Through the Everglades
Saturday, March 3, 2012
We stayed the night in Florida City and the next morning drove through the Everglades, out to the end of the road at Flamingo.We wanted to see the Everglades before climate change finishes it off.
The big bird from the last post—it looks like it is on the entrance sign.
Just a bit up the road is Royal Palm Visitor Center and the Anhinga Trail. They have alligators here. This one caught my eye from a distance.
It worked its way right over to us. We moved along the trail!
Just up the trail, we came across vultures and quite a few more alligators plus this nice bird.
We next drove to Pa–hay–okee overlook to get a look at Shark River Slough, the River of Grass.
It’s completely flat and only three feet/one meter above sea level.
Here is a map showing our route. You can blow it up by clicking on the + button on the upper left of the map. The National Park Service also has a nice map.
Our next stop was Paurotis Pond. Those are not flamingoes on the left, but Roseate Spoonbills. It turns out the last flamingos left in 1902 and have not returned. At least, that’s what we read somewhere. A close up spoonbill below.
And then we moved on to the end of the road at Flamingo.
The ranger station posts a list of where we might see a manatee. Alas, we didn’t see one. But we did see a crocodile resting on the shore, right where the list said it would be. Also, butterflies were at every spot we stopped the car.
We walked along a trail after lunch and saw a lot of greenery.
We stayed the night in Florida City and the next morning drove through the Everglades, out to the end of the road at Flamingo.
Next—Miami.