Fakahatchee Strand Preserve is a stretch of forest/slough/dry uplands that is south of I75 and west of State Rd 29. It is 3-5 miles wide and about 20 miles long. It is home to many of Florida's endangered wildlife and has the largest variety and concentration of wild orchids in North America, so says "The Friends of Fakahatchee" citizen support group. I have hiked here maybe 6 times and have never seen an orchid, although I do not doubt they are there. This place has almost every type of Everglades landscape there is. I like it because it is close to my house. A 45 minute ride will get me to the north end of Jane's Scenic Drive (on the west side of the preserve) where there are many hiking trails that run through much of the Fakahatchee. If you like to experience nature from inside your car you can drive down this road and see lots of birds, gators and even the occasional deer.
Today I wanted to get some pictures of the sunrise so I set out early. It happened to be the coldest day of the winter so far which suited me fine for walking. I was eager to try out a new walking stick I had made from an old flag pole. I found a World War I bayonet in my cousin's pawn shop and rigged it so I could attach it to the end of the pole and make a cool spear/snake poker in a jiffy. I also put a metal end on the bottom of it.
I packed my camera, some lunch, a couple of bottles of water, my gps, extra batteries and my big bowie knife. I also packed my survival kit. some people might think I go a little overboard with my stuff for a day trip, but I have a healthy respect for the terrain I hike in. My "Survival kit" fits in a freezer storage bag which I stuff into the backpack from a "Camelback" water bag. It consists of a clean hand towel, a small first aid kit (band aids, tape and 4x4's etc..), 1.25 oz. bottle of 95% deet bug spray, rain poncho, some TP!, waterproof matches and firestarter wood sticks, fish hooks, spiderline fishing line that doubles as snare line/suture string, some pre-made wire animal snares, a small flashlight and more batteries for my GPS. Why do I lug all that stuff around with me? I know a guy that was lost in Big Cypress Preserve for two days. I just read about two guys that got lost in Fakahatchee and only got out just after dark cause they had a cell phone to guide the rangers to them. My wife told me about a physician's assistant that almost died from kidney failure due to dehydration from being lost in the Everglades. I've taken my gps out, set it on a tree stump, forgotten it was there and walked off for about 50 ft before I remembered it. I have spent enough time hiking to know that all kinds of weird stuff can happen and its the preparation that will come to your rescue when it does. One time I pushed my way through a palmetto stand and came out on the edge of a giant hole with shear sides about five foot deep and filled with water that was at least 10 foot deep. One more step and I would have fallen in and been hard pressed to get back out again. It's possible to just disappear in the Everglades, vanish without a trace.
So I set off in my jeep with my all my stuff down Everglades Blvd. to the north entrance to Jane's Scenic Drive. I arrived just after dawn and was pleasantly surprised to find out that the state had repaired the road and widened it. The last time I was here there were so many deep pot holes that you couldn't drive more than 5 mph on it and there were trees and vegetation that had fallen on it making it narrow and a mess. The road is lined with a series of access paths that used to be logging roads at one time as I understand it. They are numbered and each has a gate barring the way for unauthorized vehicles. Though many of the gates (and the paths) have now disappeared from lack of use, the swamp has reclaimed them. I found one such gate that I had always missed because the vegetation had grown over it. I only noticed it now because they had graded and widened the road enough that the gate was barely visible through the trees. Yes! this would be perfect. A small sign on the gate told me that it was number 17. I think there is 19 total.
I parked off to the side and got my stuff out of the back of the jeep. It was then I saw my briefcase that held my laptop computer in the back of the jeep. I had forgotten to take it out and put it in my garage before I left. This presented a problem because my jeep only has a "rag" top which anyone with a knife can slice through (and already had once) to take what ever I have inside. This being a lonely road that might have someone come by every 20 min. or so, it would give any would-be thieves plenty of time to make off with my computer. Hmmm... screw it, I wasn't about to go all the way home and put it away so I covered it with a towel and hoped for the best.
I approached the gate an saw that the logging road was completely overgrown and all that was left was a thin game trail with plenty of pig prints on it. One side had a narrow canal bed on it that was dried out being that it was winter and hadn't rained in a while. I was very cool out and quiet..completely still, I love being places where you can't hear any machines at all. Only the soft rustle of the leaves as a slight breeze came and went. The grass was wet and it muffled my footsteps somewhat but I still had to pick my way down the trail trying to avoid the dead palmetto leaves and branches so that everything within a mile wouldn't know I was coming.
I hiked in approximately a mile, it was beautiful terrain, cypress trees, long grass that was interspersed with small bushes, not too thick but not way open either. The walking was easy on the animal trail, a small sparrow sized bird kept me company part of the way, flying ahead of me from bush to bush and chirping away. I am sure he was trying to warn everyone around that I was coming but it was a low, friendly sounding chirping.
It occurred to me for some reason at that point that I was going to miss President Obama’s Inaugural Address. I hoped that someone at home would tape it for me. I am a republican and of mixed feelings on our new president, but the one thing I am sure of is that he is the hands down best public speaker I have seen in years. He uses intelligent language, with a deep, confident timbre to his voice and delivers his ideas succinctly and with conviction but not overstated. I enjoy listening to him. He sounds sincere and proud but not prideful if you understand what I mean. If he can use his eloquence to unite congress behind some good ideas, he may do very well. If he can’t unite congress we are screwed…just my opinion.
I left the trail and headed west, I could see a clearing amidst some pines that I wanted to explore. It was a small clearing and it bordered a huge, thick cypress head that I could see and hear had a lot of large bird activity. The trick would be to get to the clearing without the birds noticing because when they see a person or any other predator for that matter they send up a cacophony (I like that word) of noise that announces your presence for miles. Herons and falcons are especially loud. So I worked my way slowly along a thick hedge keeping it between myself and the tree line. I very carefully picked each spot where I would put my boot down so as to minimize the noise of my passage, keep in mind I usually have full camo dress including a head net that not only keeps the bugs off me but obscures my shape so that when I stop moving I become almost invisible to the wildlife. I generally go by the rule that if you can see a bird or a beast, they can see you, unless you are not moving when they appear. They seem to zero in on moving objects incredibly fast but have trouble seeing you if you are very still, even if you are wearing regular street clothes. I reached a clearing of tall grass, pine and cabbage palm trees with out being noticed. I could see buzzards and some birds with long curved bills (can’t remember the name) circling and landing in among the cypress line on the other side. I decided to sit for a while and watch the clearing and maybe get a shot of a passing pig or deer. I parked myself under a tree with the sun at my back hoping to get some good light for the shot if something appeared. I waited for maybe a half an hour, sitting motionless except to change position every so often so parts of my body weren’t falling asleep, I noticed the older I get the faster that happens. While I was at it I took some pics of the passing birds I saw.
After half an hour I was getting antsy and no more wildlife was showing so I departed the clearing and moved northwest along the cypress line, still managing not to disturb the birds. At one point I saw an owl perched on a cypress branch but he saw me at the same time and took off deeper among the trees and was quickly lost to sight. Owls fly completely silent, most birds like doves, pigeons, ducks and even small birds if you are close you can hear their wings, not owls, they hunt mice like noiseless ghosts, their prey doesn’t know they are there until it’s too late.
After a couple of hours of exploring I decided to head back, I hadn’t seen anything big but just being out here, seeing the flora, listening to the forest, knowing you are totally and completely alone from human contact, quiets my mind and touches a stillness deep inside me that I can’t get to when I am in the world of concrete and noise. I used my gps to guide me back to the walking stick I had left by the trail (in case you haven’t noticed I am in love with my gps). It just amazes me that I can jamb a stick in the ground in the middle of the forest, tramp around a half a mile away and return to the exact same spot to find the stick, in a place where the land is flat, looks the same, and there are no distinctive features to guide yourself by. In 2003 I bought my son a gps when he went to Iraq because I saw the movie Blackhawk Down and didn’t want him lost in Baghdad and not know how to get back to the base. He told me that His Lieutenant had used it to call in an air strike on a mortar position across a river that was giving them a problem. The GPS is the pinnacle of modern technology..everyone should have one. I got my wife one because she absolutely panics if she feels like she is lost.
I made my way back out to my jeep, and yes my computer was still there. I decided I didn’t want my day to be over yet so I drove down Jane’s Scenic Drive to SR29 and then back north on SR29, stopping to check out places that interested me the whole way. I was hoping to get a picture of a Water Moccasin but I think it was a little too cold for those guys.
By the time I even bothered to look at the time it was 3pm. I had talked to my wife twice during the day and would call her when I got home. I was getting hungry again and needed to be home to cook the kids supper so I packed it in. I was thoroughly satisfied with my trip, I had gotten my exercise, got some good pics, got my quiet time and got to see dawn over Fakahatchee.
