Big Cypress National Preserve

After restocking our supplies, we headed west to Big Cypress National Preserve where we have spent the last three nights.  Craving some time on land we took a 16.5 mile hike on the Florida Trail through the Cypress and Pines.  One vacant gator hole was identified along the way.  We also did a short canoe trip down the Turner River Canoe Trail.  The trail turned out to be shallow (1 to 2 feet) and extremely narrow in some areas which made our gator encounters a whole new level of exciting.  At one of these narrow areas, we were headed straight for a gator who slid beneath the water, which was clear and about a foot and a half deep.  We didn't have anywhere to detour to so we had to go over him.  I could see his eyeball watching me from just below the water and was so close that I could have poked his nose.  Needless to say, it was super exciting and scared me to death.  Ron giggled and wanted to poke his tail with a paddle.  We also ventured into an area filled with some sort of aquatic weed.  It turned out to be a gator nursery filled with gators less than a couple feet long and could only be described as unbelievably cute. 

  


We had planned a 5 night canoe trip launching from Everglades City this morning, but awoke to high winds and a frigid 55 degrees.  We postponed our launch until tomorrow and huddled inside our house until the temperature reaches a more agreeable 70 to 80 degrees.  We decided to wait out the storm at a privately owned campground called the Skunk Ape Headquarters and Trail Lakes Campground.  This is by far the most entertaining campground we have stayed at yet.  Please check out the link (especially the quotes by Dave-who we met in person).  Please.  Included in the price of the campground was a tour through the freelance zoo on the premises.  Our guide was colorful - kissing a baby alligator and feeding the birds cashews directly out of his mouth.  There were pythons in pens everywhere - one that was 18 feet long and weighed 170 pounds, a rose haired tarantula, baby turtles, snapping turtles - one with a missing tail, and a variety of birds - one of which I cuddled with.