Hiking the Everglades national Park (ENP) is awesome and I have done so many, many times and trekked countless miles in that place. But it isn't for very young children, at least not where I've gone.
I usually hike the region around the Dwarf Cypress Forest and I simply find a distant tree island to go explore (waaay off from the MPR) park my car, and set off.
Here is my old Toyota parked off the road in the aforementioned Dwarf Cypress Forest.
Careful, at this high elevation you can get a nosebleed!
Scene from a wet winter day. You can see the 'domes' off in the distance. Where the ground is slightly lower and holds more water the cypress trees grow in this characteristic fashion. As the center of the depression is deeper and wetter, the trees there grow taller than those at the edges. This creates the dome effect.
The terrain with some of the 'hurricane' cypress trees bent towards the east from some long forgotten and unnamed storm ...
Relative size of some of the little fatties...the trees I mean, not me.
Wear good foot cover and a walking stick helps...
These cypress trees almost always have orchids on them...
In fact, the E. tampense orchids might be in bloom while you're down there...
Inside a dome pond, a couple of miles from the Main Park Road (MPR). The ground here is very rough with pinnacle rock that varies from razor sharp to old, blunted and algae covered. Footing is treacherous. But you don't have to hike that far of the road to experience this. I just prefer to get as far away as I reasonable can.
Some dome ponds are bigger with larger size class cypress trees. In these larger domes, the epiphytic plant life can be staggering.
Native Tillandsia...
Also commonly found are Florida snapping turtles but I've never found any that were much larger than this 10 inch guy. I think the population of snapping turtles down here is naturally stunted like the trees.
The Florida box turtles down here can be very pretty. This young male was found soaking at the edge of a dome pond one May...
Chicken turtles are in this place as well and about the only way to find them is to hike. They occasionally cross the roads but being secretive animals, you're more likely to find them in the domes or edges of tree islands. They are winter active too and this is when I have found them to be the most visible.
These guys are there in numbers too--- so watch your step.
Neonate cottonmouth...
Random scenes from the Dwarf Cypress Forest...
Same tree in different years and seasons...
Ancient sentinels in the dry winter season. These may be 500 to 600 years old, or more.
The spring and summer rains wake them up...
Finally, a thunderhead at dusk over the ENP...
I usually hike the region around the Dwarf Cypress Forest and I simply find a distant tree island to go explore (waaay off from the MPR) park my car, and set off.
Here is my old Toyota parked off the road in the aforementioned Dwarf Cypress Forest.
Careful, at this high elevation you can get a nosebleed!
Scene from a wet winter day. You can see the 'domes' off in the distance. Where the ground is slightly lower and holds more water the cypress trees grow in this characteristic fashion. As the center of the depression is deeper and wetter, the trees there grow taller than those at the edges. This creates the dome effect.
The terrain with some of the 'hurricane' cypress trees bent towards the east from some long forgotten and unnamed storm ...
Relative size of some of the little fatties...the trees I mean, not me.
Wear good foot cover and a walking stick helps...
These cypress trees almost always have orchids on them...
In fact, the E. tampense orchids might be in bloom while you're down there...
Inside a dome pond, a couple of miles from the Main Park Road (MPR). The ground here is very rough with pinnacle rock that varies from razor sharp to old, blunted and algae covered. Footing is treacherous. But you don't have to hike that far of the road to experience this. I just prefer to get as far away as I reasonable can.
Some dome ponds are bigger with larger size class cypress trees. In these larger domes, the epiphytic plant life can be staggering.
Native Tillandsia...
Also commonly found are Florida snapping turtles but I've never found any that were much larger than this 10 inch guy. I think the population of snapping turtles down here is naturally stunted like the trees.
The Florida box turtles down here can be very pretty. This young male was found soaking at the edge of a dome pond one May...
Chicken turtles are in this place as well and about the only way to find them is to hike. They occasionally cross the roads but being secretive animals, you're more likely to find them in the domes or edges of tree islands. They are winter active too and this is when I have found them to be the most visible.
These guys are there in numbers too--- so watch your step.
Neonate cottonmouth...
Random scenes from the Dwarf Cypress Forest...
Same tree in different years and seasons...
Ancient sentinels in the dry winter season. These may be 500 to 600 years old, or more.
The spring and summer rains wake them up...
Finally, a thunderhead at dusk over the ENP...
