The Everglades

The Everglades National Park surprised me. I didn’t expect it to be nearly as vast as it was, as varied as it was, or as easy to navigate as it was. Our campsite inside the park was dog-friendly, surprisingly, because the park does not allow dogs on the trails for alligator reasons. The campsite was clean and well-maintained, of course, and had great amenities. The wildlife was close and shrouded in the tropical brush of the campsite. At night, the bird sounds were more noticeable than the most vocal frogs and crickets. One bird called loudly all night long, every 30-90 seconds or so. It sounded so unfamiliar, like a woman in distress, but as the night wore on, because it was so constant, it became almost soothing. The owls were loud and almost haunting but oddly comforting with their intermittent and prolonged hooting. Occasionally some other wild, unidentifiable sounds broke through, strange yet beautiful, just a wonderful mixture of all manner of nightlife. It was very humid, but there were fewer mosquitoes than I ever expected. Although I never needed mosquito repellent, I did make sure that I had on long sleeves and long pants in the evening. It was 70s at night, so it was comfortable, but the humidity drenched any gear I left out overnight.

One of my favorite things about camping in the Everglades was meeting a new friend, Kathy, and her dog, Cora. This was her practice trip so she could figure out how she wanted to build out her van. She was looking at other people’s vans, taking notes, and researching – all the same things I did with my Subaru before this trip. We hit it off right away. She was super interesting and great company. A retired biology teacher with a dream of traveling in her van to visit family and friends, she was immersing herself in nature and the outdoors. We became fast friends.

Cora was a great influence on Ella. Ella seems to be super great with people but not super great with other dogs. Cora was a black lab, around 10 years old, and so docile and compliant that Kathy would let her off leash without ever a worry. She’s just such a good dog, and she made fast friends with Ella. The two played so sweetly together, rolling around with each other, softly mouthing each other’s necks and ears, taking turns rolling on their backs, their tails constantly wagging. It was a great experience for me to see Ella play with endless joy, and probably a great experience for Ella to learn that other dogs can be friends.

Since Ella couldn’t go on any trails, she and I experienced a good part of the park from the car. Looking out my window, if I didn’t know I was looking at the Everglades, I would have thought I was looking at acres and acres of grassy hayfields. You have to get out and up close and personal to really enjoy the ubiquity and variety of flora and fauna. There are several trails, some board-walked, and some through hammocks, but none are dog-friendly, for good reason. Alligators are everywhere. Everywhere. So are snakes and cougars, but I never did see either of those. On the other hand, I couldn’t count the number of alligators I saw. I was able to explore a few trails one day when I stayed at a hotel in Homestead where I could safely leave Ella for a few hours. The trails are gorgeous and teeming with life and wonders.

The Everglades are an almost 8,000-square-mile filter for slow moving watershed that flows from a collection of rivers and lakes down into the sea. It is fresh water as it filters through the glades, but as it enters the sea it mixes with the saltwater and is home to various wildlife, including the American crocodile. This was news to me. I had no idea we have crocs in the US. Seriously. Alligators AND crocodiles. The crocs are born into the freshwater, and as they develop and mature, they make their way through the glades to the saltwater. I never saw a crocodile to my knowledge. But I saw tons of gators.

The birds in the Everglades were the star attraction, really. There were so many species, big and small, familiar and strange, beautiful and not-so-beautiful. The vultures there don’t just circle high in the air around prey, but they congregate and visit with each other on the ground, especially in the parking lots. I mean they are everywhere, like gangs, seemingly looking for trouble. They greet the cars by the several-dozen. In fact, they love to play on the cars so much that the park offers tarps for you to hook over your vehicle for protection. It’s supposed to deter the vultures, but it just seems to challenge them. They get on the cars with the tarps and pick at them until the tarps are full of giant holes. They were indiscriminate though. They also flocked to the cars without tarps. The things they apparently love about cars, tarp or not, are the rubber seals around the windshields and windows, and any kind of substance they can try to remove with their beaks. Man, they really love that! They are pests, but they’re also indigenous to the area. And they are fun to watch. So, to deter their car molesting behavior, the park set up a little vulture playground for them. It looks like a little cat’s or toddler’s gym with little dangly toys hanging from it, like rings, rope knots, and tiny swings. The vultures love it, but they would also get on the cars and just hang out, watching all the people. I’m not sure if they were waiting for one of us to drop dead, but they were fearless. When they flew fast and low overhead, the sound of the wind whooshing over their massive wings sounded like an X-wing from Star Wars. No kidding. Very impressive.

The Anhinga Trail is a boardwalk trail that goes through the glades, over the water, so you have the feeling you are walking through all the plant life in there – the grassy glades, the mangroves, the lily pads. It’s all just gorgeous. The grassy glades seem endless. They stretch for miles and miles through the water throughout all of South Florida. Once in a while there is a break in the glades where the water looks flat and still. There, you see expanses of lily pads hiding alligators, turtles, fish, frogs, and birds. Throughout you will see mangroves – shrubs that grow above the water but have a root system that stretches way down and anchors into the silt below. You can see where the root system, a tangled ball of sticks that starts about six inches or so above the water, branches up into a beautiful, green shrub. The roots below the water are a wonderful habitat for fish, shrimp, snails, crabs, and all kinds of wildlife.

Outside the park, Ella and I drove the Tamiami Trail which stretches across the Everglades to the Big Cypress National Preserve. I was interested in an airboat ride, and one of the blogs I read said to skip all the touristy ones and go to the Indian reservation. I drove until I saw rides offered by the Miccosukee tribe, and I pulled over and asked if they would accommodate Ella. They said sure. Our pilot, named Wilder, was probably mid-20s. “Be careful what you name your children,” he said. He was from the Miccosukee tribe and was immensely proud of his ancestry and of his job. You could tell it was a treat for him to take folks for a ride and teach them about the area and his family. He toured Ella and me through the marshlands for about 40 minutes and took us to an island that was maybe a foot-and-a-half above sea level. There was a boardwalk that covered the island to keep tourists from falling through the holes because the islands are not solid. He said there are a hundred islands just like this in this area. His grandfather lived on this land. In fact, we met an 80-year-old mama alligator who was friends with Wilder and his family since he was a boy. He said she had several babies during his lifetime, but now she was old and mostly deaf.  He would call to her, “Ma – ma – come,” but she didn’t pay any attention to him. He said many times she’d come right up to him and want to be petted, just like a dog. Gators don’t attack people, he explained, but dogs are another thing altogether. She would definitely eat Ella if she was hungry.

The three of us got back on the airboat and loudly maneuvered back through the glades and water lilies, through the herons with their feasting and resting, as Wilder returned us to our starting point. He had a way of doing the water version of drifting – we would be moving forward but facing sidewards, trekking over the glades with the wide expanse of sky straight ahead and up above.  To be right out in the middle of the glades, watching the heron finding fish, was moving. It was without a doubt one of the greatest experiences I will ever have. I was so thankful and appreciative to be out there, right in the midst of one of Earth’s most protected places.