The Everglades

The Everglades

Driving the Tamiami Trail and Florida Everglades Camping

It was now February 8^th, and had been over three weeks since we pulled out of our snowy driveway to begin our Florida exploration. The farther south we drove down the gulf coast, the warmer the weather became and was now in the 80’s nearly every day. This was so foreign, yet so welcome to us Pennsylvanians in the midst of winter. We had experienced so many amazing things already, but now we were about to embark on our most rustic camping experience yet – the Florida Everglades!

The word “swamp” conjures up for me, visions of dark, murky, water, thick with alligators – spooky, bare tree trunks along the edges and Spanish moss-covered trees hanging above…mosquitoes swarming and snakes lurking.

This was the picture I had in my mind of what the Everglades looked like. I couldn’t have been farther from the truth! (With the exception of maybe the mosquitoes!) Not to say that picture I had imagined in my mind wasn’t true in some parts of the Everglades, but what we actually saw was quite a surprise.

Everglades – named by the early explorers when they saw large grassy fields. “Ever” is from the word forever, and “Glade” means a grassy open place. My first impression of the Everglades National Park as we drove along the Tamiami Trail, was that it looked to me like what I would imagine an African savannah to look like. Only this field was actually a river of grass.

The waters flow very slowly south from Lake Okeechobee and other contributories, forming a river that I’ve read is at least sixty miles wide and a hundred miles long. A drop of water that falls in Orlando may take a year to travel through the Everglades natural filtration system and make it to Florida Bay. Water from the Everglades is pure and clear because it is filtered slowly through nutrient rich soil. This river of grass provides drinking water for one in three people in the state of Florida. In South Florida, the drinking water comes from the Biscayne Aquifer, which is an underground river that is fed from the Everglades.

Tamiami Trail is one of those places I’d heard of, but never realized where the name came from. It is a roadway completed in 1928 to connect Tampa on the West Coast to Miami on Florida’s East Coast – combining the two names together to become Tamiami!

It was a thirteen-year, arduous effort to build the roadway through the swampy ground, using dynamite, dredges and a lot of back-breaking labor. You can view the Bay City Walking Dredge, which is listed in the Register of National Historic Places, at Collier-Seminole State Park. The dredge was used to move limestone that was deposited in the Everglades from an ancient seabed, after it had been blasted by dynamite. The limestone pieces were then used for the highway foundation. Two men worked six ten-hour days a week to operate this dredge.

You can now take the fast, four-lane highway I-75 (Nicknamed Alligator Alley) or the more scenic two-lane U.S. 41 (Tamiami Trail) to make your way across the state. We chose the scenic route and picked up the Trail in Naples to begin our trek across the Everglades.

Smallest Post Office in the U.S.

I love the hidden, unexpected gems that you stumble across while traveling. One of these was finding the Ochopee Post Office, which is the smallest operating post office in the United States – right on the Tamiami Trail!  Who knew?! Of course, we had to stop so I could get a cancellation stamp.  What fun!

Robert is Here

Another unexpected gem just outside the Everglades National Park is a unique fruit stand, called Robert is Here.  You wouldn’t expect to see a stand selling exotic fruits and making milkshakes, but that’s exactly what you will find. If you look out back, there is a collection of animals to enjoy seeing, including birds, tortoises and goats.

I’m a sucker for sunflowers, and the field of sunflowers blooming is what actually drew me to stop. So glad we did!

Big Cypress Oasis Visitor Center

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not always easy to spot gators when driving along the Trail. We were told that if we wanted to see some, to stop at the Oasis Visitor Center.  And see them, we did!

There is a great boardwalk, and those gators are just hanging out, living their best lives, right below you.  It was amazing to watch them from the safety of the boardwalk, and we also got to see a lot of birds as well. It was a great stop!

Long Pine Key Campground

There are two campgrounds in Everglades National Park, Long Pine Key and Flamingo. I really wanted to book a spot at Flamingo, but they were full, so I was happy to get a site at Long Pine.

When we pulled in, it was a gorgeous area! Walt got out and looked around, then asked me where the hook-ups were. In all the excitement of our day, I had totally forgotten – there were none!  We were to be dry camping in the Everglades.  At our site there was no water, sewage, electricity, and apparently no cell service. Huh.

I decided to take my customary “walk around” the campground to familiarize myself with our setting, and instantly met up with those mosquitoes I had visions of. I had insect spray back in the RV, but by this time I was over it and happy to spend a relaxing night indoors, enjoying the view out the window. We were able to use our generator for a short time to run the air conditioner and make dinner. It had been a big day.

Backcountry Boat Tour

I had booked us a ninety-minute backcountry boat tour for the next day.  However, it was located a half hour or so away at the Flamingo Marina, near the other campground. (The one that had electric and cell service)

Upon arrival at the marina, it was raining and they told us that our tour was to be cancelled for safety reasons, but we could try for a tour later in the day. This was not going to plan, and I was highly disappointed.

But that’s the beauty of having your home with you.

We decided to wait it out from the comfort of our RV, and we were delighted to find out that we had cell reception from the parking lot! Walt entertained himself with the I-pad, and I ventured out to explore, visiting the gift shop and finding a food truck to purchase some lunch for us as a special treat.

A few hours later, the rain stopped and they were able to fit us in on an afternoon tour. It was so worth the wait! Just goes to show that if things don’t go your way, it’s ok to pivot and try for Plan B.

We sailed slowly up Buttonwood Canal through Coot Bay and Tarpon Creek, and into Whitewater Bay, where we picked up some speed.

Our tour guide was excellent and pointed out so much of the wildlife along the way, and shared so many fascinating facts. On the way back through the bay, dolphins decided to play along side our boat, which was a highlight for me!

Fun fact: The Everglades National Park is the only ecosystem in the world where alligators and crocodiles co-exist. Alligators only live in fresh water, and crocodiles can live in fresh and salt water – the brackish water in the Everglades makes it possible for them to live side by side.

Back at the campsite, I sprayed up with mosquito repellent and went for another walk, finding the real beauty of this campground.  This was our last night here, and we enjoyed it inside again, but what a wonderful day’s adventure we had!

Future of the Everglades

The Everglades is such an important part of Florida’s ecosystem, and provides clean drinking water for so many Floridians.

Back before developers realized the consequences of their actions, all the draining and damming for the sake of progress has contributed to reducing the size of the Everglades by 50%.

Measures have been put into place to help restore the flow of water as it was intended by nature. One of the initiatives has been building bridge sections to lift the highways above the water, so instead of trapping the water, allowing it to flow freely underneath.

Also turns out that my image of lurking snakes was pretty accurate after all. The Burmese Python invasion is a reality in the Everglades, and their existence there is wreaking havoc as an invasive species. It is presumed they came to be there because of the exotic pet trade, and when people could no longer care for them, they turned them loose. Also, many speculate that when Hurricane Andrew destroyed a python breeding facility, many pythons escaped to the Everglades.  Strategies are being taken to control the python population, but it will no doubt continue to be an ongoing process.

It was quite an adventure to experience the Everglades up close and personal and actually spend two nights inside the Everglades National Park. Just a side note – I read that the Long Pine Campground now has cell service. Whoo Hoo!