The Everglades

Cameron had wanted to visit The Everglades since he first played the National Parks Monopoly game in 6th grade.  Therefore, I was glad that we were able to plan a trip there this summer with him.  We left this morning for Everglades City.  We had reservations to take a boat tour around the Ten Thousand Islands, which was the western most point of Everglades and where the national park began.  I had read really good reviews, but was a little nervous to try it as Doug had never been to the Everglades and I hadn't been since high school.  Thus, we knew nothing about exploring the area except that we didn't want to ride on an airboat.

Thankfully, our tour today was fantastic.  There were about fifteen of us on a pontoon with Captain Jack and his first mate, Carl.  They took us through the channel where we saw an alligator and heard about the history of Everglades City.  It was very interesting and our captain was a great story teller.  Once we got closer to the Gulf of Mexican and the Everglades National Park border, we began to see even more animals including dolphins, pelicans and terns.  The area was absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed it all very much.  Our trip back to the dock included pictures of the Burmese Pythons that Carl had caught on his hunting trips.  They have become an invasive species in the Everglades and hunters, like our first mate, are being paid by the government to kill the snake.  

After our boat trip, we ate lunch on the river.  It was hot outside, but the food was good and the view was gorgeous.  Our last stop in Everglades City was a museum about the history of the Everglades.  It was very nicely done, but our Captain had already given us the same information so we didn't stay very long.  We left around 1:00 for the Shark Valley visitor in the heart of the Everglades.  It was an easy trip along the Tamiami Trail.  The best part was that we passed the Florida Skunk Ape Research Center along the way where I bought my Skunk Ape "hunting license."  I even got to hear a local tell Cameron why he was wrong to not believe in the Skunk Ape.  It was a fun way to break up the hour trip.

We made it to the Shark Valley Visitor Center around 2 p.m.  Right before we arrived, the skies opened up and it stormed off and on for the next hour.  We decided to wait it out as the state park was open until 5 and they had a great spot to sit outside and view the Everglades.  Cameron and I also spent quite a bit of time going through their items in the park store.  We bought a book on identifying Florida birds and one that we could collect all of the National Park stamps.  We got our first stamp today and enjoyed looking at all of the other national parks that we could visit or had visited in the past.  Cameron also purchased a really cool Everglades shirt while we waited.

The rain finally let up around 3:30 and we began our walking tour of the Everglades.  We started off on the boardwalk through the mangrove trees.  It was a little creepy as the trees completely surrounded us and we couldn't see deep into it vegetation.  I was positive that a Python would jump out at us at anytime.  Fortunately, only mosquitos bothered us on the ten minute walk.  Once we got to the main trail along the water, I felt a lot better.  It was more open on one side and there were not quite as many bugs.  That ended quickly for me, however as we soon saw a five foot alligator swimming in the river beside us.  It may have been ten feet away, but that was enough to "encourage" me to turn around and head back to the visitor center.  Doug and Cameron kept walking until the storms returned.  Cameron really enjoyed it.

We took a different path back to Naples that included Loop Rd.  It was a twenty-four mile route through the middle of the Everglades which was mostly gravel.  I was a little nervous at first that we would get stuck somewhere, but the road was relatively pothole free until the last three miles.  Overall, the trail was absolutely wonderful.  We had birds flying along with our vehicle and got a great feel for what it would be like to hike through the Everglades.  It was an awesome way to end our day.  We were all very glad that Cameron had suggested the trip.  It was absolutely amazing.