November 13
One of Guinness World Records rules for my Quest was I could not visit a park twice. Well, that is nearly impossible, with the myriad times I traversed the Appalachian Trail. And when I stayed outside a park for the night and went back into the park the next day (such as Kings Canyon NP in California, and Glacier NP in Montana), does that constitute a second visit? Well, today was my second trek into Everglades NP. Oh well. The purpose of this whole journey is to enjoy the parks, not worry about the number of times I show my American the Beautiful Annual Pass to the same park ranger on multiple days. Everglades’ main park road runs from the Florida City area to Flamingo on the Gulf of Mexico. It is about 35 miles in length from VC (park entrance) to VC (Flamingo), but with a speed limit of 55 mph the trip is relatively quick. With that said, there are a number of side roads one can take to enjoy more scenery. I stopped at the Pa-hay-okee Trail for one, and the Royal Palms area for another. Along the way I passed a sign which read “Rock Creek Pass - 3 Feet”. If the environment on this planet gets to the point where sea levels rise by three feet, who knows what this area will look like.
Plenty of Great Egrets, Ospreys, and Anhinga birds along the various roads and trails. I did see one Bald Eagle.
The Anhinga Trail (in the Royal Palms area) had a busload of school kids walking in two groups. They were enthusiastically answering the questions being presented by rangers. Along the boardwalk I met a group of folks whose individuals hail from Wales, Oregon, Florida, and New Mexico. See what a draw this park has, bringing people from all over the world and America.
The Flamingo VC exterior is painted in a wonderful flamingo pink. The place looks like a retro to the 1950s. The VC had a number of displays, including a dug-out canoe built by Pedro Zepeda, a member of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
No alligators or crocs today, but I hope to rectify that in two days in Big Cypress NPres. The Oasis VC has a canal out front which has always been full of alligators.