Flamingo Campground, Everglades NP, January 4 - 7, 2019
Friday, January 7, 2019
After being directed to the very limited space for vehicles with trailers (maybe one more of my length could fit in front of me), we broke out the bikes and went for the 15 mile ride. Shark Valley is an Everglades National Park Visitor Center that has a 15 mile tram tour to view the natural beauty of the River of Grass. The tram winds South through the grasses and hammocks and marshes to the Overlook, a structure that elegantly rises above the fray. From the Overlook, the paved path returns in a fairly straight line back to the Visitor Center along a canal, home to a plethora of birds and . It comes at the second half of the trip, and makes for a great finale. I'm confident that the tour guides do an excellent job providing information and excitement about this beautiful natural resource. There is also a bike rental, but bikes and walkers are suggested to walk counterclockwise towards the clockwise-running trams. This allows walkers to see the best without venturing too far.
And it was divine. A beautiful day, a head wind for the first 7 miles, and a tail wind for the 8 mile return - Perfect! The birds were out preening in the morning sun, and the alligators were just awaking, with most not yet settled into their afternoon rest spots. So we got to watch many gators slowly swimming along the canal to their chosen sunning spots. One particularly large gator had caught something, but exactly what it was in life was unclear. It looked like he had bitten into big bag of laundry, with most of it beside his jaw. But the parts that looked like feathers suggested a big heron or the like. In any case he shook it and slammed it on the water a couple of times while I was watching, which was a pretty intimidating display of force, though completely lost on the target of his energy.
The viewpoint 7+ miles in is pretty impressive. You walk up a 50 yard circular walkway for a 30’ high view, and everywhere is Everglades, in all its resplendent glory and starkness. The ride back from there was a delight as the (now) tailwind strengthened, and we flew back, only stopping for roseate spoonbill sightings (and bigger gators, and wood storks, and …).
Pictures from Shark Valley are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/fdLqWMiZwooRpVDo7.
Leaving the park, the parking lot was full, and the lane in was completely backed up with cars wanting to park. Likely four cars got in with our leaving. We then headed East, stopping at a gas station with diesel, a Publix, and Roberts Is Here fruitstand, finally stopping at Flamingo Campground. We were surprised that someone was working the campground booth; no one was at the Park entrance, because of the president’s government shutdown. 95 volunteers are doing their best to keep this Park and a few others in South Florida open. They have access to the reservation system, and they are keeping the bathrooms open. Kudos to them!
Flamingo is a huge campground. There is Loop A and the Loop T. (Actually there is also Loop B, but it is un-mowed, and doesn’t look like anyone has used it for a few years.) Loop A is where we’ve stayed in years past; the sites have no electricity or water, but nice bathrooms with flush toilets and cold showers. The Loop T (trailer) sites have electricity (20, 30, and 50 amp) but no water at the sites, and the same nice bathrooms with flush toilets with cold showers. Both campgrounds are pretty much open fields with a few mahogany trees. But they are the southernmost point of mainland Florida, right on Florida Bay, just a paddle from the Keys to the South (and countless islands of the 10,000 Islands).
Flamingo also is at least 10 miles from the nearest chance of any cell service. And no Wi-Fi anywhere. You are off the net: no cell phone, no email, no text, no data. Rumor has it AT&T phones have a signal here, but we didn't see anyone staring at their phone screen.
Flamingo may not have electronic communication but it does have flying tactile communicators in the form of noseeums and mosquitoes. They aren’t as bad as they could be. A volunteer suggested that the reason there were so few mosquitoes was that last Fall's Hurricane Irma covered their eggs with marl (seagrass blown in by the storm, which then turns to a muddy surface). Uh, maybe.
Saturday, January 5, 2019
We slept til dawn, then I assembled by Canon 5D3 with its 100-400 lens, and lit off on our bikes to Eco Pond, less than a mile ride. The plan was to photograph wood storks and roseate spoonbills and all manner of herons and egrets. Eco Pond has been my favorite photographic destination for roseates for over a decade. Alas, most everyone was a noshow except for the mosquitoes, so my photoshoot became a slow pedal around the pond. The times I stopped the flying teeth descended so quickly I found being picky about my photo ops to be the savvy way to go. It just wasn't worth it.
After a relaxed breakfast, we decided to ride our bikes to the Marina Store to see if they sold Everglades stickers for Ernie’s wall. They had several, and Sharon limited herself. We checked out the canal’s boat ramp for a possible excursion tomorrow; Then we headed up the road for a bit of exercise.
Fifteen miles later we now know that there’s a bike friendly trail that looked great initially but devolved into mud and marl soon enough and long enough to dissuade these geezers; that our put-in point from years ago in a canoe is still there, with a resident green heron or two; that there’s a rookery just off the road in the mangroves that has an impressive number of roseates and black tipped egrets; and that Bear Lake is a fun 2.5 mile trail from the road that is bike friendly, but the final 1.6 aren’t.
After lunch we set out again, this time on the kayaks, and paddled westward against a strong wind. We were near high tide so we weren’t worried about how shallow Florida Bay is. The shore mangroves offered a welcome windbreak, because across Flamingo’s open beachfront and farther away from the coast the paddle was much more onerous. We planned to circle a particular island, but the northwest side’s waves and wind proved a bit more than would be fun, so we headed back on the lee side of it and the next four islands before heading back to port at record speed.
Sunday, January 6, 2019
Epiphany! Twelve days after Christmas, and celebrated as the day the Magi arrived and gave presents to the baby Jesus of gold, frankensense, and myrhh. And the final verse of the song, 12 Days of Christmas.
Sharon’s plan was to get up before dawn for sunrise pictures. An advantage of Flamingo’s location at the tip of the Florida peninsula is that the Sun rises and sets over water, the Atlantic and the Gulf. But the weather was chilly, and our bed proved to be too comfortable. Sanity prevailed for once.
When we did get up, we agreed on a hike that we chose not to do on our bikes the previous day. It is a 2.5 mile hike to the coast, and while they claimed it was mountain bike accessible, there was a lot more reasons not to ride it than the initial mud and marl that turned us off yesterday. Today we left the bikes at the beginning of the single track, and started hiking with our hiking boots and long sleeved pants and shirts.
And we needed them all. We had to climb through several trees that blocked the path, and navigate through the vines and downed trees hidden by the underbrush. We hiked less than a mile before realizing we didn’t want to do this for 5 miles. A slog without a worthy payoff. So we cut the hike short, and rode back to the campground. It was still a 10 mile bike ride and a couple mile hike, so lunch tasted good. Afterwards, when the tide was in, we took another paddle in Florida Bay, with less wind and a different direction. (Florida Bay, the water between the southern tip of Florida's mainland and the Keys, is really shallow, and during low tides even kayaks need to keep to the narrow channels to avoid bottoming out. Even at high tide a paddle blade can stir up the bottom.)
Monday, January 7, 2019
This morning Sharon did wake up early enough to catch Sunrise. After coffee and cereal, we left the campground, but stopped at Royal Palm for a quick tour with my Canon. The birds are so beautiful there, as are the gators, and often the juxtapositions are lovely. Beside the boardwallk there is another walk through the forest, and while it is a lovely stroll, we didn’t think there would be any photo ops that would be worthwhile.
Pictures of Flamingo fun are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/QACUmLuGe5bxKLAN8.
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