Posts Tagged With: Everglades

2019 Trip 3: South Florida: April 1

Posted on April 2, 2019 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

A section of Florida not usually seen by visitors

Everglades City, FL. April 1

Florida has panthers. Not black panthers but mountain lion beige. We really had no hopes of seeing one but we hiked the only accessible trail in Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge just because. Most of the refuge is off-limits to humans and most sightings of panthers have either been on trail cameras at night or dead panthers who have tried to cross the highway. About 10% of the panther population is killed each year by cars.

Since we wanted to get a stamp in our wildlife refuge Blue Goose Passport, we drove the interstate to the office address listed on the Internet brochure. The office was located in the Comfort Inn just off the interstate-or at least, it was until several years ago. Hoping there would be a stamp at the trailhead, we continued our drive to the refuge. There were two other cars in the lot, one belonging to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Maybe 10 minutes into our hike, we encountered the refuge ranger and a college intern. We mentioned the error for the refuge headquarters address and he gave us directions to the office. At the office (after the hike), the woman at the front desk was from Wisconsin and we chatted for a while about the Midwest. Yes, we did obtain the stamp and one for Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge which we will be visiting during the next two days.

It is estimated that only 120 to 230 panthers still exist in the wild. Needing large acreage to exist, they live in this wildlife refuge and adjacent public land preservation areas. Generally they eat deer, raccoons, and wild hogs. The panthers are an endangered species with loss of habitat the largest challenge to their continued existence. As you have probably guessed, we did not see any on our hike.

The Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge is 26,000 acres and our 1 1/3 mile trail hike was behind the fencing used to help protect the panthers but limited to a small section of the refuge. We hiked through wetlands, prairie and hardwood forest with a view of Florida not seen by most visitors.

Entering the western portion of Everglades National Park

After the hike, we drove to Everglades National Park. ENP has several visitor centers, this one is at the western edge of the park. ENP is the third largest national park in the lower 48 after Death Valley and Yellowstone. The views here are not similar to the grand parks of the western U.S. Even getting this area declared a national park was a challenge; Ernest Coe was a Floridian instrumental in raising the awareness of the possibilities of this area for a national park. One of the visitor centers is named after him.

A second important person in spreading the knowledge of the value of the Everglades as a national resource was Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Marjory Stoneman Douglas was born in Minneapolis but spend most of her life in Miami as a reporter and writer. Her influential book The Everglades: River of Grass was published in 1947 and was an instant best seller. It has sold over half a million copies since it was first published.

Originally we were planning to take a 10 AM boat tour Tuesday of the ten thousand island area. We changed our plans and went on the 5 PM tour today. While the Everglades includes wetlands on the mainland, it also extends into the Gulf of Mexico. The water around Everglades City at low tide is only 2-4 feet deep, even though it stretches as far as one can see. Any thing sticking out of the water is classified as an island, thus in reality there are over 16,000 islands in this area off the coasts. Islands might be just mangroves growing on a sandbar, a higher piece of land created by the Colusa Indians out of shells, or a combination of limestone and washed up sand from ocean tides.

Our boat tour was on a pontoon boat and lasted 90 minutes. We observed numerous islands obviously, some dolphins, and lots of birds. Several fishing boats were returning to the harbor after spending the day in the Gulf fishing for crabs; Everglades City is a major crab fishing locale, we hope to try some local fish Tuesday.

Osprey and chicks top, bald eagle lower left, American oyster catcher lower right

The tour was delightful way to end the evening. We will be staying in Everglades City for three nights at a local place, Ivey House. It is a combination lodge, inn, B &B. Half of the establishment is open for business, half was destroyed in Hurricane Irma and is under re-construction now. Everglades City is another town with Hurricane Irma damage. Over at the National Park, the visitor center was destroyed by the hurricane while the maintenance building next to it and constructed similarly was spared. The park is operating out of a series of modular buildings at the moment.

End of day after boat tour in Ten Thousand Islands

Ed and Chris. April 2

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2019 Trip 1: Orlando Again: Jan. 21-22

Posted on January 23, 2019 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

At the start of the air boat ride, just south of Kissimmee FL

Orlando Monday Jan. 21

After two early mornings, we slept in Monday. Our activity today was a two-hour air boat ride through the headwaters area of the Everglades which starts just south of Orlando. Our tour operator (Spirit of the Swamp) was chosen because it offers headsets for better hearing of the guide’s presentation and because it is the only operator offering a two-hour tour, instead of just one hour. We were not disappointed; our guide, Lynn, did an excellent job.

Part of the marshy area of our air boat ride

This section of Florida is critical to the Everglades, that 1.5 million acres of marshes, coastal mangroves, slow moving rivers of water, etc that crosses most of southern Florida where it had not been destroyed by encroaching urbanization and agriculture. Our air boat ride was not in the Everglades National Park, that is farther south. We were in the headwaters area where Shingle Creek, which flows southward out of Orlando, runs in to Lake Tohopekaliga. Through various lakes, rivers, and canals (much of the water is southern Florida is controlled by various watershed management agencies), the water flows into Lake Okeechobee and down through the Everglades to the Gulf. The land in this area seems to be divided between ranches, urban development, and conservation areas. I am sure there are in-depth articles on the battle between various groups to use and conserve water, I do not know how this area ties in to that. So I won’t go there.

Cypress trees along Shingle Creek

Lynn, our captain, took us through a canal system into Lake Tohopekaliga, a shallow lake with numerous marsh areas. The air boat is able to go into areas with just inches of water or even areas of low grass. This versatility offered a wide variety of options as we covered marsh, grass, and open water. We saw the expected diversity of birds. We rode over a large swath of the lake area while Lynn identified numerous birds. The temperature, high of about 60 with a good wind, made us concerned whether we would see any alligators.

Up close and personal with one of the gators

Of course, a major highlight was seeing alligators. Mothers and hatchlings were not evident today but numerous large male alligators were sunning themselves. Most ignored us, one disappeared under the water as we got closer. With the air boat, we were able to come up within three feet of several of them. They just laid there, sometimes with an eye open, sometimes not, just enjoying the warmth of the sun on their backs. A few turtles were sunning themselves.

The five of us with CaptainLynn from Spirit of the Swamp air boat rides

The two hours went by quickly, we never tired of looking around the next corner to see what bird or animal would be present. Through it all, the landscape of water, trees, and grasses was a constantly changing backdrop of gorgeous greens and blues.

Tuesday, Jan. 22

The rhino blocking our path

Back to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Early arrival brought us to the gates around 8:30; gates were opening then. However, we had a glitch again and had to have guest relations re-authorize Sarah’s and Chris’ tickets to enter. We still made it to Na’vi River Journey before 9 AM and were able to easily enter the ride. From there we headed to Kilimanjaro Safaris Expedition and once again were ahead of the crowd for the 20 minute ride through various African terrains. Our ride was about 3 minutes longer as a rhino decided to park itself blocking the road just in front of us. We had to wait until it decided to back up enough for us to pass.

Some of the animals at Animal Kingdom

We wandered back and forth though the park trying various park experiences and had a great time. Lunch was at Satu’li Canteen with tasty and healthy meal combinations. In the afternoon, Sarah, Sarah and Daniel decided to separate and take a chance waiting in line for Avatar-Flight of Passage. They felt the just over two-hour wait was worth the experience, although a second ride would not have been.

We ended the day with a second ride on Kilimanjaro Safari Expedition and riding Expedition Everest (only 3 rode, you can guess which ones). As Expedition Everest ended, the evening river light show was beginning and we watched it from a bridge over one of the water channels. It was a pleasant way to finish enjoying the park and our two weeks in Orlando.

River of Light show at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom

Ed and Chris Jan. 23

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