, strangler figs, palms, saw palmetto.....In the hammocks, the woods are "lovely, dark and deep" interruptions on the open land and the slowly moving shallow waters. The more coastal regions of the Everglades have mangrove swamps, bays ad beaches navigable by kayakers. This is the extensive backcountry, accessible only by water, with chickees (basically raised wooden platforms) at intervals for overnight camping...or camping is also allowed on the beaches. I saw dozens of cars with kayaks and the open grassy  campground at Flamingo had 50 or more kayakers' tents.

Everglades NP campground at Flamingo - FL

I stayed here overnight paying only $8. But found out there was no cell service for Verizon, and Esther was expecting a call about my plans. I eventually walked half a mile along a trail bordering the  beach to the VC just as it was about to close. I explained my dilemma to a ranger: "Well, I suppose I can let you use our phone..." and he brought out a land line and plugged it in.

The campgrounds were extensive, open and park-like with mowed grass...very different from what I expected deep in the Everglades. Of course, it was on the Gulf and also has to be relatively safe for visitors. The most obvious wildlife were Black Vultures, tame and abundant. In the morning, they poked around the campsites and picnic tables before people were up and about. At one  multi-tent kayaker campsite, at least three of these birds were hopping about the leftovers from the night before in the bright morning sun. And they apparently eat exposed rubber on cars....

Everglades NP at Flamingo Visitor Center