Another fun hike! Though I had to cut it short because like a numb-skull I forgot mosquito repellent. We have had some rain lately so the skiters were thick in the shaded areas. Fortunately I had a camouflage head net and gloves but the little buggers were biting me right through my gloves.
Picayune Strand is interesting because way back in the "60's" land developers bought the whole place (85 miles/55000 acres) to turn it into a America's largest home development project. They built canals and drained the land. Then built roads through out most of it. Long story short, the project fell through and the land was pretty much abandoned. The State and Federal government bought it back and are in the process of restoring the wetlands to their former state. Which is great for the panthers and other endangered species as well as the other surrounding parks. You can read more about that here. Now the cool thing about it right now is that the whole place is criss-crossed with access roads so you can easily penetrate most anywhere in the 55000 acres. Here is a map.
So I arrived at the SW corner of the park just after dawn and tramped around for about an hour and a half admiring the vegetation and looking for good place to hunker down and watch for wildlife. I found a large area of matted grass that a herd of pigs had trampled and hung around there for a while to no avail. The I continued on and came across a wide trail. I like to stay off the trails but this one had a bunch of animal prints on it and it looked like it was a wildlife highway so I decided to follow it for a bit.
Bobcat maybe?
DeerSo I walk down this trail surrounded by a cloud of mosquitos. Feeling like Elmer Fudd, "Shhh, Be vewy qwiet, I am looking for a bunny wabbit." It's about 10am and it's starting to get hot. I spot a nice size dead tree laying on the side of the path and stop and sit for a drink of water. I am just about to get up and be on my way when I spot something coming slowly making it's way towards me on the path. It's low to the ground and dark in color moving through the high grass. I am completely camouflaged so it doesn't see me sitting at the edge of the path. I raise my camera and peer through the 200mm lens. At first I thought it was a very large rat or an otter. But then as it came closer I realized it was a gator. It was moseying along nice as you please, out for a morning stroll oblivious to my presence.
What was interesting was that there was no water in the immediate area. I see gators just about every time I hike but they are always in or on the edge of water. Maybe it is mating season? and this one is out looking for booty? laying eggs? visiting his aunt Mabel in another part of the forest? Because he was on land and walking and because they are so prehistoric looking it was kind of a surreal experience. I was tempted let him get right up in front of me and jump up and yell BOO!! just to see what he would do. But I didn't want to ruin his morning he seemed to be enjoying himself as much as I was so I let him get about fifteen feet away and I stood up and said, "Hi there Wally, You lost? there's no water that way."
He didn't get the joke. That happens to me sometimes, others fail to appreciate my humor.
He froze and then started hissing. At this point most normal people would slowly back away but not me. I asked him to pose for a few shots. He seemed not to mind too much (maybe he liked getting his picture taken?) so I closed in on him and snapped a few. He was only about five feet or so long so I wasn't too worried the most he could do was snap off a foot or something.
He put up with me quite well for about five minutes, and I decided to give him a break and continue on with my hike.
I walked for a while longer snapping away at any beautiful thing I saw and then decided to head back. On the way I overtook my friend Wally (him being not much faster than a tortoise) meandering along the path. I walked with him for a while but he didn't have much to say so I bid him good day.
It was another fine hike and I left feeling good in my heart.
